Almost 70 Percent of Paraguayans Disapprove of President Benitez’ Administration

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bad and Very Bad: 69.3 percent of those polled by CIES say that the administration of Bolsonaro ally, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez, is not doing well. It’s even worse in the country’s capital: the rate of disapproval of the right-wing government in Asunción and Central Paraguay reaches 72.5 percent.

Only 30.7 percent considered the president’s work to be good or very good.

After Macri in Argentina, this is the second South American ally of Jair Bolsonaro to be weakened within a short time.

The poll comes at a time when the head of state is facing the worst political crisis of his term, with the latent threat of impeachment after the signing of the bilateral agreement of Itaipu, and less than a day before the first anniversary of his inauguration. In fact, the survey also analyzes aspects related to this point.

The president’s allies, faced with the current crisis, even held a rally in downtown Asunción yesterday and questioned the presence of officials during working hours.

The event was attended by President Mario Abdo himself, accompanied by his vice president, Hugo Velázquez, against whom most of the complaints are aimed. Moreover, opposition sectors continue to announce demonstrations every day to demand the impeachment of both.

Abdo has faced criticism for his relationship with the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, as his father was Stroessner’s private secretary. When Stroessner died in 2006, he proposed that the governing board of the Colorado Party pay him tribute.

The fortune Abdo Benítez owns was inherited from his father, who after the fall of the dictatorship was prosecuted for unjust enrichment, but the case was eventually dismissed.

Abdo Benítez has stated that while he believes that Stroessner “did a lot for the country”, he also clarified that he does not condone the violations of human rights, torture, and persecution committed during the regime.

In December 2017, Abdo Benítez won the Colorado Party presidential primaries by defeating former Minister of Finance, Santiago Peña, with 564,811 votes (50.93 percent) to 480,114 (43.29 percent).

In April 2018, Abdo Benítez won the 2018 elections by defeating Efraín Alegre with 46.46 percent of the votes to 42.73 percent.  At age 46, Abdo Benítez became the youngest president of Paraguay since the fall of Stroessner’s dictatorship.