Former senator Sixto Pereira, from the Tekojoja party, stated that Paraguay is currently experiencing “the government of the mafia and organized crime,” recalling the 14th anniversary of the removal of then-president Fernando Lugo on June 22, 2012, through an impeachment trial in Congress.
According to Pereira, the Lugo administration, elected in April 2008 by the Alianza Patriótica para el Cambio, represented “one of the few government experiences within ideological political plurality” and had redefined the role of the state in areas such as health, education, and social policies, citing programs like Tekopora and Tercera Edad. He even argued that these policies could have been expanded if not for the “pettiness” of parliamentarians from traditional parties such as Colorado, Liberal, Patria Querida, and Unace.
For the former senator, Lugo’s removal was a “coup” linked to the event known as the Curuguaty massacre on June 15, 2012, when 11 peasants and six police officers died during an eviction in Marina Cué. Pereira described the incident as “a brutal setup” and a “smokescreen” to enable a “swift parliamentary political coup.”
He also attributed external influence to the process, stating that the United States government was “the driving force” behind the removal, with support from sectors of the PLRA, Patria Querida, and economic groups. In his view, Paraguay had become, for the first time, a “development model” with low debt but ended up having its economic and political sovereignty “handed over to U.S. interests.”
Pereira compared the Paraguayan case to the military coup that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras in June 2009 and argued that Paraguay’s suspension from Mercosur, decided in Mendoza on June 29, 2012, was a direct consequence of Lugo’s removal. He believes the country now faces its “worst social, economic, and cultural crisis,” marked by the “destruction of institutions and corruption,” which negatively affects the environment for foreign investors and regional stability.