Liberals Defy PLRA Directive and Vote to Reappoint Camilo Benítez

Fourteen lawmakers from Paraguay’s Liberal Party, the PLRA, voted with the Cartes movement to give Camilo Benítez another term as comptroller general. Their decision went against the party directorate, which had urged legislators and the wider opposition not to legitimize what it described as the officialist takeover of the institution.

The lawmakers included several politicians with relatives serving as mayors in their local strongholds. Members of Nuevo Liberalismo, a movement led by Central Governor and presidential hopeful Ricardo Estigarribia, also supported Benítez’s re-election.

The PLRA directorate, chaired by Alcides Riveros, had called for the opposition to retain the comptroller and deputy comptroller posts. It also urged candidates linked to opposition electoral forces to withdraw rather than legitimize the process. The resolution assigned Riveros to communicate that position to Liberal lawmakers in both chambers.

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We instructed members of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party that they could resign if the shortlist was not made up of the Paraguayan opposition.

Riveros rejected the suggestion that the 14 deputies had ignored the directorate. “We instructed members of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party that they could resign if the shortlist was not made up of the Paraguayan opposition,” he said.

He argued that the directorate’s resolution did not order legislators to take a particular vote. Riveros added that the PLRA’s new conduct tribunal could examine a possible sanction or other measure if a dispute developed. “It does not say that, the resolution is clear,” he said.

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It does not say that, the resolution is clear.