Posted on 08/16/2003 4:16:10 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
ASUNCION, Paraguay - Key South American leaders applauded Nicanor Duarte's inauguration as Paraguay's 47th president, then joined him in declaring a united front against drug trafficking on the continent.
Presidents from Colombia and other countries in the region gave Duarte his first official business Friday as they signed the "Declaration of Asuncion" pledging a political alliance in the war on drugs.
The leaders gathered for a day of red carpet pomp as the 47-year-old Duarte began a five-year term by pledging to tackle extreme poverty and endemic corruption in Paraguay, a landlocked nation of 5.5 million people.
Fidel Castro (news - web sites) of Cuba and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez also were at the inauguration but did not attend the signing ceremony later Friday of the Declaration of Asuncion — an explicit show of support for Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe.
Although more symbolic than substantive, the declaration signaled the resolve of the neighbors to rally behind Colombia's hard-line president in his U.S.-backed war on the narcotics trade.
It also was signed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" Da Silva, Ecuador's President Lucio Gutierrez and Bolivia's Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, among others.
Uribe, whose government is fighting leftist rebels financed by cocaine-producing crops, told his colleagues he was heartened by their support.
"The battle to defeat terrorism in Colombia is a battle against terrorism in the region," Uribe said. "The terrorism financed by drugs is capable of metastasis in the entire region, of converting itself into a threat for the entire continent."
Duarte extended the 54-year grip on power of the Colorado Party by easily winning an election last April 27 against two top challengers. The Colorados have dominated the politics in this South American nation of 5.5 million people since 1947, governing both in times of dictatorship and civilian rule.
Duarte, the son of a police officer and a seamstress, used his inaugural address to announce a war on corruption.
Punching his fist in the air, he vowed to rid Paraguay of illegal factories making knockoff goods and to fight tax evasion, money launderers, drug traffickers and widespread trading in contraband goods.
"We are going to wage war on the mafias," the stocky, bespectacled president said at a tightly guarded ceremony outside Congress. "We will take the fight to all those involved in piracy and contraband trafficking."
Paraguay is the second poorest nation in South America, after Bolivia, but many consider corruption even more of a scourge than the poverty afflicting more than 60 percent of the population.
Duarte succeeded Luis Gonzalez Macchi, who was appointed by the Senate four years ago amid a political crisis touched off by bloody street protests and the resignation of his predecessor. Paraguay has stumbled along through crises ever since the end of Alfredo Stroessner's decades-long military dictatorship in 1989.
In recession since 1995, Paraguay is grappling with a public debt estimated at $2.2 billion. Duarte will have to guide negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on restructuring that debt.
Cuba's President Fidel Castro, left, and Spanish Prince Felipe
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Ecuador's Lucio Gutierrez,
Cuba's Fidel Castro and Spanish Prince Felipe, from left to right
"Sieg Heil!
"What... Oh, gee thanks, Fidel. You're a pal."
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