Paraguay’s President Upends Cabinet After Protests Over Covid

(Bloomberg) -- Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benitez asked all members of his cabinet to resign following Friday’s unrest in the capital, Asuncion, over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The move was announced by Juan Manuel Brunetti, IT and Communications Minister, on Saturday. Abdo Benitez has listened to Paraguay’s citizens and respects peaceful demonstrations, Brunetti said, according to ABC newspaper.

Activists in normally peaceful Paraguay are reportedly organizing a second night of anti-government protests. Public frustration has boiled over following shortages of key drugs in public hospitals and the lack of vaccines.

Covid cases and deaths have surged since July as the government largely reopened its economy in a nod to the country’s informal sector that employs about two thirds of the workforce.

Abdo Benitez plans a press conference on Saturday to provide more details of the cabinet reshuffle. Friday’s unrest left at least one person dead, according to the Ultima Hora newspaper.

The government ran up a deficit of 6.5% of GDP in 2020 to fund social programs and shore-up a struggling public health system, yet many families of Covid-19 patients have turned to the black market to buy sedatives and other drugs. In some cases those drugs were reportedly stolen from state hospitals.

Meanwhile, the government’s efforts to obtain vaccines have so far yielded just 4,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V shot for a population of 7 million people. Some 20,000 doses of Coronavac donated by Chile’s government are scheduled to arrive Saturday night.

Former Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni resigned Friday after the Senate passed a non-binding resolution calling for his ouster over his handling of the crisis.

The central bank expects Paraguay’s economy to expand 4% this year, after contracting less than 1% in 2020, thanks to a massive dose of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

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