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Asunción Mayoral Candidate Slams City Hall Corruption as 'Cancer'
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

Asunción Mayoral Candidate Slams City Hall Corruption as 'Cancer'

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Asunción mayoral candidate Arlene Aquino describes the city's problems with potholes and garbage collection as symptoms of deep-seated corruption within the municipal government.
  • Aquino, a notary and political science student, previously ran for congress and left an alliance due to disagreements over candidate selection.
  • She advocates for transparency and technology to manage city funds, stating that the municipality fails not due to poor coordination but a lack of political will and transparency.

Arlene Aquino, a candidate for mayor of Asunción representing Patria Soñada, has delivered a scathing indictment of the city's municipal government, likening its pervasive issues to a 'cancer.' She argues that persistent problems like potholes and uncollected garbage are merely symptoms of a deeper disease rooted in corruption, illicit dealings, and impunity.

The municipality has the cancer and that symptom is already throughout the city.

— Arlene AquinoArlene Aquino, candidate for Mayor of Asunción, describes the city's problems.

Aquino, a notary and a political science student at UNA, has not held public office before but has been politically active. She previously ran for congress in Asunción for Cruzada Nacional. She recounted leaving the 'Unidos por Asunción' alliance after disagreeing with the imposition of a candidate based on a poll that represented less than 1% of the vote she received in the 2023 general elections. This led to her departure from Cruzada Nacional and her current candidacy with Partido Patria Soñada.

The municipality is much more, it is a local government that has to take care of many things.

— Arlene AquinoArlene Aquino explains the broad responsibilities of a local government.

During her campaign, Aquino has focused on listening to residents, identifying that while potholes, garbage, and security are primary concerns, the municipality's responsibilities extend far beyond these basic services. She asserts that citizens are not receiving even essential services for which they pay taxes because the core of the municipal administration is fundamentally flawed.

We could pave Artigas two, three times with the amount of asphalt that is stolen.

— Arlene AquinoArlene Aquino illustrates the scale of alleged corruption in the municipality.

Aquino firmly believes the current administration's failures stem not from a lack of coordination but from a deficit in political will and transparency. She cited the alleged 'Asphalt Mafia,' where municipal employees supposedly stole materials and charged private companies for services, as an example. Aquino stated that enough asphalt is stolen to pave a major road multiple times over. She champions 'transparency and management,' coupled with accessible technology, as the keys to revitalizing the capital, emphasizing the public's right to know how city funds are handled.

transparency and management

— Arlene AquinoArlene Aquino states the key principles for revitalizing the capital.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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