PARAGUAY: Protests, General Strike Threaten Government Thu Jun 6, 6:39 AM ET IPS Correspondents,Inter Press Service
ASUNCION, Jun 5 (IPS) - Trade unionists and farmers in Paraguay will hold a general strike Thursday to protest the government's economic policy and privatization plans, adding fuel to a crisis that threatens to destabilize the administration of Luis González Macchi, which has already cost the life of one protester. The Central Nacional de Trabajadores (CNT), the country's main trade union, announced the strike to demand changes in the government's economic policy and the revocation of the law on privatization. "We are calling on all citizens to support this measure, in order to rectify the direction our country is taking, reject the prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) (IMF) and World Bank (news - web sites), and defend our sovereignty," said CNT president Eduardo Ojeda. The call for the strike was endorsed by civic groups that for the past few weeks have been holding marches against the government's proposed structural reforms, including the sale of the public telephone company, the Companía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones (Copaco). The crisis peaked at noon Tuesday in the city of Coronel Oviedo, 140 kms east of Asuncion, where police harshly cracked down on around 5,000 peasants marching on the Paraguayan capital to demand that the law on privatizations be overturned. The Chamber of Deputies voted May 23 in favor of abolishing the law, which civil society organizations are now trying to pressure the Senate to overturn. Tuesday's violence occurred when protesting farmers, who were accompanied by lawmakers Waldemar Zarate, Daniel Rojas and Luis Alberto Wagner of the opposition Liberal Party, and Assistant People's Defender Raul Marin, tried to break through a police cordon to continue their march. Calixto Cabral, a 34-year-old farmer, was killed by a bullet to the head. Another peasant, Teresio Velazquez, was critically wounded when he was shot in the stomach. At least five other marchers were injured. The Democratic Congress of the People, made up of peasants, trade unionists and activists from a number of non-governmental organizations, announced after the clash between protesters and the police that the talks with the "criminal" government of Gonzalez Macchi had been broken off. The president called an emergency cabinet meeting to study the situation. A few hours later, he announced on television that he had decided to indefinitely postpone the sale of Copaco, scheduled for Jun 14, in order to "calm things down." Gonzalez Macchi blamed "the damages caused to the citizenry as well as the lamentable bloody incidents" on "groups that resort to violence." Cabinet chief Jaime Bestard said Zarate, Rojas, Wagner and Marin were the "chief instigators" of the protests. Meanwhile, the president of the governing Colorado Party, Nicanor Duarte, said the privatization of Copaco is a process that has failed, and if a process fails, then those who have organized it must resign or leave. "There are proceedings that have not brought the expected results, and officials depend on the success or failure of their plans," warned Duarte. However, Gonzalez Macchi said he had no plans to resign, and he called on Congress and social organizations to engage in a "broad dialogue" to work out "the differences that may exist with respect to the major social and economic issues under debate today." The privatization of Copaco has already been suspended six times due to complaints of supposed irregularities, including the participation of a public notary who was a personal friend of the president, and who reportedly received over 500,000 dollars for his role in the transaction. Gonzalez Macchi considers the sale of Copaco essential, because it would bring the government 400 million dollars to be earmarked for infrastructure works, with the aim of restarting the economy, caught in the grip of recession since 1995. On more than one occasion, Vice-President Julio César Franco of the Liberal Party criticized the privatization of the telephone company due to the "lack of transparency" surrounding the process, and the "irresponsible" way in which it was being handled by Gonzalez Macchi. The president of the Central Bank, Raul Vera Bogado, stressed Wednesday that the sale of Copaco was indispensable for reaching an agreement with the IMF on a stand-by loan for 60 million dollars, which the government has been negotiating for weeks. "If there are things to be investigated, there are channels for that to happen. If the capacity to investigate is doubted, society must assume the role of overseer, and monitor the process," said Vera Bogado. Minister of Reform Oscar Stark and Finance Minister James Spalding warned that the suspension of the privatization would hurt Paraguay's foreign image and discourage foreign investors interested in Copaco. Colorado Party Senator Juan Carlos Galaberna complained that the protests against the law on privatizations were backed and financed by supporters of former general Lino Oviedo, who is living in exile in Brazil. Galaberna and Senator Luis Alberto Mauro of the National Encounter party, which is allied with the government, say Oviedo is seeking the resignation of Gonzalez Macchi with the aim of becoming president himself before next year's elections. During Tuesday's incidents, the police confiscated a car from the protesters containing t-shirts sporting pro-Oviedo slogans. Oviedo was arrested on Jun 11, 2000 in the Brazilian (news - web sites) town of Foz de Iguazu, on the border with Paraguay. He is accused of planning and ordering the Mar 23, 1999 assassination of Paraguayan Vice-President Luis Maria Argana in Asuncion. The former general, who was released last year by the courts in Brazil after that country rejected a Paraguayan extradition request, announced his aim of returning to Asuncion to run for president in 2003. Full at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/oneworld/20020606/ wl_oneworld/1032_1023362895
