GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, met Monday 2 July with former Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, as part of the organization’s fact-finding mission, called after the country’s Senate ousted Lugo from office 21 June.
OAS delegates from the United States, Canada, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico arrived with Inzulza in the capital Asuncion Monday to collect information regarding the events which lead to the ouster. The mission was organized after the organization failed to come to a consensus on the situation.
The delegation will meet with other members of Lugo’s “resistance cabinet” and officials in the new government lead by Federico Franco, Lugo’s former vice-president.
Over the weekend the regional bloc Mercosur suspended Paraguay following Lugo’s impeachment. Ambassadors from several South American states were also recalled in reaction to events.
Lugo had been accused by the Senate of mishandling a protest over land claims in which 11 landless farmers and 7 policemen were killed. Lugo had won the presidency in 2008 on promises of land reform.
The United States has not yet pronounced itself on the impeachment and says that it will wait for the outcome of the fact-finding mission.
Links to other sources : BBC, PressTV, Mercopress
