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Shortly after his historic victory in Paraguay's mid-April elections, President-elect Fernando Lugo -- the retired bishop suspended from ministry after he declaring his run for office -- received a courtesy call from the papal nuncio to the Latin American country, Archbishop Orlando Antonini. While the Paraguay church's initial reaction to Lugo's expected defeat of its long-reigning Colorado party was little more than acknowledgment that it happened, Antonini called on the president-elect bearing a gift from B16: not a decree of excommunication, but a pen adorned with the papal coat of arms. The prelate-politico was reported to be emotional as...

'A MAN of God and an enemy of the Great Satan": That's how Iran's official media described Fernando Lugo - the Paraguayan ex-priest who just won his country's presidency in a hotly contested election. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Lugo on his win - hopes that Paraguay will now become another link in what he calls "the counter lasso" - the chain of anti-US regimes he's supporting with the help of his "brother," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Ahmadinejad's analysis is simple: America is trying to throw a lasso around Iran with the help...

POST ONE: Pope Benedict XVI is believed to be mulling over the possibility of expelling a bishop, Fernando Lugo, from the clerical state. That would certainly be a first under the 1983 Code (the Jacques Gaillot case in 1995 was not a precedent; Gaillot was removed from office, but not from the clerical state), and I'm pretty sure it never happened under the 1917 Code. Lugo, though suspended and removed from ecclesiastical office, remains a cleric, but his election under a reformist banner to Paraguay's presidency upped the ante. Clergy are forbidden to assume civil governing offices (see 1983...

Pope Benedict XVI is to decide whether to defrock Fernando Lugo, a Roman Catholic Bishop, following his election as President of Paraguay, Vatican sources said today. Mr Lugo, 56, a former Divine Word missionary and Bishop, was elected President of Paraguay with 41 per cent of the vote with a platform of land reform and help for the poor. His election ended over 60 years of rule by the Colorado Party, whose candidate Blanca Ovelar received 31 per cent of the vote. Mr Lugo was ordained in 1977, and served as a missionary in Ecuador for five years. In 1992...

ASUNCION, Paraguay - The victory of the "bishop of the poor" in Paraguay's presidential election expands a wave of leftist leadership across Latin America and further isolates the few remaining conservative governments. Once Fernando Lugo is inaugurated on Aug. 15, the only right-leaning governments in Latin America will be Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico — and arguably Peru, where a left-leaning populist party has gradually edged to the right. "The triumph of comrade Fernando Lugo is ... yet another stone in the foundation of this new Latin America that is just, sovereign, independent — and why not, socialist," Ecuadorean President...

Julio Gonzalez Asunción, Mar 31, 2008 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- Four months ago Julio Gonzalez surprised all of Paraguay when he returned to the soccer field after having one of his arms amputated.  Since returning, he says that he was able to overcome all of his obstacles because of his faith in God.In December of 2005, Gonzalez, a 24 year-old player on an Italian soccer team, was asked to play on the Paraguayan national team for the 2006 World Cup.  However, while he was on his way to the airport in Venice to catch a flight back to Asuncion...

Always trying to be helpful to our Democrat friends, I have a solution for their dilemma that could keep their party from self immolation. There is one country in the world where dueling is still legal --- Paraguay. If Obama and Hillary want to settle their differences in this manner, I am quite certain the funds could be raised to make it happen. I would, of course, want to be the promoter of the event, THE PARAGUAY OPTION. SOURCE For all registered blood donors with an unsatisfied passion for dueling, Paraguay should be top of your list of places to...

Neil Bush, younger brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, called on Paraguay's president as the guest of a business federation founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. A presidential press office source, who spoke on condition of not being named, confirmed the younger Bush met President Nicanor Duarte on Thursday along with a delegation from the Universal Peace Federation, a group associated with Moon. Duarte himself had no statement on the meeting. Antonio Betancourt, a spokesman for the federation, said that Bush visited Duarte and later met with an opposition congressional leader, Sen. Miguel Abdon Saguier, and that both...

Eugene, a Belgian computer programmer, has retired to a cottage in southern Paraguay, and the pride of his golden years is his view. From his stone patio, he sees forested hills, the fringes of yerba mate plantations, and, in the distance, the crumbling ruins of a Jesuit settlement two centuries old. “Like a picture,” he says, and I nod to agree, even though my mind is not on the beautiful vista, but on the dark figure who once shared it. The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele cheated justice for decades by hiding out in South America, sometimes in these very hills....

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay asked international health authorities on Thursday to supply 600,000 doses of vaccine for yellow fever after the first cases were detected in the country in 34 years. Antonio Barrios, a public health official, said the government had 100,000 vaccine doses but wanted to bolster stocks as a "reserve measure" after five cases of yellow fever were detected this week in a central farming region. Barrios said the request was being made to the Pan American Health Organization. An expert on vaccination issues at the Washington-based offices was not immediately available for comment. Barrios said the five...

Homeland Security: Duncan Hunter got the number wrong but the problem right in Tuesday's GOP presidential debate. We need to worry about al-Qaida in Iraq but also about al-Qaida and Hezbollah in the Americas. The long-shot congressman from San Diego tried to make the point that border security isn't just about people coming into this country looking for a better life, but also people possibly coming across looking to end our way of life as we know it. Hunter has stated that last year some 155,000 illegals were caught coming into this country classified as OTMs (other than Mexicans). In...

CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay - The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has taken root in South America, fostering a well-financed force of Islamist radicals boiling with hatred for the United States and ready to die to prove it, according to militia members, U.S. officials and police agencies across the continent.

The U.S. State Department has issued a warning to Americans against travel to parts of Paraguay because of an outbreak of dengue fever. A statement issued Tuesday said citizens may want to particularly avoid the area of Asuncion, Paraguay, where most of the nation's infections are concentrated. At least 18,000 people in Paraguay have been infected, and at least a dozen of those have died of the severe form of the disease, known as dengue hemorrhagic fever. Some experts say the number of cases is significantly higher than the official reports. Paraguayan officials have been accused of a responding inadequately...

Brazil says triple border area under constant vigilance http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/08/america/LA-GEN-Brazil-US-Triple-Border.php The Associated PressPublished: February 8, 2007 BRASILIA, Brazil: Brazil's top law enforcement official Thursday assured his American counterpart that Brazil is taking action to prevent terrorist groups from gaining a foothold in South America's so-called Triple Border. Measures to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering were among the top issues discussed by Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos and U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales in Brazil's capital. The Triple Border, a porous region where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina converge, is home to more than 20,000 Arabs — mostly Lebanese Muslims — as...

Dengue sparks Paraguay emergency Hospitals may not be able to cope if cases go on rising, doctors say Paraguay has declared a 60-day state of emergency to deal with an outbreak of dengue fever which has killed at least 10 people in the past two months. Officials say 14,654 people have been diagnosed with dengue. But doctors say the figure is 10 times higher, and are worried about a new more virulent variant of the disease. Brazil and Bolivia have also seen a rise in cases of dengue, which is spread by mosquitoes and is endemic in much of the...

Asuncion, Oct 18 (Prensa Latina) The land grab project of US President George W. Bush in Chaco, Paraguay, has generated considerable discomfort both politically and environmentally. The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) is the talk of the town in these countries. Although official sources have not confirmed the information that is already public, the land is reportedly located in Paso de Patria, near Bolivian gas reserves and the Guarani indigenous water region, within the Triple Border. Alto Paraguay Gov. Erasmo Rodriguez Acosta revealed...

Paraguay's former military ruler Alfredo Stroessner has died aged 93 in a hospital in the Brazilian capital. General Stroessner had contracted pneumonia after an operation for a hernia on 29 July. Gen Stroessner, who led a military coup in 1954, had lived in exile in Brazil since being ousted in 1989. Paraguay had said earlier it would not pay tribute to him as he was a renegade from justice and was wanted for questioning over alleged rights abuses. Paraguayan judges had, on a number of occasions, requested the extradition of the former leader in connection with Operation Condor, a co-ordinated...

Starting off the day will be Real Salt Lake's Douglas Sequeira and his Costa Rican teammates, who play Ecuador at 8:55 a.m. ET in Hamburg (ESPN2). The ticos showed pluck in their Group A opener against Germany on Friday, making a game of it by scoring twice against the hosts before falling 4-2. The Central Americans will need to have more players get involved in the attack against Ecuador, as Paulo Wanchope provided their only offense. The Ecuadorians got a huge weight off their shoulders by downing Poland 2-0 in their group play opener Friday. Previously, the side had been...

Juan Peron was an Argentinian president who was a dictator who Fascist tendencies from 1946-1955 and 1972-1974, when he died. He was a soldier originally who in a coup became Secretary of Labor in 1943, then he went to prison, because some military personals feared he was getting powerful in 1945, which he goes to jail. Then in October 17th, a large rally occurs calling for the release of Juan Peron, which he is released. He marries Maria Eva Duarte, who becomes Evita Peron. This was Juan Peron's second marriage. His first wife died of cancer. He is elected in...

LONDON – Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has established the first proof al-Qaida is playing a major role in the new Cold War between North and South America – with Osama bin Laden's terror network seeing itself in league with Mexican subversives in infiltrating the U.S. border. The evidence emerged as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez swash-buckled into London after scoring a win in yet another venomous battle with Washington for influence and economic advantage across the Latin American continent. Chavez is in London to meet the capital's anti-Bush mayor, Ken Livingstone, and other prominent British opponents of the war in...

Each year thousands of tourists are drawn to the beauty of Iguacu Falls in an undeveloped area of South America where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet: the Tri-border region. But CBS News correspondent Trish Regan reports that a large, influential Arab population flourishes in the area. Many of them are reaping huge profits in a variety of illegal activities. Members of the American military have charged that the region harbors radical Islamic terrorists, and that the area is a growing threat to U.S. security interests. Millions of dollars flow through these streets every year — and basically nothing is done...

CUIDAD DEL ESTE, PARAGUAY - Outside the Jebay mall, a bustling hive of black market shops guarded by men with pistols and shotguns, a motorcycle taxista shouts from inside his helmet: "They want to control all this. They think terrorists are here." "They" means the US military. The recent arrival of US troops in this landlocked nation of 6 million is brewing fears of the repeat of cold-war intervention in the heart of South America. And in cabs, newspapers, courtyards, and restaurants throughout region, conspiracy theories about Washington's intentions are spreading like wildfire. In May, Paraguay rankled neighbors by hosting...

When the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and China pursued market-led development, it seemed safe to assume that the threat of aggressive communism toppling national dominoes and dominating an entire continent was gone forever. But while America has focused its attention elsewhere, communism is on the move in South America, and the shape of a serious plan to dominate our neighboring continent has become evident. Even worse, our natural ally to resist such domination is strangely uninterested in defending its turf. On a scale not seen since the 1960s, Cuba's Fidel Castro and his new ally,...

Disaster Relief: Ninety-five nations have pledged $1 billion in aid in the wake of Katrina, and while the U.S. can manage, it's heartening. But one government that wishes us ill has jumped in and it should be rebuked. We're talking about our antagonist of the last half-century, Fidel Castro. Cuba's dictator headed straight for the TV cameras to make the most of an offer of 1,600 doctors. Given how his munificence pales in comparison, say, to Kuwait's quietly pledged $500 million, it's amazing how much publicity he's reaped. But Castro's offer of medical help, supposedly waiting at the Havana airport,...

Qatar pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance Saturday to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina, heading a list of more than a dozen countries joining an outpouring of support. They added to the more than 50 countries who had made pledges by the end of the day Friday. ``In these difficult circumstances, the people and the government of the state of Qatar would like to assure the people of the United States of its support and desire to assist the people in the affected area along the United States Gulf Coast,'' said a statement from the oil-rich Persian Gulf state's...

In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina. Cuba and Venezuela have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and small countries like Sri Lanka and Dominica are among the nations making pledges. "I hope that will remind Americans that we are all part of the same community," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday as offers kept pouring in. None has been turned down, Rice said at a news conference, disputing a report from Moscow that a Russian offer had been rejected....

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 The Dark Frontier Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's press conference enroute to Paraguay is interesting for a number of reasons -- the first being Paraguay itself. The Power and Interest News summarizes the region's strategic importance to the US. South America is wracked by a confluence of resurgent Marxism, fueled by Venezuela and Cuba; failing states and coca. Of particular interest is the Tri-Border area, centered on the town of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay on the border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. The Associated Press described it as "a key South American point for Islamic terrorist...

The U.S. military is conducting secretive operations in Paraguay and reportedly building a new base there. Human rights groups and military analysts in the region believe trouble is brewing. However, the U.S. embassy in Paraguay denies the base exists and describes the military activity as routine. According to an article in the Bolivian newspaper El Deber, a U.S. base is being developed in Mariscal Estigarribia, 200 kilometers from the border with Bolivia, and reportedly will permit the landing of large aircraft and the housing up to 16,000 troops. A contingent of 500 U.S. troops arrived in Paraguay on July 1...

All US military leave has been cancelled ... something big is in the works! THE INTERNATIONAL FORECASTER editor Bob Chapman writes: The US military is building a new base and conducting secretive operations in Paraguay ... our Embassy there refuses to acknowledge a base exists and describes the military activity as routine. The base is in Mariscal Estigarribia, 200 km (127 miles) from the Bolivian border and will handle large aircraft and accommodate 16,000 troops. There are now 500 of our troops there with planes, weapons, equipment and ammunition. Either before, during, or after the coming presidential election we expect...

The president continues his working vacation in Crawford, Texas, with the esteemed Mrs. Bush. I haven't found new photos of them for today, but there are a few of other administration officials and employees. A new White House Chef has been hired: Chef Cristeta 'Cris' Comerford from the Philippines, who was hired to "give the White House menus a lighter, more American flair." Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is in Latin America for three days; he is in Paraguay for two days. Welcome to Sanity Island!

COMBITA, Colombia - A guerrilla leader whose capture in neighboring Venezuela sparked a bitter diplomatic row says he was a political envoy who maintained regular relations with foreign ministers and other officials in Latin America, Europe and Africa. In his first media interview since his arrest last year, Rodrigo Granda, who went on trial this week on charges of rebellion, denied police allegations that he was also involved in bomb-making, arms trafficking and kidnapping. Granda is being held in the maximum security wing of the prison here in the windswept mountains of central Colombia, along with a handful of high-profile...

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29 - As he campaigned for the presidency in 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva boldly pledged to clean up the sordid politics of Brazil. His, he vowed, would be an ethical, honest and moral government the likes of which Brazil had never seen. That pledge helped him win the votes of more than 50 million Brazilians and a sweeping mandate. But now, in a gloomy echo of what has happened time and again across Latin America, Mr. da Silva's government is mired in the biggest, most audacious corruption scandal in his country's history. A congressional...

Early on the morning of March 16th, 1984, William Buckley left for work at the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Officially, Mr. Buckley, a decorated veteran of the Special Forces, served as the political officer at the embassy. In reality, however, Mr. Buckley was the embassy’s CIA station chief. On his way to the compound, Buckley’s car was stopped by a group of masked men, who forced him from his car at gunpoint. His assailants would later be identified as terrorists from the group Islamic Jihad, which served as an alias for the real perpetrators, Hezbollah. The circumstances surrounding the...

On the surface there would seem to be little to unite the Aryan racialists of the neo-Nazi movement with the terrorists of radical Islam. To the neo-Nazis, Muslims are almost all members of ``inferior`` races; and to the Islamic terrorists, the neo-Nazis are almost without exception either atheists or members of fringe quasi-Christian sects. But the reality is that there has been close cooperation between Muslim extremists and Fascists ever since the founding of the Nazi movement in the 1920`s. For all of their differences, Muslim extremists and Nazis have always been united by a common group of beliefs and...

China's Latin influence is growing, general says China is taking advantage of a U.S. influence vacuum in Latin America because of aid cuts, the commander of the Southern Command says. By PABLO BACHELET pbachelet@herald.com WASHINGTON - The head of the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command Wednesday warned that China was increasing its influence among Latin American militaries, and partly blamed a policy that cuts military aid to countries that refuse to exempt U.S. citizens from International Criminal Court jurisdiction. In his first testimony before a House panel, Army Gen. Bantz Craddock, who heads the United States Southern Command, offered an unusually...

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Thousands of Paraguayans chanting "Justice! Justice!" crowded a cemetery Friday to say farewell to former President Raul Cubas's daughter, who was found dead this week after being kidnapped five months ago. AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Daughter of Former Paraguayan President Found Dead Hundreds more lined streets of the capital, reaching out to touch the hearse carrying the body of Cecilia Cubas. Police on motorcycles led the funeral cortege. Her father, president from August 1998 to March 1999, was driven from power by deadly street riots and turmoil set off by the assassination of his vice president.

The story was about as buried as possible last September, given the dateline Asunsion, Paraguay. A former president's 31-year-old daughter was kidnapped by unknown criminals. As often happens in Latin countries, authorities were powerless and the public was angry. The fact that she was a president's daughter wasn't lost on them. It signaled that the government could not protect itself any more than the public could, and indeed was as vulnerable as any citizen. So the Paraguayans came out in their thousands, desperately protesting against the kidnappers, holding pictures of the victim and telling them to stop. It's another sad...

Mercosur Thursday, 17 February Former President's Daughter Found Dead. The daughter of former Paraguayan President Raul Cubas Grau was found dead, months after she was abducted by heavily armed gunmen. Attorney General Oscar Latorre said the body of Cecilia Cubas, 32, had been unearthed from a tunnel behind a house on the outskirts of Asuncion and identified through dental records. ``Preliminary studies show that the body is that of Cecilia,'' Latorre said on Radio Mil. There was no immediate word on the cause of death and officials said an autopsy would be performed. Cecilia Cubas was seized in a commando-style...

Bogotá. The supposed assistance given by Colombian guerrillas to the kidnappers of the daughter of the Paraguayan ex-president is further proof of the international tentacles of the rebels who finance themselves through criminal activities, said Colombia’s Minister of Defense, Jorge Alberto Uribe. "This only confirms the fact that Colombian narcoterrorist groups are not merely Colombians, they have roots and presence in every country", warned Uribe, who was visiting Holland, according to AP. "I was just with the people at Europol – the European police- and I saw four or five cases which involved people from these groups, especially" from the...

A survey of several Latin American countries in August found that 39 percent of Paraguayans believe democracy is the best form of government. Only Guatemalans are more disillusioned with their democratic leaders, according to the poll by the Chilean firm Latinobarmetro.

Dot # 1: A Growing Threat in the Tri-Border Area of South America. (Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of South America. A Report Prepared under an Interagency Agreement by the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, July 2003.) Since the early 1980’s, Arab terrorists have been sending thousands of their cohorts to the almost inaccessible jungle and mountain region between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay (known as the TBA, Tri-Border Area or La Triple Frontera). Terror training camps and arsenals have been established, virtually out of the reach of local law enforcement or defense forces; and...

In this gritty border town known as a haven for drug smugglers, arms dealers and counterfeiters, stacks of money change hands in the open on every corner and thousands of people each day stream across Friendship Bridge into Ciudad del Este. They carry packages on their backs, in wheelbarrows or on carts, and border police stop few. Such chaotic scenes give life to the city's reputation of lawlessness and U.S. officials' description of the tri-border area where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet as a key South American point for Islamic terrorist fund raising to the tune of $100 million a...

"Estar en la final puede dar un poco de alegría y satisfacción a nuestros compatriotas, que todavía están muy afectados por la tragedia", dijo Gamarra. "We are in the final to give a little bit of happiness and satisfaction to our fellow countrymen, that are still very affected by this tragedy Gamarra said (Captain of the Team).

I would bet they are glad UDAY and Saddam are gone now huh?!?

<p>Asuncion, Paraguay, Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Paraguayan prosecutors suspect Arab shop owners in a border town long known as a haven for smugglers have raised at least $50 million for a Lebanese-based terrorist group in the last four years.</p> <p>Three merchants in Ciudad del Este, a city on the border with Brazil and Argentina that's packed with shops selling pirated goods, allegedly funneled proceeds from store sales and charitable donations to Hezbollah, a guerrilla group backed by Syria and Iran that has launched attacks in Israel, said Carlos Calcena, a Paraguayan prosecutor.</p>

Hundreds of people were left to die inside a blazing supermarket after security staff locked doors to prevent customers from running out without paying, it emerged today. Initial reports suggested as many as 340 people were killed when the fire tore through a large shopping centre in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion after an industrial propane tank exploded. Police have charged the store's owner Juan Pio Paiva and his son Daniel with homicide after they allegedly ordered security personnel to lock down every exit. Firefighters had to batter down the locked main entrance to the complex before they could reach...

SUPERMARKET FIRE KILLS 124 - ESTIMATE At least 124 people have died after a fire swept through a supermarket on the outskirts of Paraguay's capital Asuncion, the country's police chief said. "They are still taking bodies out of the supermarket," Paraguay's police chief Humberto Nunez told Reuters. More Follows...

Al Qaeda and Hezbollah Plot a Dangerous Alliance By Tom Knowlton In an interview with The Sunday Times of London on Dec. 15, 2002, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat unwittingly provided the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism with a major insight into the evolving strategy of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network. Arafat asked Times interviewer Marie Colvin, "Why is Bin Laden talking about Palestine now? Bin Laden never, not ever, stressed this issue. He never helped us. He was working in a completely different area and against our interests." Arafat gave the interview after statements attributed to al Qaeda's...

One Coin, Two Sides <>P> By Greg Buete Published 01/03/2003 Deep in South America two terror fronts are colliding. While fundamentally dangerous apart together they are capable of producing terror attacks against the West in both greater magnitude and frequency than ever before. The region is called the Triple Border. It is a lawless region between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil that supports a community of 30,000 Muslims, many of them radical expatriates of the Lebanese civil war and aligned with Hezbollah. As Jeffery Goldberg of the New Yorker discovered, Hezbollah, an Iranian backed Lebanese terrorist group responsible for over 300...

Building better military-to-military ties topped the agenda as Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers met with Paraguayan leaders here today. Myers met with Paraguayan President Duarte Frutos, Defense Minister Roberto Gonzales and Gen. Jose Key Kanazawa during a three-hour visit. Myers is on a tour through South America to build military relationships in the region. The chairman arrived in the middle of a torrential downpour that flooded streets in this capital city. He met with Duarte at the Ministry of Defense, where the president was celebrating Army Day. Myers said his visit is meant to further bilateral...