ASUNCION (PARAGUAY), Aug 14: A 54-year-old engineer, poised to become the first civilian to succeed another as Paraguay's president, has vowed in published comments to attack corruption as a hallmark of office.Raul Cubas Grau is scheduled Saturday to succeed Juan Carlos Wasmosy for a five-year term, marking a historic transition between elected civilians since the end of Paraguay's 34-year military dictatorship in 1989.
The changing of the guard by two members of Paraguay's long-governing Colorado Party, comes amid a protracted economic crisis in this South American nation of 5.6 million. Officially unemployment has hovered around 15 per cent, but is widely considered much higher.
The priority of my government will be a frontal assaultagainst corruption,'' Cubas said in comments widely published yesterday. He easily won a May 10 election.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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