Horacio Cartes does not tolerate dissent and sanctions a critic with expulsion from the party, as a warning to others. While Santi Peña, behind HC, continues to show the “friendly face” in the transition process until he takes over.
Write: Luis Allen.
The authoritarian essence of Horacio Cartes was exposed in all its harshness with the expulsion from the ANR of Gerardo Soria, president of the Antequera section, in the department of San Pedro, as “punishment” for having been very critical of HC during the last campaign. electoral. The next to be disaffiliated would be the outgoing president, Marito Abdo, who, as any response, said that he is busy fulfilling the promise agreed with Santi Peña to carry out an “orderly” transition.
It is a sanction that could be suffered by any other coreligionist who dares to cast criticism against the Patron. But rather it implies a clear warning for Marito and Abdism, with the aim of increasing the ability of dissent to confront Chartism, especially in Congress and in alliance with some sectors of the opposition.
The threat was already made known to Marito Abdo, through deputy Walter Harms, but although later the transition team wanted to calm things down with a denial from Vice President-elect Pedro Alliana himself, due to the speed with which the The ANR court of conduct has complied with the HC order in the case of an affiliate with less political weight, a similar measure could not be ruled out after August 15, since in the Quincho de la calle España its occupant is with immense desire to take revenge for what he considers the fundamental role that the retired president would have played with the alleged instigation of US sanctions against the Paraguayan strongman.
All this occurs in the scenario of the fight for the presidency of the Senate, which is key for Chartism to really exercise total power in the Republic. For now, there is the possibility of a pact between the ANR’s anti-Cartoon dissidents and opposition senators, while the still acting head of state once again assured that he only thinks of the “orderly” handover of power, according to the agreement reached with the president elect.
Marito’s “good conduct” augurs a smooth transition without major complications or surprises for Chartism, because despite the fact that the public and personnel bidding or contracting processes continue for the most part, in some cases there is already talk of measures to be adopted after the assumption of command of Chartism, also taking into account that the 2024 national budget must be analyzed and approved by the new Congress that assumes this July 1.
The truth is that the sector of “independent” Colorado senators, who do not accept the orientation of HC, continues to aim to negotiate with the opposition the board of directors of Congress, which is essential to counteract the process of excessive influence of Cartes in ministerial nominations. from Pena.
A “revolving door” cabinet
To the premature demonstration of power with the expulsion of Gerardo Soria from the ANR and the blunt threat against Marito that he would suffer the same sanction for doubting the “integrity” of the Patrón HC before the elections, the successive nominations for the cabinet of Santi Peña’s ministers respond to direct orders from Cartes, or from his first ring of managers, as in the case of the future Minister of Finance, Carlos Fernández Valdovinos, who was president of the Central Bank during the previous Cartista administration (2013-2018). and then owner of the Basa bank, owned by HC.
It is the reaffirmation of the system of “revolving doors”, as illustrated by the fact that Chartism is “based” on a two-way action between the state and private sectors, through officials who migrate from public office to the companies of the Cartes Group, or vice versa, which was already prohibited by a recent law, but which is totally ignored among the Chartist strategists.
It goes without saying that what is already known about the collusion between the interests of the HC business group and the priorities of the State will be reproduced again, in a scenario in which obviously the Chartist commitment of taking over the institutions with in order to increase the Patron’s business, such as the case of cigarette smuggling (which leaves the country), already announced as of minor importance compared to the massive illegal entry of “sugar, oil, chickens and eggs”, cited by the future new Minister of Industry and Commerce, Javier Giménez.
But for the North American and Brazilian agencies that combat the illegal tobacco business on the continent, it is clear that the contraband of cigarettes from Paraguay also feeds drug trafficking routes, arms trafficking, and even human trafficking, with abundant funds that would finance nothing. less than the Islamic terrorism of Hezbollah.
But the new head of the MIC had to use in a television interview the well-known script of Chartist terminology, according to which tobacco companies such as HC’s, Tabesa, pay all local taxes and are not responsible for the way in which their products arrive. products to neighboring countries, including mainly Brazil, because it would already be a “Customs problem in the receiving country.”
But the correct thing would be for the Paraguayan government to assume its responsibility in the international context and accept that “export contraband” also exists, following the traceability of the product from the producing factory to its exit across the border. This, due not only to the international protocols for the fight against tobacco smuggling signed by the country, but also to really know if these companies pay all their local taxes.
But this certainty in the legal commercialization of the cigarette until it leaves the country can only be had with a government that strictly applies the current legal regulations, which can already be presumed that Chartism in power will not do, as was made known through of the nominated Minister of Industry and Commerce of Santi Peña.