Midday defence

President Lugo's lawyers arrived in front of Congress at midday. They opened the defence by claiming that the Senate was behaving unconstitutionally when they only gave a few hours for Lugo to prepare a defence. They asked for more time. The President of the senate immediately denied the request.

The defence took the two hours that they were allotted for the defence.

Their conclusion was that the sentence had been passed when the accusations were made and that this is political persecution.

We now await the results of the deliberation of the senate followed by a vote as to the sentence..

The countries of the Mercosur Union have backed Lugo in the fact that the senate has behaved unconstitutionally and they are saying that they will not support any new government as a result of today's actions against the President. They asked the senate to follow the correct constitutional process.  The Mercosur have called it a coup d'etat. Many of their representatives have been at the palace to support the President today.

Many thousands of people from all over the country are now in front of the Congress bulding in the city. 10000 police are on standby, according to the media.

Already some people are blocking a main route through Paraguay. The threat is that if the President is deposed that the campesinos will paralyse the country.