UPDATE: Fernando Lugo is Deposed as President. Federico Franco will be Inaugurated. The vote was 39 to condemn him, 2 absent, 4 to absolve him. The supposed cause is a deadly fire-fight last Friday where 6 police and 11 landless farmers died.

Nuns praying for peace in Paraguay as protestors gather against Congress' impeachment of Lugo. h/t Última Hora

Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo, a Catholic Bishop who rode the wave of a grassroots movement to unseat the previously unbeatable Colorado Party in 2008, has two hours today to present a defense against charges that are seen as political posturing. In a trial by the Senate, where there are already enough votes to depose Lugo, Paraguay's brief experiment with democracy is likely to crash on the shoals of politicking.

The impeachment hearing will take place at 12pm (noon). The Senate will vote at 4:30pm. [Timeline here] [Online radio here]

Although people in Paraguay are unhappy with Lugo, many more people are unhappy with the move from congress to impeach the president because they see it as the latest action of a coterie of corrupt political elites to attain more power. Polls inside the country show that more people are against deposing Lugo than for it (54/46) and Paraguayans living abroad have voiced their strong disagreement.

The winners from the ousting of Lugo are: 1) his vice president Federico Franco, of the Liberal Party, who'll become president in his stead; 2) UNACE, a political party made up of former Colorados led by Lino Oviedo, who, rumor has it, have made a backroom deal with the Liberals to form a coalition government; 3) Colorado Party presidential candidate Horacio Cartes, accused of narcotrafficking and money-laundering and now conspiring to destabilize the government so that, in April 2013, the Colorado Party will be the only party organized enough to win the election.

UPDATE: Fernando Lugo is Deposed as President. Federico Franco will be Inaugurated. The vote was 39 to condemn him, 2 absent, 4 to absolve him. The supposed cause is a deadly fire-fight last Friday where 6 police and 11 landless farmers died.

President Fernando Lugo, after the Deputies vote to impeach him, insists that he won't resign, that congress is acting against the Paraguayan electorate, and that he'll respect the constitutional process of impeachment. Photo from ABC Color.

Lugo's accusers. h/t Occu.Py

Dios Bendiga el Paraguay is a documentary made by a group of filmmakers as they followed an unlikely candidate, a Bishop from a rural region of Paraguay, win the dramatic presidential election in 2008. Fernando Lugo defeated the Colorado Party candidate and ended one-party rule in April 2008. This is the story of Paraguay's first leftist president and first peaceful transition of rule in the country's history, made all the more incredibly because the Colorado Party had access to all the wealth and resources of the Paraguayan state and, in spite of massive electoral fraud, Lugo still won.

It's in Spanish (and Guaraní that's been subtitled).





DIOS BENDIGA EL PARAGUAY from Documental Paraguay on Vimeo.

The Guairá Falls, on the Paraná River between Paraguay and Brazil, were flooded in the early 1980s as part of the construction of Itaipú Hydroelectric Dam, their beauty sacrificed to create energy. (They're sometimes called "Guaíra" in Brazil).

This is a fantastic video from 1936 (!) that gives a sense of their majesty. Notice the couple walking along the flimsy bridge (and their gaucho pants!).

UPDATE: Itaipú pension fraud gets worse.
Apparently,  $123,000,000 are missing from various wealth management firms entrusted by the pension fund's directors.

Informational graphic from ABC Color showing the make believe firms.

Be suspicious of a man with five names. Venezuelan "businessman" Marcelo Alessio Silvio Barone Serrá presented himself as a money manager to the Retirement and Pension Fund of Itaipú Dam (Cajubi) responsible for the Paraguayan employees of the world's largest dam. He was able to convince the directors of the Fund to hand over $36 million for Barone to invest in various wealth and asset management firms based in the U.S., E.U., and Panama.

Apparently, none of these firms exist or have been shuttered.

UPDATE (6/6): Rumors are now flying that the mother of the 10 year old boy isn't the 40-ish year old mother, but actually, the 24-year old eldest daughter of the family. This would mean that she was 14 or 15 years old when she gave birth to Fernando Lugo's son. The whole family denies it.

Not his kid: Lugo is in Asia on a trip as this "scandal" "unfolds." (h/t Última Hora)

Paraguay's President Lugo, a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who vowed celibacy decades ago, has yet again admitted fathering a child. This time, the son is 10 (not 2) years old and the mom is a woman currently in her 40s (not a teenager at the time of conception). It also turns out mom was married at the time and went to her Bishop for advice on how to restore the marriage, which was on the rocks. Good news! The married couple reconciled. Surprise news! In the time while they were on a break, the woman got pregnant. Great news! Now the woman, her husband, and two of their oldest children (the couple has four of their own) are salaried employees of the Paraguayan government, with benefits and secure wages in a country rocked by economic turmoil.

This brings to four the number of women who've formally filed paternity cases against Lugo, asking for legal recognition that their children (all boys) are his. He's admitted to fathering two of the four.

Ph.D. students from non-traditional backgrounds (ethnic minorities, working class students, etc.,) face a series of distinct challenges while they're pursuing their Ph.D.s because of a simple lack of familiarity with the conventions of this very strange thing called academe. As I went through graduate school, I was the fortunate recipient of excellent advice and feedback (most of which was from good friends in other disciplines who'd already finished their own Ph.D.s). Because so much of the "how to" comes from informal connections, it's easy to miss it if one is not in the right networks. I've started a list of tips and recommendations based on what I've learned in the process, in the hopes that it might be a benefit to others.