Paraguay to have its 1st woman President as Horacio Cartes resigned to be senator

Asuncion: Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes stepped down ahead of schedule.

Vice-President Alicia Pucheta, 68, will complete Cartes’s mandate after he resigned to become a senator. On August 15, fellow conservative Mario Abdo Benitez, elected in April 22 polls, will begin his five-year term as president of one of Latin America’s poorest countries.

Parliament is due to confirm Cartes’s resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president on Wednesday. Opposed to the legalisation of abortion, Pucheta is from the right-wing Colorado Party, which has been in power in Asuncion for decades.

Opposition Senator Desiree Masi said she does not see Pucheta’s nomination as an advance for women in Paraguay.