Paraguay's Senate on Dec. 20 voted in favor of a resolution urging the country's president, Horacio Cartes, to dismiss Banco Central del Paraguay chief Carlos Gustavo Fernández Valdovinos for purportedly violating rules that bar him from participating in political party activities.
The move comes after a photograph surfaced showing that Valdovinos was present at the campaign headquarters of Santiago Peña, a presidential candidate for the ruling Colorado Party, during a primary election vote Dec. 17.
In passing the resolution, the Senate pointed out that under Paraguayan law, the president of the central bank and members of its board are disallowed from participating in "activities of political party nature," and asserted that his attendance at Peña's offices "constitutes a serious event in violation of the provisions contained in the aforementioned law."
For his part, Valdovinos, who has led Paraguay's central bank since 2013, has argued that he was at Peña's headquarters to support him as a long-time friend, and has maintained that he only arrived after polls for the election had already closed.
Peña, who earlier in the year resigned from his post as the country's finance minister to launch his presidential bid, lost the Dec. 17 election to run as the Colorado Party's candidate.
