By Laura Barros |
Asunción (EFE) , accused by the US of corruption.
In addition, in an interview with EFE, he expressed hope that this time -as the saying goes- it will be the charm and he will be able to break the red dominance, after his failed attempts to win the Presidency in 2013 and 2018.
Extradition
In his statements, prior to the sanctions that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed on Cartes and Paraguayan Vice President Hugo Velásquez on Thursday, Alegre said he was willing to be elected in the elections on the next 30 April, to honor his country’s commitments on issues such as extradition.
“We are part of the international community and, as such, we have international commitments, we have international agreements, where our Justice is committed, precisely, to the criminal prosecution of crime and offences,” stressed the candidate of the National Concertation, the alliance that brings together different movements and opposition parties.
“And if the justice of a country requests us – he added -, we have to cooperate, of course.”
In the event that the extradition request falls on the former Paraguayan president, the opposition leader was blunt. “But of course I do,” he replied.
Cartes, a renowned businessman who ruled the country between 2013 and 2018, was included in July of last year by the US on its list of corrupt, which the Paraguayan vice president also entered weeks later.
“Today the world sees a significantly corrupt former president, a significantly corrupt vice president. So, he says: ‘well, this country does not offer guarantees for investment’”, lamented the politician, who considered it necessary to show internationally “the true Paraguay, that of work, that of effort and that it is capable of offering legal security”.
Alegre considered his rival from the ruling party, former minister Santiago Peña, a “name-bringer.”
“Cartes cannot be president of the Republic, the Constitution does not allow it,” explained the opponent, alluding to the express prohibition on re-election, and indicated that “now he intends to put a prestanombre.”
crime, the adversary
However, in his analysis of the electoral scenario, Alegre considered that his adversary next April is not the ruling Colorado Party. “Today it is the money of the mafia, the money of corruption, of organized crime,” he said.
For Alegre, Paraguay is “at the worst moment” of its institutionality and with its democracy “in danger” due to the influence of corruption and “illegality.”
In this sense, he announced that, if he heads the Government, he will put the house “in order”.
“We are going to end impunity and we are going to end the complicity of the institutions with organized crime,” he said, without advancing what his initiatives will be.
Looking ahead to the upcoming elections, he was also optimistic about the chances of the opposition, which rose to power in 2008 with the electoral triumph of leftist leader Fernando Lugo after 61 years of hegemony of the Colorado Party.
“We have never had such a favorable scenario, we have never had a scenario where citizens show themselves so firm and determined for change,” said Alegre, who also observed a coloradism divided by the December internships, marked by the clash between Cartes and the president. Paraguayan, Mario Abdo Benítez, for the leadership of the ruling party.
