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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Health & Science

The controversial pandemic session that brought Hernán Rivas to the judicial appointments tribunal

From ABC Color · () Spanish

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

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • In June 2020, Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies replaced Ramón Romero Roa with Hernán David Rivas as its representative on the Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal.
  • Critics argued that the chamber unlawfully interrupted Romero Roa’s five-year mandate, while supporters called the move a renewal and defended Rivas’s qualifications.
  • The appointment passed with 43 votes to 24, with three abstentions and 10 lawmakers absent.

The extraordinary session held on June 3, 2020, became one of the most controversial episodes in Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of lawmakers from the Colorado Party and allied Liberals voted to remove Ramón Romero Roa as the lower house’s representative on the Jurado de Enjuiciamiento de Magistrados, or JEM, and replace him with then-deputy Hernán David Rivas.

active, effective

· Hugo RamírezHe used the phrase to describe the participation he expected from Hernán Rivas as the Chamber of Deputies’ representative on the JEM.

Critics said the chamber had violated the Constitution by cutting short a mandate that lasted five years and could be ended only through the impeachment mechanism established in Article 225. The resolution calling the special session was signed by then-Chamber President Pedro Alliana, now vice president and a presidential hopeful. It listed only one item: changing the chamber’s representation on the JEM.

The vote produced 43 supporters for Rivas, 24 opponents, three abstentions and 10 absences. The narrow majority behind the change described it as a “renewal” and defended the young lawmaker’s professional and political credentials.

dignified

· Hugo RamírezRamírez said Rivas would provide a dignified representation of the chamber.

Hugo Ramírez, the Colorado lawmaker who proposed replacing Romero Roa, highlighted Rivas’s experience as a departmental councilor and president of the Itapúa Departmental Board. He also pointed to Rivas’s election to the Chamber at age 30, arguing that these credentials guaranteed an “active, effective” and, above all, “dignified” role representing the institution on the JEM.

the new majority

· Derlis MaidanaMaidana said the newly formed majority in the chamber trusted Rivas.

Derlis Maidana backed the motion and framed it as a matter of political confidence. He said every public official needed the trust of those who appointed them, and that the chamber’s newly formed majority trusted Rivas. Maidana also emphasized Rivas’s status as a lawyer and said it was an advantage that he had not yet become part of the judicial world, which Maidana described as potentially “contaminated.” Raúl Latorre also defended Rivas as a “young lawyer.”

contaminated

· Derlis MaidanaMaidana used the term when contrasting Rivas with people from the judicial world.
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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