Paraguay senate expels one of few opposition members, sparking protests

Source: Reuters

Paraguay senate expels one of few opposition members, sparking protests

Reuters in Asunción
Wed 14 Feb 2024 22.02 GMT
Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2024 22.08 GMT


Paraguay senate expels one of few opposition members, sparking protests
Kattya González, who had called out corruption and the country’s fall to organized crime, was dismissed from her post on Wednesday

Reuters in Asunción
Wed 14 Feb 2024 22.02 GMT
Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2024 22.08 GMT
Paraguay’s senate has expelled one of the few opposition voices in national politics, sparking protests in the capital Asunción and prompting concerns over the fragile state of the country’s democracy.

Senator Kattya González from the center-left National Meeting Party was dismissed from her position during an extraordinary session on Wednesday for the “misuse of influence” while in office.

The 46-year-old senator, elected in 2023, is among a small cadre of left-leaning opposition politicians in Paraguay and has criticized widespread corruption and spoken publicly about how the South American country is falling further into the grip of organized crime.

Senators who voted in favor of her dismissal accused González of administrative misconduct related to three state officials she supervised. The evidence is “compelling and irrefutable”, said Senator Dionisio Amarilla, a government ally.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/14/paraguay-opposition-expelled-senate