Translation mine. Somehow, I knew it was only a matter of time before Lugo decided to quit being diplomatic and just tell it like it is. I hope he’s got good bodyguards, he’s gonna need them from now on.The president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, rejected the presence of 500 US soldiers in his country until 2010, under a program called New Horizons, on Thursday.“This is not a categorical rejection. We just don’t believe it’s convenient that the US Southern Command be present in Paraguay with 500 members for this type of exercises,” said the president in a press conference, according to the AFP news agency.Lugo explained that a new defence, security and sovereignty scenario, generated by the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), “supports regional integration in the first place.”Lugo commented that at the latest Unasur meeting in Ecuador, “the huge presence of US soldiers in the region was very much questioned”, referring to the agreement between Colombia and the US, in which seven Colombian military bases are to be used by US soldiers.“A deployment of 500 persons, military and professional, within the country, will not go unnoticed. For this reason, I believe it will be neither prudent nor convenient [to permit them in Paraguay],” said the president.During the reign of former president Nicanor Duarte Frutos (2003-2008), the US military presence in Paraguay was known as Operation Medrete and included 400 uniformed foreigners.
