As Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo calls his removal from office a sign that democracy in the country is broken, Paraguay’s corporate lawyers say that the impeachment process could usher in a more business-friendly environment.
Lugo has described his ousting as evidence that “the democratic process in this country is broken”, likening the removal of office to Honduras’ 2009 coup which saw President Manuel Zelaya exiled from the country.
The country’s corporate lawyers take a different view.
“It’s clearly constitutional and legal,” agrees Ferrere Abogados (Paraguay) partner Nestor Loizaga. “Rather than committing a crime in exercise of office, it’s more like a vote of no-confidence. People don’t believe that he has the ability to continue as president of Paraguay,” he adds, saying that despite the misleading term of juicio politico in Spanish, translated literally as political trial but meaning impeachment, the process is a political decision rather than anything resembling a criminal trial. In this case, that decision stems from Lugo’s widely criticized mishandling of a land eviction crisis, in which 17 police and farmers died.