POLITICS-PARAGUAY: State of Seige to Crack Down on Uprising

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, May 19 2000 (IPS) - A revolt by a group of serving and retired members of the military, police and lawmakers loyal to former general and ex-coup leader Lino Oviedo was squashed Friday without bloodshed, and nearly 40 officers and legislators are under arrest.

President Luis González Macchi declared a 30-day state of siege to crack down on all those involved in the attempt to overthrow his government. The decision is slated for approval by parliament.

Fifteen hours after the attempted coup d’etat began, González Macchi gave his assurances that “order has been reestablished, the destabilising and anti-democratic ‘Oviedism’ is in disorder, the crisis is under control, the rebels have been arrested and our political will in defence of democracy is more steadfast than ever.”

Defence minister Nelson Argaña said those responsible for the uprising would receive “the severest sanctions.”

“The citizens can rest assured that this was the last and final battle against those responsible for political crime, social instability and economic backwardness” in Paraguay, said the president, who stressed that the forces of democracy had “defeated” the rebels and their allies “without a single casualty.”

The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc, the United States, the European Union, the Vatican and the Organisation of American States immediately expressed their support for Paraguay’s democracy.

Argentine President Fernando de la Rúa, who made an official visit to Asuncion just last weekend, telephoned González Macchi to spell out his country’s full support for Paraguayan democracy.

Uruguay, a member of Mercosur – South America’s largest trade bloc – along with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, also expressed its support for the Paraguayan government and the country’s democratic institutions, as well as its “deep concern over the attempted coup d’etat.”

The crisis broke out late Thursday in Asuncion, when a group of 60 serving and retired officers, police and lawmakers loyal to Oviedo – who is wanted in connection with the 1999 murder of vice- president Luis María Argaña – occupied the headquarters of the First Army Corps and the police station and opened fire on Congress with machine guns.

The rebels released a communique stating their aim to overthrow the government and call national elections, and staged a demonstration of strength, driving armoured tanks through downtown Asuncion.

A loud explosion was heard in Congress, while the machine-gun fire continued. But although a few people were injured, no one was killed or even severely wounded, according to parliamentary Deputy Franklin Bochia, the leading Authentic Radical Liberal Party legislator.

The heads of the three armed forces met with González Macchi and confirmed their loyalty and subordination to him.

Senate president Juan Carlos Galaverna said documents were found in vehicles abandoned by fleeing rebels, which proved that Oviedo was behind the whole operation.

Galaverna also said the rebels planned to assassinate González Macchi, several government ministers, as well as he himself. He added that a police chief arrested for participating in the uprising admitted, in a private conversation, that Oviedo was responsible for the revolt.

But Oviedo, who has been at large and living in clandestinity since leaving Argentina – where he had gone into exile – on Dec 9, issued a communique refuting the allegations against him and his political movement.

Oviedo, who the government holds responsible for the March 1999 murder of vice-president Argaña, “categorically” denied that he was involved in the military uprising.

But the president, his cabinet, and lawmakers of the political parties making up the government of national unity have no doubt regarding Oviedo’s involvement.

In 1989, Oviedo helped overthrow dictator Alfredo Stroessner (1954-89).

In April 1996 he rose up against president Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993-97). He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attempted coup. But his ally Raúl Cubas, elected president in 1998, set him free.

After Argaña was murdered and seven people were killed in a police crackdown on a protest staged by the “Youth for Democracy” movement outside the seat of government to demand that the president step down, Cubas resigned and went into exile in Brazil.

Oviedo, meanwhile, fled to Argentina, where he was granted political asylum. The Argentine government, headed by president Carlos Menem (1989-99), refused to extradite him to Paraguay, where he was wanted in connection with the deaths of Argaña and the seven protesters.

Oviedo went underground on Dec 9, the day before the De la Rúa administration took office in Argentina.

On Friday, Oviedo’s lawyer told radio stations in Buenos Aires that the retired general was in Paraguay, and politicians in Asuncion speculated that the retired general might be in hiding somewhere along the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

The Paraguayan defence ministry said the uprising “served to test those of us who defend democracy,” and added that the system “emerged even stronger” from the test.

The communique added that “the danger” that ‘Oviedism’ poses for Paraguay’s democratic order had been glaringly revealed.

Defence minister Nelson Argaña said the swift response by the government, the independent press and international support for Paraguay’s democracy made a fast solution to the crisis possible.

Argaña said rumours of coups and threats issued by Oviedo’s followers were “constant and unabated,” and justified the government’s failure to act by the lack of conclusive evidence.

Today, with 35 serving officers under arrest and three parliamentarians about to be stripped of their immunity from prosecution, he pledged that those responsible for the revolt would receive the harshest punishment.

Secretary-general to the president Jaime Vestal said Oviedo had “once more created instability” in Paraguay. But he stressed the armed forces’ loyalty to the president. “The rebel group was relatively small, and the crisis has been overcome,” he assured.