Asuncion, Paraguay, 26.06.2012 03:00h
Ex bishop Fernando Lugo, democratically elected president of Paraguay, was impeached on Friday 22.6.12 and ousted two hours later at 18:30h.
This is a coup d’état directed by the USA supported by Germany, UK and Spain.
The constitution of Paraguay states that an impeached president must be given 18 days to prepare his defence for an impeachment hearing at the senate. Hence the constitution was violated.
The foreign ministers of most South American states left Rio when they heard about the impeachment and headed for Asuncion. They unanimously declared that this is a coup, a new form of institutional coup. By Saturday morning all South American governments, including the right wing government of Chile, had declared that this is a coup and they will not recognize this new government. They withdrew their ambassadors.
In contrast the USA used its Canadian poodle to declare that the new government is legitimate. Spain made a similar statement in Pentagonese – the rest of Europe remains silent as of tonight. Excluded from the “rest of Europe” is Germany of course, their minister for development, Dirk Niebel, arrived in Asuncion hours before the impeachment was announced. He was the first to shake hands with the new dictator, de facto president Federico Franco, and declared that the impeachment was a “normal process in compliance with the constitution”. He offered economic assistance to the full ability of Germany. (meaning that the arms deals that Lugo rejected can now be signed).
We can learn from this that Angela Merkel has a crystal ball that tells when “economic opportunities arise”, it can even predict that the highest court of Paraguay will rule a day later that the constitution can be suspended in an emergency situation that threatens the security of the country. Hence Dirk Niebel used the same words in interviews given to the media (abc.com.py, ultimahora.com.py, etc) that the high court would use a day later.
None of this was reported in Germany or anywhere in Europe – but well covered throughout South America.
Should this ever become an issue in Germany I’m positive Merkel will blame the Paraguayans for not sticking to the protocol as instructed: first you make the court ruling, then you impeach. This will satisfy the informational needs of the German public – and of the rest of Europe.
Before we go into details of why and how the culprits have staged this coup let’s look at some background info about Paraguay:
a. some 400.000 sqkm in size, about 10% larger than Germany. The Paraguay river splits the country into a populated east (40%) and an unpopulated west, the Chaco (60%).
b. population was 6 million in 2008 when president Lugo got elected. Only about 150.000 live in the Chaco. The largest colony there are the Menonites, a pacifistic religious group originating from Germany, some 30.000 settled there in the 1930s. They farm some 500.000 hectares, all organically for religious believes. They enjoy complete autonomy – no taxes, military service or any kind of restrictions. I have based my model for Permaculture Paraguay, a sustainable society to be created, http://infoholix.net/category.php?mId=111 on their form of autonomy.
c. a further 2 million lived in exile in Argentina, Spain and USA. How many of these have returned since is unknown.
d. Paraguay gained its independence from Spain in 1811. The war against the trialliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay followed 1865-70. This reduced the population to one third but Paraguay remained independent. Repopulation added a broad mix of nationalities over the next century. Germans founded Oberneuland, Nuevo Germania, Hagenau, Brits Nuevo Londres, Italians Nuevo Italia, Japanese La Colmena, …. and many more.
Noteworthy is the fact that those Germans running away from Hitler came in the thirties and the wanted Nazies that could not be found anywhere arrived after WWII.
These Europeans and Asians add up to about one million people, the indigenous Guarani are 5 million. Guarani is also the official language and the name of the currency. Guarani means human in Guarani.
e. The dictator Alfredo Stroesser (Austrian origin) and his Colorado party ruled Paraguay ’til 1989. His Colorado party continued to rule ’til 2008 extending the dictatorship to 61 years, the longest in South America.
For ineffable reasons Paraguayans are proud of the fact that their dictatorship was the only one in South America not installed by the USA but supported by Germany.
f. A British style “first past the post” system ensured that 20% of votes are enough to obtain all seats. The remaining parties share the remaining 80%, the Radical Liberals are in second position with 15%.
In 2008 the Radical Liberals and eight further small parties nominated Fernando Lugo, known as the catholic bishop of the poor, as their mutual candidate. Lugo was elected president with 41%. All seats but two, however, were gained by Colorado as the smaller parties did not put up a mutual candidate in constituencies, but each presented its own – a fairly brainless endeavor.
Lugo was inaugurated 15.8.2008 for a five year term. A second term is not permitted by the constitution.
g. On 5.9.2008 the first coup attempt was launched. A leaked document from the US embassy acknowledged the new government in detail. The army stayed loyal to Lugo and the coup was suffocated in a gentlemen like fashion. Vice president Federico Franco was supposed to become the new president, the very same Franco who is de facto president now. Two years later this document was published by Wikileaks, (note: in conjunction with US activities in Ecudor which enabled Correa, the democratically elected president of Ecuador, to squash the coup against him – a possible reason why Assange chose to apply for asylum there).
h. Economy: Py is the world’s 4th largest producer of soy, Genetically Modified soy, controlled by Monsanto. Some 350 oligarchs produce it. They employ private militias amounting to about 20-25,000 men lead by mercenaries from US and UK but also South Americans trained by the School of the Americas in US. In comparison the Py army has 13,000 men and the Policia National 9,000. The Policia National did the dirty work under the dictatorship, the army is fairly clean – most unusual for South America.
i. An average farm has 2,000ha (5,000acres). Estancias start at 20,000ha. Traditionally oligarchs would have a few hundred hectares under fruit and vegetables, the rest is jungle.
Somewhere on that land live peasants growing their own, they provide the man-power for the oligarch’s farming activity. Yields are roughly $200 – $500 per hectare. So oligarchs make plenty of cash and are rich in land. The price for a hectare ranges from $500 to $2,000 depending on location.
Now enter Monsanto and GM-soy. The yield is $6,000/ha and costs for mechanized farming are $3,000/ha, leaving $3,000 to the oligarch. Consequently the entire 20,000ha get put under soy – the fines for deforestation paid with a smile – the peasants are no longer needed and get removed.
Then you expand your growing area: spray your small neighbors with Monsonato’s Round-up. It kills everything, Paraguayans call it “mata todo”. Nothing will grow on this land now but Monsanto’s soy. No fruit, no vegetable, no flower and no bee survives. Peasants become ill, very ill, – miscarriages and birth defects – they abandon their land or sell it cheaply to the oligarch. (soy-hectare now trading at $7,000)
These peasants are called the “sin terras”, the landless. They fill the slums around Asuncion – some 100,000 or so. They elected Lugo who promissed to remedy the situation. (see listings under “Organics” on infoholix.net)
Under capitalistic principles this is all perfectly ok. The owner has the right to grow whatever generates the highest profit. He depreciates the land over 7 to 10 years, the soil is completely ruined by then, not even Monsanto’s soy is viable then. So he needs to retain profits and buy more land – an infinite source. The ecological damage is collateral damage to be paid for by society.
j. Near Mariscal Estigarriba, in the Chaco, in reach of the borders to Bolivia and Argentina is a huge US military base – landing strip for the biggest planes and housing for 16,000 troops.(G W Bush owns 40,000ha next to it) Lugo refused to extend the military cooperation agreement and kicked all US troops out of Py.
Obama needs it now – he can’t wait for the end of Lugo’s term as president in August 2013.
Obama needs it now – that’s the reason for the coup now.
The coup required the cooperation of all senators – those on the payroll of the US, Germany, Spain and UK – 39 out of 45 senators.
I shall detail what Obama needs this base so urgently for now and what the Europeans get out of it. I post updates on my blog: infoholix.net/blog.
On Tuesday: Mercosur meeting in Argentina.
On Wednesday: OAS meeting in Peru.
Lugo will attend both as the ligitimate president of Py. Franco is not invited.
Lugo has put up a website: paraguayresiste.com
– shows a funny video: cutting off power to TV Publica after Lugo made a surprise announcement on this public tv channel,
– the BBC reported 200 demonstrators: try to spot them among the thousands – don’t know how many thousands – there are no official figures – I was there, felt like the same crowd that was at his inauguration which was reported as 250,000.
Cheers,
Wilfrid