Paraguay Opens Doors to Unregulated Foreign Investment

[Octafish]

8. ¡Bravo! ¡Los aluminio smelters of Paraguay salute you, el pendejo President Franco el mas Chiquito!

Multinational Corporations Reap Benefits from Coup Government

Paraguay’s Bitter Harvest

by BENJAMIN DANGL
CounterPunch
July 25, 2012

In a July 22nd speech marking the one month anniversary of the parliamentary coup that overthrow left-leaning Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, the former leader denounced that a motivating interest among the coup-plotters was a sought-after deal between Paraguay and the Montreal-based mining company, Rio Tinto Alcan.

“Those who pushed for the coup are those who want to solidify the negotiations with the multinational Rio Tinto Alcan, betraying the energetic sovereignty and interests of our country,” Lugo told supporters.

Such an accusation represents the widespread discontent among Paraguayan people toward current negotiations between Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) and the government of Federico Franco, Lugo’s right wing replacement.

It also points toward the Franco administration’s larger strategy to open up Paraguay to multinational corporate exploitation, from Rio Tinto Alcan to Monsanto.

The RTA deal for a $4 billion dollar aluminum plant on the shores of the Paraná River had been stalled by the Lugo administration due to concerns over the plant’s environmental impact, as well as how much the company would pay for electricity from Paraguay’s Itaipú and Yacyretá hydroelectric power plants.

Mas, cabron...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/25/paraguays-bitter-harvest/