17.10 - Paraguay : two journalists threatened by politicians in pre-election period

[Judi Lynn]

Source: RSF

17.10 - Paraguay : two journalists threatened by politicians in pre-election period

Prospective election candidate for the ruling Colorado party, Francisco Alvarenga, today issued a death threat against Carlos Mariano Godoy, a correspondent for the daily ABC Color in Coronel Oviedo, Caaguazú department.

Alvarenga, once nicknamed the “diputado pistolero” (trigger-happy deputy) for having opened fire on someone during a volleyball match, phoned the newspaper to threaten the journalist, who had used his name in articles yesterday about politicians who had a negative image with the public. The prospective candidate to general and departmental elections due in April 2008, said on the phone, “If I wasn’t a potential candidate at the elections, I would have gone to the correspondent’s home to put bullets in him”. He added that, “it was nothing to kill someone”, but he was “curbed” by his position as a prospective candidate and that the journalist would do well “not to put himself in my path”.

The same day, another ABC Color journalist, Aldo Benítez, was threatened by the mayor of Piribebuy, San Lorenzo department, Cayo González, also a member of the Colorado Party, who phoned him about the same series of articles. His brothers are respectively a parliamentary candidate and defence minister in the current government.

He demanded that Benítez correct the article in question and warned him not to come back to Piribebuy to “take pictures of stupid things”.



Read more: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24053

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The candidate's party, Colorado Party, is the longest running party in power in the world:

Colorado Party (Paraguay)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Asociación Nacional Republicana – Partido Colorado

Leader José Alberto Alderete

Founded 1887
Headquarters Asunción

Official ideology/
political position Right-wing, conservatism
International affiliation International Democrat Union

Website http://www.anr.org.py/
The National Republican Association – Colorado Party (Asociación Nacional Republicana – Partido Colorado, ANR-PC) is a political party in Paraguay, founded in 1887 by Bernardino Caballero. It is usually known as the Colorado Party.

It initially ruled the country from 1887 until 1904. In 1946, it rejoined the government, together with the Febreristas, during Higinio Morinigo's rule as President of Paraguay. Therefore, the Colorado Party can be considered nowadays the longest running political party in the world, as it has remained in power for over 60 years (as of December 2006).

From 1947 until 1962, the Colorado Party ruled Paraguay as a one-party state; all other political parties were illegal.<1>

It also served as one of the "twin pillars" supporting the Stroessner regime (the other pillar being the military). <2>
(snip)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Party_(Paraguay)

[jaybeat]

1. How fitting for the future home of the Bush Crime Family

And their good, good friends, the Moon Crime Church.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You're so right. It's just their kind of place. The former dictator, Stroessner, gave the Nazi

butcher Mengele haven there after the 2nd World War.

Just one big happy family. Oh, yeah, you probably remember the _Bush family friend, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon owns a HUGE area there right above the largest fresh water aquifer in the Western Hemisphere.

It's all not far from the HUGE air base, Estigarribia.


U.S. Military in Paraguay Prepares to "Spread Democracy"
Written by Benjamin Dangl
Thursday, 15 September 2005

Controversy is raging in Paraguay, where the U.S. military is conducting secretive operations. 500 U.S. 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 U.S. military. Officials in Paraguay claim the military operations are routine humanitarian efforts and deny that any plans are underway for a U.S. base. Yet human rights groups in 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 U.S. 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)

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. 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 air force, 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. (3)

"Estigarribia is ideal because it is operable throughout the year…I am sure that the U.S. presence will increase," said Paraguayan defense analyst Horacio Galeano Perrone. (4)
(snip/)http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=593