Oil find is a game-changer for Paraguay

[Judi Lynn]

Oil find is a game-changer for Paraguay

President Franco of Paraguay visits U.S. to discuss oil exploration in poverty-stricken arid region of the South American country. Paraguay currently imports oil, mostly from Venezuela.

Tuesday, December 04, 2012
By Martin Barillas

Paraguayan President Federico Franco will visit Miami FL on December 5 where he will meet with oil company officials to discuss ongoing oil exploration in the arid Chaco region of the isolated South American country. Speaking to Spero News at a conference in Paraguay, Horacio Enciso, who writes for Economia Virtual – an online news site based in Asuncion – affirmed that the finding of significant petroleum deposits would be a game-changer for Paraguay. Currently, Paraguay imports oil that is refined at its government-controlled La Teja refinery. La Teja is being converted in order to refine heavier crude now being supplied by Venezuela, a country with which Paraguay’s current government is increasingly at odds. Since Paraguay does not currently produce petroleum, a significant find in Chaco is hoped to lead to energy independence and lower rates for oil.

According to a report by Paraguay’s official news agency, President Franco announced that by mid-2013 Paraguay will become an oil-producing country. Speaking at a forum last week in Asuncion, Franco told listeners “Paraguay is a country that is full of opportunities,” adding “oil has been found in the Pirity basin that is of the best quality and in great quantity.”

According to Economia Virtual, two American firms - Crescent Global Oil and Pirity Hidrocarburo plan to begin drilling exploratory wells this month. At the fórum, Franco gave assurances that “Paraguay will not only be a world leader in clean and renewable hydroelectric power, but also as of today, and in the next week, it will surely become in April, May or June of next year one of the world’s oil-producing countries.“

On December 4, President Franco was at Colonia Neuland – a town in Chaco – where he met with representatives of President Energy. At least 10 oil exploration trucks are being deployed in the region to make seismic tests. Later, exploratory wells of some 12,000 feet in depth would drilled at a cost between $5 to $10 million. Some estimates indicate that there could be as much as 150 million barrels of oil in the Pirity Basin. President Energy is an Anglo-American enterprise that also operates in Australia and the U.S. According ABC Color, a local daily, Peter Levine of President Energy refused to speculate on the actual amount of oil to be found.

http://www.speroforum.com/a/GUJJSQEAYQ45/73329-Oil-find-is-a-gamechanger-for-Paraguay

(Short article, no more at link.)

[snot]

1. Too is much happening in Paraguay.

Remember this? http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/government/fraud/gw_bush_ghw_bush/news.php?q=1291226489 : "George W. Bush recently bought 42,000 hectares (over 100,000 acres) of land in Paraguay's northern "Chaco" region. The land sits atop huge natural gas reserves, according to sources in Asuncion. . . . '"The Guaraní Aquifer...is one of the world's largest aquifer systems...It is said that this vast underground reservoir could supply fresh drinking water to the world for 200 years." "US President George W. Bush allegedly has recently purchased a 98,842 acre farm in Chaco, Paraguay atop the aquifer.'"

And now this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/22/paraguay-fernando-lugo-ousted :
"Paraguay's senate removed president Fernando Lugo from office in a rapid impeachment trial on Friday, and the leftist former priest said he was stepping aside even though he considered his ouster a blow to democracy.

* * * * *
"It was a dramatic demise for the once-popular leader who previously had stepped down as a popular Roman Catholic "bishop of the poor" to run for the presidency amid a leftward swing in South America."

[Bacchus4.0]

2. the supposed Bush purchase has never been confirmed to my knowledge

it was apparently started by PrensaLatina which is a Cuban government propaganda site. If Bush was going to buy it there to "escape" war crimes, as the speculation goes, he would already be there. Additional speculation was based on that Jenna Bush visited Paraguay.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Here's an article posted a couple of years ago by Octofish, well before this coup:

Paraguay in a spin about Bush's alleged 100,000 acre hideaway

Tom Phillips in Cuiab
The Guardian, Monday October 23 2006

Meeting the new couple next door can be an anxious business for even the most relaxed home owner. Will they be international drug traffickers? Have they got noisy kids with a penchant for electronic music? As worries go, however, having the US president move in next door must come fairly low on the list.

Unless of course you are a resident of northern Paraguay and believe reports in the South American press that he has bought up a 100,000 acre (40,500 hectare) ranch in your neck of the woods.

SNIP...

Rumours of Mr Bush's supposed forays into South American real estate surfaced during a recent 10-day visit to the country by his daughter Jenna Bush. Little is known about her trip to Paraguay, although officially she travelled with the UN children's agency Unicef to visit social projects. Photographers from the Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color tracked her down to one restaurant in Paraguay's capital Asunción, where she was seen flanked by 10 security guards, and was also reported to have met Paraguay's president, Nicanor Duarte, and the US ambassador to Paraguay, James Cason. Reports in sections of the Paraguayan media suggested she was sent on a family "mission" to tie up the land purchase in the "chaco".

Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta, the governor of the Alto Paraguay region where Mr Bush's new acquisition supposedly lies, told one Paraguayan news agency there were indications that Mr Bush had bought land in Paso de Patria, near the border with Brazil and Bolivia. He was, however, unable to prove this, he added.

Last week the Paraguayan news group Neike suggested that Ms Bush was in Paraguay to "visit the land acquired by her father - relatively close to the Brazilian Pantanal and the Bolivian gas reserves".

CONTINUED...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3183814

[center]~~~~~[/center]
The entire thread is terrific. Octofish is a serious, brilliant, wonderful person. All his superthreads are an education, since he does a lt of research well beyond standard.

We all know there is clearly something behind the story the Bushes bought property there. Democrats don't have the time to make things up like Republicans, nor the lack of character.

[Bacchus4.0]

15. any confirmation of that purchase? any new information?

I just keep seeing the rumour. Your post doesn't confirm that. I find it difficult to believe a 20 something Jenna Bush would be the one finalizing the details on a 100,000 acre land sale. The rumour included speculation that Bush was going to flee there to avoid war crimes prosecution. Another was the supposed construction of a US military base. Yet another is somehow taking control of the aquifer. As far as I know, Bush is still in the US, there is no base in Paraguay, and the aquifer still is under Paraguayan control.

I'm definitely open to hearing confirmation one way or the other.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Of course there's an airbase in Paraguay: Mariscal Estigarribia.

[center]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_r9lhQTeVJv4/SPSrok8q1hI/AAAAAAAAEfw/74JlAweLETw/s400/mariscal+estigarribia.jpg







ENTRADA. ASI LUCE LA PUERTA DE ACCESO AL AEROPUERTO
MONTADO JUNTO A LA BASE MARISCAL ESTIGARRIBIA.
(Foto: NORBERTO DUARTE)

[/center]

Mariscal Estigarribia airbase

"The Estigarribia airbase was constructed in the 1980s for U.S. technicians hired by the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, and is capable of housing 16,000 troops," Dangl wrote. "A journalist writing for the Argentine newspaper Clarin, recently visited the base and reported it to be in perfect condition, capable of handling large military planes. It’s oversized for the Paraguayan airforce, which only has a handful of small aircraft. The base has an enormous radar system, huge hangars and an air traffic control tower. The airstrip itself is larger than the one at the international airport in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital. Near the base is a military camp which has recently grown in size."

Criminal Immunity

"On May 26, 2005 the Paraguayan Senate granted the U.S. troops total immunity from national and International Criminal Court jurisdiction until December 2006. The legislation is automatically extendable. Since December 2004, the U.S. has been pressuring Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Paraguay into signing a deal which would grant immunity to U.S. military. The Bush administration threatened to deny the countries up to $24.5 million in economic and military aid if they refused to sign the immunity deal." Dangl wrote.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._military_presence_in_Paraguay

[center]~~~~~[/center]
September 23, 2005
US Military Establishes Base in Paraguay

Preparations made to "spread democracy"

by Ben Dangl

Controversy is raging in Paraguay, where the US military is conducting secretive operations. 500 US troops arrived in the country on July 1st with planes, weapons and ammunition. Eyewitness reports prove that an airbase exists in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay, which is 200 kilometers from the border with Bolivia and may be utilized by the US military. Officials in Paraguay claim the military operations are routine humanitarian efforts and deny that any plans are underway for a US base. Yet human rights gropsin the area are deeply worried.
White House officials are using rhetoric about terrorist threats in the tri-border region (where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet) in order to build their case for military operations, in many ways reminiscent to the build up to the invasion of Iraq. [1]

The tri-border area is home to the Guarani Aquifer, one of the world's largest reserves of water. Near the Estigarribia airbase are Bolivia's natural gas reserves, the second largest in Latin America. Political analysts believe US operations in Paraguay are part of a preventative war to control these natural resources and suppress social uprisings in Bolivia.

Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel commented on the situation in Paraguay, "Once the United States arrives, it takes it a long time to leave. And that really frightens me." [2]

More:
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/accounts/2005/09/23/us_militar.html

[Bacchus4.0]

18. yep, that base is a Paraguayan military base and airport that serves the town

and that article from 2005 on the secretive war preparations in the tri border region and to suppress uprisings in Bolivia. I don't recall such a war or invasion of US forces in BOlivia happening, do you? Maybe its time to move on to another more current conspiracy theory.

[naaman fletcher]

19. no, we don't

We all know there is clearly something behind the story the Bushes bought property there.

Another Judi Lynn "the total and complete lack of evidence is the evidence" thread.

The simple fact is that this purchase would be EASY for anyone to confirm. Paraguay has land records. Was there a ranch around that size in that area that was sold? That is easy to look up (no matter whose name it is in).

[limpyhobbler]

3. This is sickening in several different ways.

I smell a herd of rats.

[limpyhobbler]

4. Is Franco even a legitimate president?

Mercosur (as Unasur) ratifies the suspension of Paraguay until at least April - Mercosur Foreign ministers announced in Brasilia on Thursday that the suspension of Paraguay from the group stands at least until the coming presidential election on April 2013.

The decision was one of the first from the Mercosur Common Market Council which brings together the groups’ foreign ministers: from Argentina, Hector Timerman, Brazil, Antonio Patriota, Uruguay, Luis Almagro and Veronica Guerrero in representation of Venezuela which is attending for the first time as a Mercosur full member.

“It was decided to continue examining the situation without altering the suspension agreed last June following the removal of then president Fernando Lugo”, said Patriota, adding that besides the suspension Mercosur members ratified their interest in sending observers for the coming elections in April.

“We are going to continue ‘hand to hand’ with Unasur (Union of South American Nations) that has also suspended Paraguay and has also the intention of sending observers to the election” despite the fact that President Federico Franco said he would not accept Unasur representatives.

Nevertheless Patriota said he trusts that both Unasur and Mercosur “will find a way with the Paraguayan electoral authorities” so that observers can be present at the election.
...

http://en.mercopress.com/2012/12/06/mercosur-as-unasur-ratifies-the-suspension-of-paraguay-until-at-least-april

[Bacchus4.0]

5. yes. Lugo was impeached by the congress. The peasant/police massacre was the catalyst

to remove Lugo. Mercosur doesn't decide who is legitimate.

[limpyhobbler]

6. who decides?

[Bacchus4.0]

7. well, I understand that Lugo was impeached in accordance with their constitution

so I assume that adherence to the constitution confers legitimacy on the office.

[limpyhobbler]

8. Then why are the other Latin American governments questioning the impeachment, calling it a coup?

[Bacchus4.0]

9. they didn't like the results

Venezuela was particularly pretty upset about the whole thing Maduro met with Paraguayan military in an apparent attempt to avert the impeachment by means of an auto-coup.

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/105300/paraguay-accuses-ch%C3%A1vez-of-meddling-withdraws-envoy

[limpyhobbler]

10. They said the impeachment was railroaded through in just two hours, so it was more like a coup.

[Bacchus4.0]

11. I don't believe there is a time requirement

all but one Congressman voted to remove Lugo.

[limpyhobbler]

12. yeah but

The presidents of Paraguay's neighbouring countries rejected Lugo's removal from office, and compared it to a coup d'état. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff proposed suspending Paraguay's membership in Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic announced that they would not recognize Franco as president.[19] Condemnation also came from more rightist governments in the region, such as Mexico, Colombia and Chile. Lugo's removal has drawn comparisons[by whom?] to the ouster of Honduras's Manuel Zelaya in 2009; like the ouster of Lugo, it was defended as legal and constitutional while being denounced as a coup across the Western Hemisphere's political spectrum.[20]

Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) countries issued a joint statement condemning the events as a coup, and a number of countries (ALBA members Bolivia,[21] Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador, as well as non-members Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico[22]) withdrew their ambassadors to Paraguay.[22] Mercosur suspended Paraguay, and Ecuador has said it may invoke UNASUR's democratic clause, which could lead to the expulsion of Paraguay from both bodies.[22][23]

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 23 June issued a statement declaring unacceptable the speed with which the impeachment of the constitutional and democratically elected President was conducted. Considering that it was a process for the removal of a Head of State, it is highly questionable that this could be done within 24 hours while still respecting the due process guarantees necessary for an impartial trial. The Commission considers that the procedure that was followed affects the rule of law.[24]

On 26 June Reporters without Borders raised concerns about possible censorship of TV Pública Paraguay following the impeachment trial.[25]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Fernando_Lugo

Red: Countries that withdrew their ambassadors; Orange: countries that recalled their ambassadors for consultations; Yellow: countries not recognising the new government; Green: other positions. (Aqua: offered asylum to Lugo, Grey: no embassy in Paraguay.)

[Bacchus4.0]

13. they are sovereign nations and can conduct their foreign policy as they please

Mercosur, a trade bloc, doesn't decide who the presidents are.

from the same article: After the impeachment was endorsed by the Supreme Court of Paraguay and by the country's electoral court Lugo said on 26 June that "all my legal possibilities ended yesterday ... Legally there is no other way to reverse this situation".[1] The electoral court declared that Lugo had been duly removed from office under Article 225, and that Federico Franco had correctly succeeded as President under Article 234.[16]

[snot]

16. It concerns me, though, that the article notes that:

1. Lugo was previously a "popular Roman Catholic 'bishop of the poor'&quot i.e., not the usual, heinous dictator-type).
2. "The senate [had] rejected a request by his lawyers for a period of [only] 18 days to prepare their arguments."
3. "Lugo's removal after [less than] four years in office highlighted his inability to find a balance with one-time allies who increasingly disapproved of his leftist policies"
4. The people were protesting the impeachment.
5. Even "Costa Rica's government also deplored Lugo's dismissal."

[Bacchus4.0]

20. it was very fast no question about it

1. yes Lugo has an interesting personal story
2. I think its up to that body.
3. Yes, even his own party supported his impeachment
4. Some were. I think more though were outraged by the police/peasant massacre that instigated the impeachment
5. Ok

[snot]

22. To be clearer,

1. Not so much interesting as suggestive of possibly genuine concern for the people.
2. No one said it wasn't up to that body. The point is, they refused to give him even a minimal amount of time to prepare a defense. To impeach a democratically-elected president without giving him any opportunity for defense – that's ridiculous.
3. The point is, the elements in his party that withdrew their support did so because he wasn't right-wing enough for them.
4. The evidence in the article indicates that the majority of the protesters were protesting the impeachment.

[joshcryer]

21. Impeachment is not a legal process, though, it's political.

It doesn't fall under the confines of legality. Let's look at President Clinton. Impeached over some bad behavior. Now he could stage a legal defense if he wanted to, but if the Congress voted him out of office, he would have had simply no choice in the matter. It would've been cut and dry. The best defense in the world wouldn't have mattered. He could've been completely innocent. Indeed, in Clinton's case it was political.

Players in the game of Lugo's ouster have ulterior motives. Brazil, for example, has the Itaipu Dam, which Lugo allowed them a favorable contract (which went to the detriment of those in Paraguay, since it provides most of Paraguay's electricity).

Venezuela wanted into Mercosur. Hell, the VP of Venezuela even went to Lugo and tried to convince his top generals to form a coup. This, btw, is a justification, after the fact, of why you must oust certain connected powers quickly. In that "18 days to prepare their arguments" Lugo could've easily been fomenting a coup, the whole logistics of the thing. I would not put it past him at all.