Paraguay
The opposition points to Cartismo after Hernán Rivas’s conviction and calls for political accountability
Opposition lawmakers celebrated the sentence against the former senator, but questioned the backing he received to reach the Council of Magistrates. They also called for other possible involved parties to be investigated.
The eight-year prison sentence against former senator and former president of the Council of Magistrates Hernán Rivas triggered a strong reaction from opposition leaders, who, in addition to valuing the judicial decision, focused on the political backing that, they said, allowed him to reach high-responsibility posts.
According to Última Hora, the court concluded that Rivas did not attend or pass the Law degree program and that there were no academic records supporting his training. The president of the trial court, María Fernanda García de Zúñiga, described him as a “ghost student” and said he presented before state institutions a professional qualification he did not have.
From the opposition, one of the main criticisms was directed at Honor Colorado and the Cartista administration for having supported his arrival at the JEM and even his later appointment at the head of the body. Deputy Raúl Benítez said on social media that Rivas did not act alone and stressed that he had backing on two occasions to preside over the Council.
Liberal Senator Eduardo Nakayama also questioned that Rivas had headed the JEM despite, he said, not having gone through the Faculty of Law, and argued that that political backing constituted a fraud and an offense to those who obtain their degrees legitimately.
Deputy Rocío Vallejo considered that with the sentence “justice was done” and said, in statements to Telefuturo cited by Última Hora, that the proceedings exposed a falsehood sustained for years. She also recalled the public defense that, she said, Cartista leaders made of the authenticity of the degree and extended her criticism to the JEM, the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Senators.
For his part, Rafael Filizzola argued that the case should not end with a single conviction. According to Última Hora, the leader mentioned President Santiago Peña, as well as deputies, senators and members of the JEM, and asked how a single person could carry out so many procedures in different public offices to obtain, register and use false documentation. In his view, those who promoted Rivas to those posts must assume at least political responsibility.
Senator Esperanza Martínez went even further and said that Rivas was not simply someone who deceived the system, but rather would have been deliberately placed there by political sectors. She also linked the case to broader structures of power and impunity and recalled that the complaint that triggered the investigation had as a precedent an initiative by then-senator Kattya González, later expelled from the Senate.
Still according to Última Hora, the court held that the case caused significant institutional damage and ordered the Public Ministry to receive the records of four witnesses for alleged false testimony, in order to open another investigation. Rivas will not go to prison until the sentence becomes final.
Fuentes
Sobre esta nota. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
