| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Paraguay President Fires Top Aides after Deadly Protest |
| 2017-04-03 |
| [An Nahar] Paraguay's president sacked his interior minister and police chief Saturday, following a clash that led to the death of a young activist as rioters angry about electoral reform stormed Congress. Closed circuit cameras captured the death of 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana, leader of the opposition Liberal Party's youth branch, who was apparently shot by police early Saturday as they searched the party's offices in Asuncion for protesters. About 30 people were maimed, including three politicians, according to firefighters and an opposition senator. Police said 211 people were tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! , some of them minors. President Horacio Cartes on Saturday responded by firing Interior Minister Tado Rojas and Police Commissioner Crispulo Sotelo. But Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga slammed the unrest as "the work of a violent group that does not understand what democracy is, does not understand tolerance." "Paraguay's democracy is stronger than ever," he said, adding that security forces acted with "total responsibility." Furious protesters broke into the Congress late Friday, ransacking politicians' offices and starting fires after senators approved a proposal to allow the president to run for reelection. Opposition leaders denounced the secretive vote Friday as a "congressional coup," saying it could clear the way for a return to dictatorship in the landlocked South American nation of 6.8 million people. Right-wing leader Cartes is seeking to amend the constitution to enable himself to run for office again in 2018 after his current term ends. He blamed the violence on "a group of Paraguayans embedded in politics and the media aimed at destroying democracy and political and economic stability." "Democracy is not won or defended by violence," he said on Twitter. "We must not allow barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and welfare of the people." |
| Posted by:Fred |