Paraguay
The definition of the ticket for 2028 opened an internal crisis in Honor Colorado
Horacio Cartes’ announcement of Juan Carlos Baruja as Pedro Alliana’s running mate triggered an immediate reaction within the ruling camp. According to ABC Color, the episode exposed tensions between the vice president, Cartes’ inner circle and other Cartista sectors.
The internal dispute in Honor Colorado added a new flashpoint after Horacio Cartes publicly presented Juan Carlos Baruja as a vice presidential candidate in a future ticket headed by Pedro Alliana for the 2028 general elections, during a meeting at the ANR’s Junta de Gobierno with municipal candidates from Paraguarí, according to ABC Color.
According to that outlet, the early definition clashed with the position Alliana had been maintaining for months: postponing the announcement of his running mate until after the municipal elections on October 4 to avoid internal fractures. After Cartes’ remarks, the vice president reaffirmed on social media and later in person that he maintains that criterion.
ABC Color noted that Alliana’s response was immediate and that, after meeting with Cartes in Asunción, he said he would not accept impositions regarding his ticket. He also said his presidential candidacy remains firm, but warned that if a running mate is imposed on him, he will go his own way. In that context, he acknowledged that the situation within Honor Colorado is not going through a good moment and called for replacing a command logic with dialogue, consensus and agreement.
According to ABC Color, Cartes’ gesture also set off movements in other sectors of the Cartista camp. The Colorado governors aligned with the ruling party met with Santiago Peña and Pedro Alliana at Mburuvicha Róga and released images of the meeting as a sign of unity. At the same time, several of them are promoting the name of the governor of Guairá, César Luis “Cesarito” Sosa, while a majority group of Cartista deputies backs the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Latorre, for the vice presidency.
Amid that dispute, Cartista leaders questioned sectors of the Senate close to Cartes. The Paraguayan newspaper reported statements by Deputy Hugo Meza, who criticized the ANR leader’s inner circle, and by the governor of San Pedro, Freddy D’Ecclesiis, who rejected the impositions. It also cited the governor of Caaguazú, Marcelo Soto, who pointed at lawmakers who, in his view, are worsening the tensions.
ABC Color added that senators from Cartes’ inner circle, such as Antonio “Tony” Barrios and Gustavo Leite, closed ranks with the former president. Leite said in a statement that Cartes sets the roadmap. The outlet also linked the internal escalation to criticism of Santiago Peña’s administration, especially over the health crisis and over the request for information to the Central Bank of Paraguay about Ueno Bank operations, an initiative signed by Basilio Núñez, Natalicio Chase and Leite himself.
In that context, Senator Derlis Maidana said, according to ABC Color, that both Cartes’ statements and the request for information to the BCP contributed to straining the relationship between the Executive Branch and the party presidency, although he considered that the differences can still be channeled.
For his part, Juan Carlos Baruja sought to lower the tension. According to the newspaper, he denied that his candidacy is an imposition and said Cartes only expressed a preference he had already voiced before. He also stressed that it will be Alliana who makes the final decision.
Santiago Peña also spoke about the dispute. According to ABC Color, he backed Alliana’s right to choose his running mate and recalled that he did the same when he was a presidential pre-candidate. At the same time, he denied a break with Cartes and assured that his relationship with the former president remains good.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
