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[Translation of an article from Carta Maior of Brazil for April 30, 2013. See original here and related article here.]

By Eric Nepomuceno

Fernando Lugo, removed by force from the Paraguayan presidency last year through an unusual parliamentary coup – he was tried and convicted in 48 hours, with no time for a defense – was as evasive as he was inconsistent. What seemed at the outset to be a hurricane of hope for change turned out in the end to be a breeze. The fragile movements meant to change, even if only a little, the deformed face of an unjust and rotten country, led to nothing.

Now everything is back on track. A candidate for the Partido Colorado, the very same party that for decades smothered the country in violence, corruption and fraud, has been elected president. His name is Horacio Cartes. He is a controversial businessman, a millionaire many times over, completely inexperienced (okay, it is true that he presided over a soccer club, but in politics, nothing) and with an embarrassing list of accusations against him that range from money laundering to the smuggling of cigarettes. At the age of 56 he had never in his life voted. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Clarín of Santiago, Chile, for July 5. See original here.]

By Ángel Guerra Cabrera

The coup d’état against the president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, calls for a revision of strategy and tactics by the progressive governments and popular forces of Latin America.

It should be remembered that the United States has at its disposal a large runway in Mariscal Estigarribia, in the Paraguayan Chaco, ready for Galaxy transport planes and B-52 bombers. It was constructed in agreement with the very oligarchical parties that staged the parliamentary coup against Lugo, who have also approved beforehand the incursion of United States troops into the country, recent signs indicating that their presence will be made permanent. (more…)

[Translation of an article from the Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias, the Venezuelan government news agency, for May 19.]

Madrid, May 19 – The Spanish non-governmental organization Intermón Oxfam has criticized the free trade agreements between the European Union and Colombia and Peru signed Wednesday, charging they are an obstacle to the elimination of poverty.

“In clear violation of the EU mandate to promote regional integration, these pacts weaken the Andean Community of Nations,” stated Isabel Tamarit, a reprsentative of the NGO.

She warned that the partnership agreements between the EU and Central America and those reached with Colombia and Peru could become an obstacle to development policies for confronting poverty and inequality and for defending human rights. (more…)