The Executive will issue on Monday the decrees with the designation of the four cabinet members removed by Mario Abdo Benítez, a decision by the president to deactivate the protests of groups of citizens who self-convened to denounce their management of the pandemic, a pulse that they assure will continue until to resign from the post, EFE reported.
Presidential sources reported this Sunday that the new heads of Health, Education, Women and the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency will be known tomorrow, whose identities the president did not reveal in his television message on Saturday.
The changes affect the Minister of Education, Eduardo Petta; the Minister of Women, Nilda Romero, and the presidential adviser, Juan Ernesto Villamayor, among the most criticized in his cabinet.
The other renewal corresponds to the Minister of Health, Julio Borba, who on Friday replaced Julio Mazzoleni on an interim basis, who resigned under the pressure of protests from the nurses' union and the relatives of Covid patients due to the lack of supplies and medicines. .
In his televised address, Abdo Benítez, from the conservative Colorado Party, said that the purpose of the changes was to contribute to dialogue and social peace in the face of demonstrations that began that Friday and continued until after Saturday night, this with incidents in front of the presidential residence.
The National Police carried out around eight arrests after dispersing with gases and throwing rubber balls a group of protesters who demanded the resignation of the president and tried to overcome the fences that protect the perimeter of the residence, in an area where it is located the United States embassy.
The protesters went to the place at the end of the great march in the historic center of the capital, in which the departure of Abdo Benítez was requested and the precariousness of a public health system now overwhelmed by cases of coronavirus was denounced.
The day before, on Friday, another massive rally was held in front of the Congress building that was repressed by the Police, which was followed by clashes that left a score of wounded
The organizers of the calls, who do not pay attention to political acronyms, announced that the mobilizations will continue until they evict Abdo Benítez and his Government, also branded as corrupt by the protesters.
As a result of the events, the main opposition parties showed their support and announced the start of talks with a view to promoting from the Chamber of Deputies a political trial of the president and vice president, Hugo Velázquez, also of the Colorado Party.
In the Lower House, the ruling party is the majority, with a predominance of the sector led by Abdo Benítez's predecessor, former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018).
Both lead two currents of coloradismo that were at odds until months ago they agreed on a unity pact for the municipal elections in October.
In fact, the ministerial changes of Abdo Benítez have been interpreted as a concession to the Cartes sector, dissatisfied with the management of some of those ministers.
Paraguay, which today celebrates a year since the first cases of coronavirus were detected, has registered 3.294 deaths and 166.969 infections to date, and a sustained increase in recent weeks that has collapsed the health network, one of the most backward in the region.
Only 24.000 doses of vaccines have arrived in the country, all reserved for health personnel, a situation that is also exposed by the opposition and the participants of the protests.
Police disperse protesters and arrest a dozen in front of the president's house
Police forces dispersed after midnight on Saturday a group of people who concentrated in front of the presidential residence and tried to cross the perimeter security barrier, in an area where the United States embassy is located, and in the framework of the protests that demand the resignation of President Mario Abdo Benítez.
The National Police, together with the anti-riot corps, responded with rubber pellets and gases and carried out about a dozen arrests, according to police spokespersons informed journalists.
The group had traveled to the presidential residence to request the resignation of the president after another massive demonstration ended in the Asuncion microcenter with the same claim and denounced the lack of medicines in hospitals and the government's management of the pandemic.
The group that tried to get closer to Mburuvicha Roga, the name of the president's official residence, had demanded to meet with the Minister of the Interior, Arnaldo Giuzzio, and when he did not appear they tried to cross the perimeter barrier, one of its leaders told the media .
According to the police, the protesters threw stones and firecrackers in the vicinity of the residence, then retreated due to the intervention of the security forces.
The police authority reported that the situation is tense and that the security fences were reinforced and traffic on the adjacent avenues was cut off.
The incident occurred after the large demonstration in the historic center of the capital, which called for the departure of Abdo Benítez, from the conservative Colorado Party.
And one day after the concentration in front of the Congress building that was repressed by the Police, which was followed by clashes that left about twenty wounded.
