Asuncion, Aug 16: Key South American leaders applauded Nicanor Duarte's inauguration as Paraguay's 47th President, then joined him in declaring a united diplomatic front against drug trafficking and terrorism on their continent.
Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador and Bolivia's Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada gave Duarte his first official business Friday as those leaders and Peru's Vice President signed the "Declaration of Asuncion" pledging a political alliance in the war on drugs They gathered for a day of red carpet pomp as the 47-year-old Duarte began a five-year term by pledging to tackle extreme poverty and endemic corruption in Paraguay, a landlocked nation of 5.5 million people.
An easy election winner against two rivals last April 28, Duarte is a veteran of the Colorado Party that has governed Paraguay for 54 years, through dictatorship and democracy. He came in amid high popular expectations that he would be a reformer from within his own party for a country in economic disarray. Bureau Report