An attempt to reconsider a Paraguayan Senate declaration on the Banco Atlas-Conmebol case went without a vote after attendance fell from 32 to 19. ABC Color identified 13 senators in the session sequence who had been present for an earlier vote but had left by the time Rafael Filizzola of the Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) made the request. The chamber was four senators short of a quorum.
According to the newspaper’s reporting, the 13 were Óscar Salomón, Ramón Retamozo, Antonio Barrios, Carlos Núñez Agüero, Derlis Maidana, Guadalupe Aveiro, Gustavo Leite, Juan Carlos Galaverna, Lizarella Valiente, Natalicio Chase, Patrick Kemper, Pedro Díaz Verón and Zenaida Delgado. ABC classified 12 as aligned with cartismo, Horacio Cartes’s political faction, and Retamozo as a member of the Colorado Party’s (ANR) Añetete movement. The attendance sequence alone does not establish why they left or whether the departures were coordinated.
At 13:02:49, 32 senators were present for a vote on amendments to Law 7,280/2024 concerning National Police reform. Earlier, Eduardo Nakayama of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) had announced that he wanted to reconsider his vote on the declaration. At about 13:05, Filizzola formally made the request, but only 19 senators remained. He and Ever Villalba, of the PLRA, said they would seek to revoke the declaration.
The document, approved hours earlier without debate, expresses concern over the Supreme Court of Justice’s Criminal Chamber taking time to resolve a recusal in the Atlas-Conmebol case. It includes a caveat that it does not seek to determine the court’s decision. Filizzola argued that the statement could conflict with Article 248 of the Constitution, which protects judicial independence and prohibits interference by other branches in court proceedings.
Dionisio Amarilla, a PLRA senator, presented the opposing view on Así son las cosas, broadcast by GEN television and Universo 970 AM, in an interview reported by La Nación. He argued that requesting a swift decision does not constitute pressure and cited earlier Senate statements concerning judges. Amarilla’s defense and Filizzola’s objection are competing political positions; the loss of a quorum left reconsideration pending.