Paraguayan President said he had the “most difficult period of government in 100 years”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, considered on Wednesday, February 9, that he had the “most difficult period of government in the last 80 or 100 years”, after the two wars the country went through, and once again vindicated his task in health and public works, areas on which “opinions can be had, but the numbers are auditable”.

“Some people say: “you were unlucky because you got all that.” I am convinced of accepting the Lord’s designs, and if he gave us this difficult moment, of being the guide of our nation, it must have been for a reason. Perhaps because he knew our heart, our commitment, our attitude, and sense of responsibility to face one of the most difficult moments that not only Paraguay but humanity went through”, he remarked.

The president was speaking at the inauguration of a 38-kilometer stretch of asphalt road in Santa Fe del Paraná in the department of Alto Paraná.

Abdo Benítez highlighted the works and decisions he took at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, including closing the borders, establishing a mandatory quarantine, and making masks mandatory before the WHO.

“That first year, we were the ones who had the best numbers in epidemiological terms, and we took advantage of that time to educate our people. We decreed the mandatory use of face masks before the WHO,” he detailed and valued the increase in the number of intensive care beds from 216 to 900 and the 18 new contingency hospitals.

“What would have happened to Paraguay if it could not contain the first wave (of Covid-19 infections)? The world had five waves; Paraguay had two: the one in March last year and the one we are experiencing now. The results would have been different,” said Abdo Benítez, according to the state agency IPP and the newspaper Última Hora.

He emphasized that the Executive decided not to halt public works so as not to interrupt the employment of some 120,000 workers in the sector.

“Whether we like it or not, we have to compare things. We can all have legitimate opinions; what cannot be questioned are the auditable numbers. There sits the minister who built the most roads in the history of the Republic of Paraguay,” said Abdo Benítez, referring to the head of Public Works, Arnoldo Wiens.

“In other words, I passed General Alfredo Stroessner, and we will finish all that you see in the democratic era; we are going to do, in five years, more than all that sum. It is how we will say goodbye to the Government in a year and a half”, asserted the head of the Lopez Palace.

Furthermore, the president highlighted the “commitments” of his administration with “the people” and remarked that “the great legacy” he intends to leave is “the trust between the ruler and the people, since there is always a great discord and distrust from the citizenship in general towards the authorities”.

With information from Télam