Neighbors Isolate Paraguay After Impeachment

Latin American governments have responded swiftly to Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo's sudden removal from office by congressional vote last Friday.

Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay have all called their ambassadors home for consultations, while regional blocs are considering diplomatic action.

Mercosur, a political and economic bloc composed of Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, has banned newly appointed President Federico Franco from attending an upcoming summit over what it said was the country's failure to respect due process in expedited impeachment proceedings that began less than 24 hours after being announced.

We reject Mercosur's decision to suspend us from the right to attend the Mercosur meetings, but I would like to make clear that Paraguay is not out of the bloc, said Franco's new foreign minister, Jose Felix Fernandez.

The Union of South American Nations (Unasur), another regional bloc that includes all sovereign countries in South America, will hold a meeting to discuss the situation in Paraguay. Lugo is expected to attend and argue for action to be taken against Franco's administration.

Oil-rich Venezuela has been the most outspoken critic of Lugo's removal, halting all shipments of diesel fuel to Paraguay. Still, other countries like Latin American economic powerhouse Brazil and Chile have specifically stated that they would not impose economic sanctions on Paraguay, one of the region's poorest countries.

The U.S. has not indicated whether it will acknowledge the new government, though State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told the Associated Press that Washington remains quite concerned about the speed of the process used for this impeachment in Paraguay.

Lugo's impeachment arose over his handling of a recent land dispute that resulted in at least 17 deaths after police attempted to evict dozens of landless farmers from a large estate they had been occupying for several weeks.

Lugo denounced the trial as politically motivated, saying he accepted the decision only to avoid greater evils for the country and avoid violence against protesters in the plaza.

Despite accepting his removal from office, Lugo has set up a parallel cabinet and called for Paraguayans to protest his removal.

I want to resist until we regain power because here there was a parliamentary coup, Lugo said Monday. I call on people from the countryside, the youth and all citizens to resist until we are back in the office we unfairly had to leave.