Paraguay Opposition Files Impeachment Charges Against President

(Bloomberg) -- Opposition lawmakers brought impeachment charges against President Mario Abdo Benitez for his handling of the pandemic in the landlocked South American nation.

The Constitutional Affairs Committee should receive impeachment charges today or Thursday, Celeste Amarilla, lower house lawmaker for the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, said after submitting the documents

”That commission has to study” the charges and later “issue an opinion and call an extraordinary session” of the lower house, Amarilla said in recorded comments distributed by press staff.

The opposition also filed separate impeachment charges against Vice President Hugo Velazquez for participating in alleged acts of treason and the misuse of public funds for political purposes among other accusations, according to a copy of the document from the lower house press staff.

Abdo Benitez overhauled his cabinet last week to mollify protesters who have taken to the streets of the capital, Asuncion, and other communities for almost two weeks to call for his ouster amid vaccine and drug shortages. To date, the government has secured enough shots to vaccinate just 13,500 of Paraguay’s 7 million people.

For an impeachment motion to succeed, the opposition would need the backing of lawmakers from the ruling Colorado Party, which is divided between factions loyal to Abdo Benitez, and to ex-President Horacio Cartes. At least two thirds of the lower house’s 80 legislators must approve the start of the process.

Local media report the opposition has just 37 of the 53 votes it needs to approve the start of both impeachment proceedings.

If approved, the Senate would then oversee a trial that would require votes from at least two thirds of its 45 lawmakers to remove the president and vice president from office.

Covid Surge

The Abdo Benitez administration imposed a curfew in 23 cities starting March 15 as rising infections threaten to swamp hospitals by the end of the month.

Last year, the government ran up a deficit of 6.5% of GDP after Congress authorized the Treasury to borrow $1.6 billion to fund social programs and shore up a beleaguered public health system. Yet until recently bureaucratic bungling left hospitals desperately short of key sedatives and drugs.

Paraguay’s vaccine shortages are set to ease this month with the WHO’s Covax program expected to deliver 100,000 of the roughly 4.3 million shots it reserved.

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