Post date: Jun 23, 2012 10:51:19 AM
ASUNCION, PARAGUAY (JUNE 22, 2012) (REUTERS) - Ousted Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo said on Friday (June 22) he accepted Congress' decision to remove him from office after a lightning-quick impeachment trial that he said was tantamount to a coup.
Paraguay's Lugo accepts removal by Congress; new president is sworn in.
Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop who was due to finish his term next year, urged supporters angered by his ouster to protest peacefully, but some clashes broke out as the announcement was made.
Lugo was found guilty of mishandling armed clashes over a land eviction in which 17 police and peasant farmers were killed last week.
Lugo said he accepted the decision, which voted 39-4 to impeach him, but he took aim at those behind the move.
"Today it is not Fernando Lugo who is deposed, it is Paraguayan history, its democracy that has been profoundly wounded, in which all its principles of defence have been transgressed in a cowardly, treacherous way and I hope that its executors recognize the gravity of their deeds," he said in a televised speech from the presidential palace.
Lugo, a silver-haired former Roman Catholic bishop who quit the Church to run for the presidency, was found guilty of mishandling armed clashes over a land eviction in which 17 police and peasant farmers were killed last week.
Unasur ministers immediately condemned the ouster.
"The foreign ministers consider that the actions taking place, as addressed in articles 1, 5 and 6 of the additional protocol of the constitutional treaty of Unasur which deals with the commitment to democracy, constitute a threat of rupture of the democratic order since due process was not respected," said Unasur
Secretary General, Ali Rodriguez.
Shortly after Lugo left the presidential palace, Federico Franco was sworn in as the president of Paraguay.
The ascension of Franco is in line with Paraguay's constitution which states the vice president should replace the outgoing leader.
Franco, a liberal, has been a fierce opponent of his socialist predecessor, a former Roman Catholic bishop who was due to finish his term next year.
After being sworn in as president, the 49-year-old Franco said he would respect the government's obligations under Lugo.
Lugo's rivals firmly control both congressional houses. The Senate voted 39-4 to remove him the day after lawmakers in the lower house agreed in a sudden, near-unanimous vote to impeach him.
Franco had been expected to run for office in the next presidential election in 2013.
Re-elections are banned under Paraguay's constitution which limits leaders to a single term, leaving it unclear whether Franco would be able to run next year after assuming the presidency on Friday.