Canada prepared to accept the new political situation in Paraguay

Foreign Affairs minister of State Ablonczy: President Lugo accepted the Senate’s decision

Canada seems prepared to accept the new political situation in

 Paraguay following the removal of President Fernando Lugo

, and pointed out in an official release that the ousted leader 

“accepted the decision from the Paraguayan Senate”

Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Americas

 and Consular affairs, Diane Ablonczy said in a brief

 release that “Canada notes that Fernando Lugo has

 accepted the decision of the Paraguayan Senate

 to impeach him and that a new president, 

Federico Franco, has been sworn in”.

The statement from Ablonczy seems to mark 

distance from other regional governments’ 

reactions to the removal which strongly rejected 

events describing it as “an institutional coup” or 

criticizing the mechanism employed which limited

 due process and guarantees for the defense.

“We call for calm throughout Paraguay and will

continue to follow developments closely” added 

the release underlining that “the stability and

respect for democracy that currently exist in the 

region have been hard won and must be protected”.

Back in 2009 when the coup in Honduras against

 President Manuel Zelaya, Canada also adopted an

 attitude distant from other countries in the

 Americas, including that of Washington which at

 the time requested the restitution of the elected

 constitutional president.

On that occasion Canada condemned the coup but 

did not request the return of Zelaya and simply

 called for “a pacific solution to the current political

 crisis.