Paraguayan president ousted through impeachment

Lugo called the impeachment as a "parliamentary coup."

Vice President Federico Franco, who was an ally of Lugo in election but has since turned to an adversary, replaced him as president and will serve till the end of the term next year.

Following a five-hour trial, 39 senators voted for the impeachment, four voted against and two were absent.

Paraguay's conservative opposition-controlled Congress called for the impeachment of the left-leaning president Thursday, after a deadly land dispute between landless farmers and police ended in 17 deaths on both sides.

Opponents said Lugo had failed to deliver his main campaign promise of land reforms.

Lugo said that he would comply with the Senate's vote, but he termed the impeachment as "a parliamentary coup with accusations that do not conform to the truth."

"I say goodbye as president," Lugo said after the vote, but the country's democracy "has been deeply wounded."

"It's not the first time that in Parliament they speak of a political trial," he told a local radio station. "There is a powerful group in traditional Paraguayan politics that does not accept that an outsider (like me) can ... become president."

With just nine months to go before presidential elections, "it is not the time to politically prosecute the president," added Lugo, a former Roman Catholic priest who turned to politics and viewed as a champion of the poor.

Backing Lugo, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa Friday warned that the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) could refuse to recognize the new government or even close their borders to Paraguay.

"Internally, they can do what they want, but to be recognized internationally depends on our decision," Correa said upon his return from Brazil, where he attended the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

Unasur's founding charter states that member countries can call for sanctions or other measures to reestablish order in another member country should its democratic system come under threat.

Unasur member nations include Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.