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.

A long, cold night

The temperatures dropped last night and it was a long night for the demonstrators who were in the square in front of the Congress building. Most could never afford a hotel. They slept where they could.

Some kept warm around fires on which they cooked large pans of soup.

4000 police have been drafted in to control any problems. They were on duty all night in front of the Congress building. Today they have sealed roads into the area.

Yesterday the Catholic bishops held a press conference and later visited the President. They asked President Lugo to resign in order to avoid any violence from the people and to avoid bloodshed. He refused.

This morning lawyers are going to put the case that the impeachment of the President is unconstitutional and that the proper process has not been followed. Several South American countries have said that they will not recognise any new government because they have acted unconstitutionally. The USA has also warned that the move is unconstitutional.

The square is now full of people and many more campesinos are still arriving from other areas of the country.

Our school has been suspended for the day.

Coup d'etat?

I did not report what happened in Curuguaty, away to the north-east of Paraguay a few days ago because I considered it too messy to put on my blog.

Some campesinos invaded some private land on a huge ranch and set up camps. They are demanding that the government confiscates land from the landowner and that they should be given land to farm and to put up homes. They claim that the land had been taken from them during President Stroessner's dictatorship.

The police were sent in and as a result seven policemen and several campesinos were killed during a shootout. More than a hundred people were injured, some badly, including some police.

Since then the country has been unsettled and there has been a movement against  President Lugo, claiming that he has not fulfilled his manifesto for the poor campesinos. The opposing party in parliament said that Lugo did not act quickly enough to control the situation in Curuguaty.

Today Congress demanded the resignation of Lugo or they would impeach him. He has refused to resign and tomorrow he will face "political justice" in front of Congress.

Throughout the day campesinos have been on their way into Asuncion, some against the President, but many to support him.  Several thousand will be arriving here early tomorrow morning. (One can't help wondering who is financing their transportation.) Police plan to stop them en route to take away any weapons from them. They were seen tonight brandishing machetes.

We received a warning in school this morning to send the children home. The government announced that schools would be closed at midday as trouble is expected.

Extra police have been drafted into the capital. They have been checking documentation as people come into the square in front of the Congress building.

All day the crowds have been slowly growing outside Parliament as demonstrators arrive. There have already been some altercations.

The senate met this afternoon. They have demanded that Lugo will appear in front of Congress tomorrow at midday. He will be given two and a half hours to defend himself against being thrown out of power. They are going to outline the accusations against him at 6.00 p.m this evening.

The final result of Congress deliberations will be given tomorrow afternoon at 4.30 p.m. It remains to be seen whether we will be in school tomorrow.

Countries across South America have expressed their dismay that democracy appears to be breaking down in Paraguay. Representatives from other countries have said that they believe that this is an orchestrated attempt at a coup d'etat by the opposing Colorado party. There has been a lot of speculation about how this has all reached this point and who is behind it all.

Paraguayans love a good demonstration with lots of shouting. So far things are under good control but there are some angry and vociferous people out there. If Lugo is deposed anything could happen. Many people are against a return to dictatorship.

We need your prayers that things will not escalate and that God's Will will be done without anymore bloodshed. (I remember the 1999 riots when some people were killed). Please pray for the fragile democracy in Paraguay to prevail.

Despedida 1

We had a lovely service in church today, in which those of us who will be leaving here soon, took part. Ben has been practising on his guitar for weeks now so he accompanied us as we we sang.

Kim led the service, Sam read the verse to start us off, I read the Old testament reading, Matt read the New Testament reading, Bill Carpenter preached and Pam Carpenter prayed. The theme was God's greatness.

After the service we all gathered at Laura's house for a shared lunch, to say farewell to those of us about to move on. It was a delicious lunch and we all had a relaxed time chatting and enjoying each other's company.

                                                   (Hostess Laura is on the right.)

and then there was me.

Meteorologists 0 - God 100%

The met office weather forecast for Asuncion

Sat 16th June at 01.00a.m

Sat 16th June 10 a.m

Sat 16th June 1.00 p.m

As the thunder crashed at about 2 in the morning we prayer warriors went into action and asked the impossible, a lovely sunny day for our huge Primary Interschools tournament that had been organized out at out Sports centre, for thirteen schools.

Of course nothing is impossible for God. The dawn came and by eight we had

all day!

Mags and Gwen came to pick me up and we drove out around 8.30 to stay for a while in order to take photographs. (The "while" lasted about ten hours!) The morning shift of staff had arrived at 7.00a.m and were already engaged in keeping score and refereeing etc.for the games which had started when we arrived. 

Even the boss was busy number crunching for the computer.

It was all very professional and very serious, with complicated scoresheets for handball and football.

The grounds had been well organised with three handball courts and three football pitches.

Our parents' companies had sponsored the event and it was flashy, with flags and stands, even a bouncy bus for the kids to play in.

Our quinta (covered area) became a food hall, with tables and chairs, a soft drinks boothe, a barbecue,

 a burger bar and our sixth form was running a cake stall. In the kitchen and canteen shop parents and cooks were busy preparing chipa and beyu.

All around us there were ominous looking clouds but overhead we had sunshine and blue skies. It remained like that all day, until the evening. We were in an oasis of sunshine. God is good and faithful. So much effort had gone into the event so we knew that God would protect us.

This was a real school family occasion. Everybody was there helping out on a voluntary basis our administrative staff, our kitchen staff working with parents, our maintenance team,

 teachers and parents. Even the local ambulance team with our school nurse was on duty for us.

Thankfully it was not needed even though there were a few minor injuries.

 I was on keeping score for the girls' handball and got rather sunburnt.

The atmosphere was wonderful. Away from the games the kids had a lot of fun on our zip slide.

Generally there was a good sporting spirit but we had a few giggles as parents from other schools were over excited and tried to change the referee's decisions.

Of course Andy was around silently cheering the children on from all the schools. He was very popular.

The entire day was fantastic, brilliantly organized by parents and P.E. staff and we all enjoyed our day out in the sun.

P.S. God held off the rain until the evening, after we had all finished. Isn't He great?!

P.P.S. This one is from us to Miss Owen! We love you.