The Colorado Party (ANR) candidate for mayor of Lambaré, Guido González, said his administration had put the municipality’s finances in order and that the city is among the few in Paraguay without new bank, finance-company or cooperative debt taken on during his term.
He made the statement on Sunday during an interview on the En Detalles program. González said economic and financial stability had been one of his main goals and that he plans to use this capacity to invest in infrastructure if he wins another term.
“Since my administration, we now owe no bank, no finance company and no cooperative,” he said. The candidate acknowledged, however, that inherited obligations from previous administrations still need to be paid. He also said he took over part of the period begun by former mayor Armando Gómez and has been leading the municipal administration for more than five years.
For a possible second term, González promised to seek financing mainly to improve Lambaré’s streets. He said the mayor’s office would be able to pay monthly installments of up to G. 300 million without putting public finances under strain again. “I know how much the mayor’s office can pay each month, and I will not suffocate it with these loans,” he said.
González said he intends to use the financial capacity he claims to have recovered to take out new loans for construction projects. González himself made the statement about the accounting situation during the interview, however, and the material released did not include independent financial statements or documents that would make it possible to verify the total volume of inherited debt and the actual scope for new financing.
González also rejected opposition questions about his administration, including accusations of alleged acts of corruption. He said there were no grounds to hold him responsible and argued that voters should assess the contest as a local election, without automatically transferring to the mayor’s office the assessment of the national government or other mayors.
“Lambaré residents know perfectly well how I received the administration, how it is today and what I did during this period,” he said. The candidate said he expected voters to recognize that comparison at the polls and presented control of the municipality’s finances as his main electoral credential.