Paraguay, its coffers empty, sells $45 million in bonds to cover operating costs

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Paraguay, its coffers empty, sells $45 million in bonds to cover operating costs
By Pedro Servin, The Associated Press September 12, 2012

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay's government has run out of money, so put another package of treasury bonds up for sale Wednesday, worth $45 million, to cover a $12 million hole in this year's budget and be able to make upcoming payments on its $2.2 billion in debt.

"We're scraping the bottom of the pot," and so will have to reject any request for more public spending this year, Treasury minister Manuel Ferreira said.

~snip~
Also Wednesday, the government announced that it can't accept a $41 million Mercosur loan for a new highway along the Paraguay River because the paperwork arrived with the signature of Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela was made a full Mercosur member in June after Paraguay, whose veto power had long blocked the Caribbean country's entry, was suspended from the trade group for impeaching former president Fernando Lugo, an ally of the presidents of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. With Paraguay sidelined, the three remaining leaders voted Venezuela in, angering Paraguay's new leaders.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Paraguay+coffers+empty+sells+million+bonds+cover+operating+costs/7230976/story.html

[pscot]

1. Isn't Paraguay the Bush Family bolthole?

Sounds like trouble in paradise.

[AlecBGreen]

2. supposedly

if the rumors are true (last I heard it was unconfirmed) the Bush clan bought a 100,000 acre (=156 SQUARE MILES) parcel in northern Paraguay, conveniently located over one of the world's largest aquifers.

[hack89]

4. It is an internet myth. Bush did not buy any land in Paraguay. nt

[MADem]

5. If it's a lie, it's a CUBAN lie....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/23/mainsection.tomphillips

....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.

The rumours, as yet unconfirmed but which began with the state-run Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, have triggered an outpouring of conspiracy theories, with speculation rife about what President Bush's supposed interest in the "chaco", a semi-arid lowland in the Paraguay's north, might be.

Some have speculated that he might be trying to wrestle control of the Guarani Aquifer, one of the largest underground water reserves, from the Paraguayans.

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".

[freshwest]

6. Aw. shucks. I read years ago that Rummy, Bush and Reverend Moon were planning to buy adjoining land.

And that the USAF just so happens to have bases in that faraway country. It's a ecotourism destination and some places in that part of South America have long-standing European communiites. And, there are always Nazis. Because they're everyhwere.

[MADem]

7. All I know is that it is a rumor, started in the Cuban press.

I've heard from some folks on this board that the Cubans never lie about anything...so who knows?

I also heard a rumor that Porgie was going to invest in switchgrass as a cheaper/easier growing alternative to corn for ethanol!

[Octafish]

8. Of course it's a rumor.

When has a member of the Bush family ever lied to the people of the United States of America?



Paraguay is nice.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Well! We have to wonder since when Neil Bush was handling our foreign affairs with Paraguay!

We recall that even Jenna has come and gone from the Presidential Palace there, as well.

This is a superb thread, so glad to see it. Far more than a simple original post.

[Octafish]

10. The recent passing of Rev. Moon must've brought tears to Neil's eyes...

...as did these wonderous paintings.

Rev Moon allied group hosts Neil Bush in Paraguay

Neil Bush is the guest of a group founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon

President Bush's younger brother meets Paraguay's president, group delegation

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) -- Neil Bush, younger brother of President Bush, called on Paraguay's president as the guest of a business federation founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.


Neil Bush speaks with reporters Thursday in Asuncion after meeting with Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte.

A presidential press office source, who spoke on condition of not being named, confirmed the younger Bush met President Nicanor Duarte on Thursday along with a delegation from the Universal Peace Federation, a group associated with Moon.

Duarte had no statement on the meeting.

Antonio Betancourt, a spokesman for the federation, said that Bush visited Duarte and later met with an opposition congressional leader, Sen. Miguel Abdon Saguier, and that both expressed interest in the Bush family and discussed local matters.

Betancourt said Bush later attended a leadership seminar sponsored by the federation.

The federation's Web site says it is trying to promote peace in the Middle East, South Asia and other regions, as well as proposing a 50 mile (85-kilometer), $200 billion tunnel linking Siberia and Alaska.

A leading Paraguayan newspaper, ABC Color, reported Friday that Bush spoke at the leadership seminar about instilling a "culture of service" and better uniting individuals and organizations behind objectives that serve peace and the common good.

It said the seminar, held at an Asuncion hotel, was entitled "Toward a New Paradigm of Leadership and Government in Times of World Crisis."

The newspaper said other participants included Jose Maria Sanguinetti, the former Uruguayan president.

Groups allied with Moon publish a newspaper, operate businesses and have large land holdings in Paraguay, South America's second-poorest country. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CONTINUED...

http://web.archive.org/web/20080305015712/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/29/paraguay.neil.bush.ap/index.html

INTERNET ARCHIVE, AS CNN HAS DROPPED THE STORY FROM ITS ARCHIVE.

Brave people, Democrats. Rather than stealing it, we try to build the future.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Sounds like it's even larger than anyone not connected to it realized!

This is getting even creepier.

Neil Bush, pursuing money-making schemes to promote "world peace"! Oh, you betcha! It's just like learning how much help Jeb Bush was bringing to the poor of Nigeria by going into business selling them water purification machinery at "affordable" prices.

First time I've heard of their idea to get in there and connect Alaska to Siberia via a long tunnel. How thoughtful!

Regarding their busy work in Paraguay, I recalled learning Paraguay has been a haven for Nazis fleeing retribution after World War II, one of them being non other than the astoundingly evil Dr. Mengele. We all recall the CIA was involved in resettling Nazis, too, getting them out of Europe to new safe homes. Ugly, isn't it?

Found this bit of info.:

~snip~

The democratic order in Paraguay is quite recent. For 35 years the right wing dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner and his Colorado Party, economically stratified Paraguay became a haven for fleeing Nazis and arms smugglers. A U.S. Cold War ally, Stroessner was one of the longest-serving heads of state in history. After his own ouster by a military coup of his own in 1989, the 1990s were rife with coup plots and government intrigue. Landowners formed private armies on vast plantations and the nation became even more of, in Grandin’s words, “an oligarchic state.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/20/in-the-time-of-legal-coups/

The idea of Neil Bush, considering himself "leadership" material really sends one reeling, doesn't it? Jesus.

Thank you for the information.

This was after 35 years of President Alfredo Stroessner's (Colorado Party) rule, during which he tortured and murdered native Paraguayan people, even sending some Paraguayans into slavery, while remaining within the affectionate embrace of the U.S. government, and never lost financial backing. We also NEVER heard a discouraging word concerning the Nazi-loving violent dictator through our own corporate media.

[bemildred]

3. I wonder how long these clowns are going to last? nt