PARAGUAY
Bruised, Not Broken
Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo thanked lawmakers for allowing a resolution of a scandal related to a hydropower deal with Brazil “that does not break the democratic process” on Thursday after the legislators backed down from a threat to impeach him.
Facing the threat of impeachment and reeling from the resignations of his foreign minister and three other officials, Abdo scrapped the deal and apologized for the way the scandal had been handled, Reuters reported.
“Whoever has to be accountable for his misconduct will be accountable,” Abdo said in a message to the nation.
Under a deal that was signed in May but not revealed until last week, the two countries had agreed to establish a schedule for the purchase of energy from the Itaipu dam until 2022. But Paraguayan lawmakers were outraged by the terms, which some experts said would cost one of South America’s poorest countries $200 million, Agence France-Presse reported.
The two countries are partners in the hydropower project – which ranks as the world’s largest – but Paraguay’s economy depends upon it.
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