Paraguay Approves US Navy Training Seminar Despite Criticism

A group of 12 U.S. Navy seals will arrive in Paraguay for the “Joint-Combined Exchange Training” session on March 9, South American officials confirmed Thursday.

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Until April 12, a unit of U.S. special operations forces will be training the Paraguayan Anti-Narcotics Association, parliamentarians said after much deliberation.

However, the decision was highly criticized by numerous parties including the Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) which complained of the blatant lack of information on the training program and agenda which the government failed to provide to all senatorial members except to those in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.

While the left-wing opposition party, Guasu Front refused to attend the session in a form of protest. Senators argued that the necessary visa shouldn't be extended to the special forces soldiers due to U.S. push for a militarized intervention in Venezuela.

The left-wing political group went on to criticize Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez and Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni for supporting Saturday’s controversial attempts to transfer U.S. “humanitarian aid” to Venezuela via the Colombian border.

Their participation in the complete violation of international law allowed the pair to “become ambassadors of the war and military intervention, lowering Paraguayan foreign policy to the gross subordination of interests unrelated to peace and non-intervention."

Paraguay President Mario Abdo said by tweet on Thursday that Venezuelan opposition lawmaker and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido will visit the country on Friday, as Guaido tries to drum up support in the region and put pressure on democratically elected Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro to step down.