Paraguayans prepare for economist Santiago Peña’s rise to power

In the midst of a wide deployment of security and activities on the occasion of the founding of their capital, the Paraguayans were preparing this Monday for the swearing in of the economist santiago pena as the 51st president of the country and the tenth since the establishment of democracy in 1989.

Peña, 44, will succeed Mario Abdo Benítez, also from the Colorado Party, starting this Tuesday after winning the general elections last April.

The swearing-in ceremony will begin early Tuesday morning in the Congress Chamber and will continue, after a brief recess, on the esplanade of the Palacio de López (headquarters of the Executive Branch), before hundreds of guests, including six heads of state, including the King Felipe VI of Spain.

According to the coordinating commission of the presidential command transmission ceremony, the event will be attended by the vice presidents of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, who became the first of the guests to land on Paraguayan soil this Monday, and the vice president of Taiwan, William Lai.

Also expected are 12 foreign ministers, 13 deputy ministers and representatives of 16 international organizations, as part of the 102 confirmed foreign delegations.

Tuesday’s activities include the swearing in of the Cabinet of Ministers, a tedeum in the Metropolitan Cathedral, the greeting of the invited delegations to the new president and the incoming first lady, Leticia Ocampos.

During this day, the center of Asunción remains guarded and several roads are interrupted to facilitate the installation of platforms and other spaces for the transfer of command.

The so-called microcentro also concentrates different activities on the occasion of the 486 years of the founding of this capital, known as the “Mother of Cities” for being the starting point of expeditions in which some 70 cities in the region were founded.

To receive the guests, the authorities have started cleaning and decorating the city, which already hosts craft fairs and typical food in which small local entrepreneurs have pinned their hopes to improve their income, given the lags that the pandemic has left, according to EFE.

Abdo closes the agenda and Peña makes his debut

With less than 24 hours left before the transfer of power, Abdo Benítez fulfilled his agenda in the Government Palace and Peña settled in the presidential house, also known as Mburuvicha Róga or Casa del Líder, in the Guaraní language.

The current head of state began his activities with a meeting with the Taiwanese vice president, who arrived on Paraguayan soil today, and later met with the Japanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Takei Shunsuke.

In the afternoon, Abdo Benítez is scheduled to receive King Felipe VI of Spain and later the former Argentine president Mauricio Macri.

He will say goodbye to the guests at Peña’s swearing-in ceremony with a dinner that he will offer at his private residence on Monday night.

For his part, Peña carried out different activities from the early hours of Monday, including the appointment of the last member of his cabinet, senator and former governor Carlos Giménez, as Minister of Agriculture and Livestock.

Peña met, like Benítez, with Lai, as well as with the presidents of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-CAF, Sergio Díaz-Granados, and of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Ilan Goldfajn.

He will also meet in the afternoon with the King of Spain and with the US Secretary of the Interior, Debra Haaland, who became the first indigenous person to assume a ministerial position in her country.

Source: EFE