The national, regional and international trade union movement has firmly condemned the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo, which was plagued with legal irregularities and has led to his removal one year before the end of his mandate by a Congress dominated by Paraguay’s traditional oligarchic elites.
For the trade union movement, the crisis is clearly the result of a clash between politicians unable to resolve the serious social problems plaguing Paraguay’s people, leaving farmers without land, indigenous communities without rights, and men and women without work.
"It is unacceptable that the terrible violence seen in Curuguaty is being used as a pretext to remove President Lugo, with the risk of an institutional crisis leading to even worse levels of poverty, unemployment and social alienation," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
The ITUC has expressed its total solidarity with the workers and people of Paraguay, reiterating its full support for democracy, peace, human rights, social justice and the construction of a new social order and economic model that benefits the majority.
The ITUC also expressed deep regret at the weakening of Paraguay’s democracy with this trampling of the sovereign will expressed at the polls in 2008, and called for stability, democratic order, social justice and peace to be ensured during this difficult time in Paraguay.
