Paraguay’s Senate voted to impeach President Fernando Lugo for allegedly encouraging land seizures and fomenting violence, in a move condemned by Lugo’s allies in Venezuela and Ecuador as a near coup.
The opposition-controlled upper house voted 39-4 to remove Lugo, a day after the Chamber of Deputies voted 73-1 in favor of the same measure. Vice President Federico Franco was sworn in as president.
Lugo, a former Catholic bishop whose five-year term was slated to end in August 2013, had been accused of encouraging land grabs that led to a June 15 shootout that left 17 people dead, including six police officers. The Colorado party that led the calls to impeach Lugo risks a backlash from his supporters and may see Franco’s government isolated by other South American nations, said Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas.
“This risks a general breakdown of security and peace precisely because it spilled out over democratic institutions and justice just hasn’t been done,” said Sabatini, who is also editor-in-chief of policy magazine Americas Quarterly, by phone from upstate New York. “This is not a traditional coup. This was a ramped-up, accelerated process, clearly motivated by partisan interests.”
Lugo had called on the Supreme Court to declare the process unconstitutional and demanded more time to prepare his defense. Regional diplomats seeking reassurances today from senators that they would respect democratic guarantees and due process came up “against an insurmountable wall,” said Ali Rodriguez, secretary-general of the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, that includes Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia.
Protests

Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds gathered in the city’s main square opposite Congress to hear the verdict, according to images broadcast by Telesur.
Speaking at a news conference after the vote, Lugo said he accepted the result as constitutional and urged his supporters to refrain from violent protests.
“Today it isn’t Fernando Lugo who took a hit, it’s Paraguay’s history, her democracy, which has been profoundly wounded,” Lugo said. “As I have always acted within the law, and although this has been twisted like a fragile branch in the wind, I submit to Congress’ decision.”
Lugo had moved to head off the impeachment by replacing the interior minister and police chief following the deadly shootout between landless peasants and police last week.
Colorado Party

The Colorado party, which dominated Paraguayan politics for six decades before Lugo won the 2008 election, is collaborating with Lugo’s coalition partner, the Partido Liberal Radical Autentico of which Franco is a member, Senator Alberto Grillon told Buenos Aires-based Todo Noticias television channel earlier today.
“It’s incredible that this is happening to a president who has achieved economic growth of more than 25 percent in the last four years,” said Grillon.
Congress’ decision was “absolutely illegitimate” and went against voters’ will, said Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa. He called on Paraguayans to learn from Ecuador’s experience of political turmoil, which led to the overthrow of three publicly- elected presidents since 1997. He refused to recognize the new government.
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said he will not recognize Paraguay’s “invalid, illegal and illegitimate government.”
“It is lamentable and we condemn it. It is a farce, an embarrassment for all our people,´´ Chavez said today in statements broadcast on state television in Caracas.
Accusations

Lawmakers accused Lugo of negligence and incompetence for failing to prevent the June 15 deaths. Among other reasons cited for the impeachment motion were rising crime levels and an accord he signed with Brazil and Argentina on the use of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, which lawmakers said risks leaving Paraguay without enough power, according to a copy of the deputies’ declaration posted on Unasur’s website.
“The government of President Lugo is solely responsible as instigator and facilitator of recent land invasions” in the area of Nacunday and “used the armed forces to generate a true state of panic across that region, violating property rights,” the document said.
Lugo was elected in 2008 on pledges to redistribute land in Paraguay, where 2 percent of the population holds three-quarters of the territory, said Eric Stadius, an analyst at the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Opposition parties that control Congress blocked his attempts to grant the landless poor access to farms.
Paraguay, the world’s fourth-largest soybean exporter, increased gross domestic product 6.4 percent last year and 15 percent in 2010. The land-locked nation is the world’s largest net exporter of electricity, according to the U.S. State Department.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Quigley in Lima at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at [email protected].