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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

Paraguay’s lower-house speaker testifies in trial of former senator accused of using fake degree

From ABC Color · () Spanish

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

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Paraguayan Chamber of Deputies President Raúl Latorre testified in the trial of former senator Hernán Rivas, who faces charges over an allegedly falsified university degree.
  • Latorre said Rivas presented himself as a lawyer in 2020 and won support from the Colorado Party caucus to represent the lower house on the body that disciplines judges and prosecutors.
  • The case comes as authorities review at least 550 university degrees, with no record found so far for 250 of them, according to the education minister.

Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies President Raúl Latorre testified by video on Thursday in the trial of former legislator Hernán Rivas, who is accused of producing and using false public documents linked to his academic credentials.

Latorre said Rivas presented himself as a lawyer in 2020, when both men belonged to the governing Colorado Party caucus. Rivas sought to represent the lower house on the Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados, the institution responsible for judging magistrates.

The body includes two Supreme Court ministers, two senators, two deputies and two members of the Council of the Magistracy. Latorre said the Colorado caucus backed Rivas’s candidacy, a decision he announced before the lower house. The full chamber then appointed Rivas as its delegate, a position he held until July 2023.

He presented himself as a lawyer and expressed his intention to represent the collegiate body before the Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados.

· Raúl LatorreLatorre described Rivas’s 2020 bid to represent lawmakers on the judicial disciplinary body.

After becoming a senator later that year, Rivas returned to the body as the Senate’s representative. He became its president but resigned two months later amid media reports and complaints about alleged inconsistencies in his sworn statements, asset growth and debts.

Latorre told the court that Paraguayan law does not provide a mechanism to verify candidates’ credentials before they are appointed to the judicial disciplinary body. He also acknowledged that holding a university degree is not required to run for the Chamber of Deputies or serve as a lawmaker.

Rivas served as a deputy from 2018 to 2023 and as a senator until May, when he resigned amid the allegations. His case coincides with a review by the Ministry of Education and Sciences of at least 550 university degrees. Education Minister Luis Ramírez said officials had so far found no record for 250. Prosecutors are investigating those claims and other complaints.

It is not a requirement to have a university degree to run for the Chamber of Deputies or serve as a lawmaker.

· Raúl LatorreHe told the court that the law does not require a degree for congressional candidates or deputies.
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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