Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo undergoes prostate surgery

Asuncion, Paraguay (CNN) -- Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo underwent prostate surgery early Friday, his spokesman said. The surgery, which was performed at the Italian Hospital in Asuncion, had been scheduled for weeks, spokesman Augusto dos Santos told reporters.
.
The surgery involved nine doctors and three nurses and took about an hour, Martinez said at a news conference. Lugo arrived at the hospital at 4 a.m. ( 2 a.m. ET), was wheeled into surgery at 5 a.m. and was in the recovery room by 5 a.m., Martinez said.
.
...Lugo is a former priest who has been involved in several paternity controversies in the past year.
.
He is expected to remain in the hospital until Saturday afternoon and then recuperate for three to four days in the presidential residence, spokesman dos Santos said...
.
read article here
.
Paraguay's military commander fired
November 6, 2009
.
Asuncion, Paraguay (CNN) -- Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo continued to purge the top ranks of the nation's military Friday, removing the armed forces' commander. Lugo fired the commanders of the country's army, air force and navy on Wednesday. The armed forces commander, Rear Adm. Cibar Benitez Caceres, had been the only top official to survive Wednesday's dismissals.
.
Lugo has given no reason for the firings, publicly denying rumors of a coup plot.
Benitez Caceres will be replaced as armed forces chief by Brig. Gen. Juan Oscar Velazquez Castillo, the president's executive order said. The handover ceremony was scheduled to take place Friday afternoon...
.
Paraguay's history is filled with unstable transitions of power since it emerged in 1989 from Gen. Alfredo Stroessner's 35-year dictatorship. There were attempted coups in 1996 and 2000, and President Raul Cubas resigned amid controversy in 1999...
.
Friday's military shakeup is the fourth since Lugo took office. The former Catholic bishop was elected to a five-year term last year, bringing an end to six decades of one-party rule in Paraguay. But the goodwill did not last long...
.
In April, Lugo admitted that he fathered a child while he was still a priest and that he may have fathered more. Three women have accused him of fathering a child. The revelation, which came as a shock to most, hurt his political image...
.
read entire article here

“Low intensity” dengue epidemics in Paraguay

The Paraguayan government admitted a “low intensity” dengue epidemics following 360 cases reported in hospital emergencies of which 179 remain highly “suspicious” of having been contaminated by the mosquito transmitted disease.


Merco Press
January 27,2009


Ivan Allende, head of Sanitary Alert from Paraguay’s Health Ministry said that the majority of cases have been reported in rural areas and so far “only three have been confirmed in periphery areas of Asunción”, the capital.


“Of the 360 cases reported, following lab tests we discarded 146 people but we are double checking blood lab tests of another 179”, he added.

However Allende admitted that the dengue epidemics is still of “low intensity” and “we can yet not declare a national emergency”, but authorities remain alert and concerned.


Dengue is common during the rainy season in tropical areas with the Aedes aegypti day-biting mosquito --that prefers to feed on humans—growing its larvae in the abundant stagnant water.


Symptoms of dengue fever are a sudden onset of severe headache, muscle and joint pains, fever and rash. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body.

There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

However there’s a more virulent strain dengue hemorrhagic fever which can cause death. Neighbouring Bolivia also has reported 3.000 cases of dengue fever so far.

Paraguay favours scrutinizing legality of foreign debt

Right: National Palace

December 3, 2008

mercopress.com

Paraguay announced this week it has a “sincere” desire to study in depth “the origin and legality of its foreign debt” over the last decades, when the landlocked country was ruled by the Colorado party.

“The issue is becoming part of the international agenda of the region” and Paraguay is willing to review the foreign debt of past decades said Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, a former bishop who this year with his election managed to break six decades of hegemonic rule from the Colorado Party (1954/2008).

President Lugo said that many of the loans taken over the last decades never reached whom they were intended to benefit and therefore a big question emerges: “is that debt legitimate?”

The idea was floated Monday by Uruguayan economist Enrique Iglesias, for 16 years president of the Inter American Development Bank and currently chairman of the Ibero-American organization with seat in Madrid.

Iglesias suggested the creation of an international court of justice to manage foreign debt affairs in Latinamerica, as “well as mechanisms to concert public and private efforts”

“We have the Paris Club, but it only refers to public debt, (government to government). Anyhow we could open a debate on the issue which has become most pressing at global level”, added Iglesias.

Several regional countries, Venezuela, Bolivia and most recently Ecuador have begun questioning the origin and extent of international debt inherited from previous “non popular” governments, in Paraguay the corrupt Colorado Party.

Iglesias also warned that the recession will expand to the entire world, and will bring credit retraction, consumers’ lack of confidence, less investments and the loss of conventional instruments to address the new situation.

Paraguay Guinness record with largest open-air barbecue

October 31, 2008

mercopress.com

Mercosur country member Paraguay broke the Guinness World Record Sunday October 26 for the world's largest one day open-air barbecue.

In total, some 30,000 participants consumed 28 kilo tons of meat over the course of six hours in the Mariano Roque Alonso town-ship located on the outskirts of the capital Asuncion.

"All of the food that was there was eaten. It's the largest quantity of meat that has been eaten at one event held on one day. It's an official record, a Guinness World Record, and Paraguay will be in the next edition," Guinness World Records Judge Ralph Hannah said before handing out the official Guinness award certificates.

In attaining the "Biggest Barbecue in the World" record, the Paraguayan town shatters the previous record, an eight-hour chow of 21.7 kilo tons that took place in Philadelphia in 1996.Proceeds from the three dollar entrance fees are being directed to the ASOLEU Children's Leukemia Foundation.

Paraguay and neighboring Argentina and Brazil, and Uruguay, have some of the best natural grasslands in the world and the joint cattle and sheep herds and flocks are well over 220 million head.

Bush pledges help to fight corruption, poverty in Paraguay

Right: George preparing to blow smoke up Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo's ass



Originally published October 28, 2008

President George Bush joined Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo Monday in a pledge to bring assistance to the poverty-stricken South American nation while fighting corruption in the ranks of its government.



After a meeting with Lugo at the White House, Bush said his administration welcomed the opportunity to open discussions with Lugo that could lead to assistance from Washington.



"We want to help with education and health care. We care deeply about people being able to work," Bush said. “We believe in the social justice agenda. I believe that it's important that the United States be in a position to help influence the lives of citizens that simply want a more hopeful day." In his post-meeting statement, Lugo pledged to fight corruption and work to lift the nation out of poverty.

"We are profoundly hurt in our souls by poverty, by the exodus of our young people, by the lack of education, by people who don't have roofs over their heads," said Lugo. "Our dream is that Paraguay be known not for its corruption, but for its transparency and for its dignity as a people and as a country."



Noting that Lugo had a "hard job" in moving toward his goals, President Bush said he recognized the South American leader's commitment to work against government corruption plaguing his country's ability to lift itself out of poverty.



"I'm impressed by the fact that you want to take a strong stand against corruption. There's nothing more discouraging than to have the government of a people steal their money," said Bush. "And so we stand with you. It's -- you got a hard job. I understand that. But you bring the right spirit to the job."



Lugo underscored that he entered politics in order to change the history of Paraguay. “We have not come into politics in order to get into the smokeless industry that is to steal from the people of the country. We came in as Christians, because our Christian duty is to serve the poorest and the neediest of our people. And today, as President of Paraguay, we're taking on all of the challenges with the greatest serenity possible so that we can help our people”.



“I'll never forget that when I talked to one of our farm people, one of the people out in the country, a farmer who said, "What we need is bread. We don't care if it comes from the left hand or from the right hand; we just need somebody to give us food." And that's why we're here, because the Paraguayans have asked us to be here as President to try to recover Paraguay's dignity as a nation”.



Lugo is a former Catholic bishop who ended 61 years of one-party conservative rule in Paraguay when he became head of state in August with the support of a catch-all centre left coalition.






Bush Buys Land in Northern Paraguay
Prensa Latina – Buenos Aires, Oct 13, 2006



An Argentine official regarded the intention of the George W. Bush family to settle on the Acuifero Guarani (Paraguay) as surprising, besides being a bad signal for the governments of the region. Luis D Elia, undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo partially reproduced by digital INFOBAE.com, in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842-acre farm in northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia.



The news circulated Thursday in non-official sources in Asuncion, Paraguay. D Elia considered this Bush step counterproductive for the regional power expressed by Presidents Nestor Kirchner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. He said that "it is a bad signal that the Bush family is doing business with natural resources linked to the future of MERCOSUR."



The official pointed out that this situation could cause a hypothetical conflict of all the armies in the region, and called attention to the Bush family habit of associating business and politics. www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={EBA55617-2676-4091-ABBC-20650EB6FEE1}&language=EN


Update Bush Family Residence in Paraguay? Written by April Howard – Upside Down World October 11, 2006


The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor. Acosta said that some stories credited the land to the Fundación Patria, which Bush would be a member of. The spokespeople of the organization were not available to comment.




Timothy Towell, the U.S. Ambassador in Asunción (the capital of Paraguay) is the present administrator of the land. First accounts signaled that Bush had acquired 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) in the Chaco zone of Fuerte Olimpo, near the Bolivian Border. A spark of the interest in this property may have been Jenna Bush's private visit to Paraguay with Unicef, which started Saturday, October 7, 2006. Jenna will travel to the ranch to ''observe'' several indigenous villages are located on the property. http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/457/0/