Óscar “Nenecho” Rodríguez, mayor of Asunción, summoned 10 ministries and other public entities to pay the debts they have with the commune. In total, they add up to US$ 29 million. The community chief alleges that the infrastructure problems presented by the city are precisely due to the lack of resources to invest in this aspect.
Two former council members questioned Rodríguez’s comments. They allege that the Government cannot be held responsible for the collapse in infrastructure that exists, considering that the commune is characterized by over-indebtedness for the payment of salaries.
Architect Federico Franco Troche, former councilor of Asunción (Together We Can), said that the mayor’s statements should be taken with a grain of salt, in the sense that they are made within the framework of the electoral process.
“It is about justifying a process of degradation that the Municipality has been carrying out for years, increasing its current expenses, avoiding its infrastructure expenses, increasing its indebtedness without generating a process of improvement in institutional performance,” he said.
He described Rodríguez’s attempt to cover up the inefficient management that he has been carrying out for several years as “drowned claws”.
“The Government in turn claims a debt that the commune has with the Treasury for the lack of transfer of 15% of the real estate tax. The commune has not transferred these resources for a long time and that is why the Treasury does not transfer resources from Fonacide and royalties, ”he said.
On the warnings of the commune to leave without the garbage collection service to the Ministries and public entities that owe the Municipality, Franco warned that this is unfeasible from the legal and constitutional point of view.
“It is a very sensitive environmental issue, the fact that the Municipality does not collect the garbage will mean that on a rainy day the drains collapse, generating multiple problems with the torrents,” he commented.
Franco finally pointed out that Rodríguez’s speeches always have an electoral and populist tint to win followers on social networks, but they lack support.
He finally said that this financial collapse could be seen coming due to the growing indebtedness registered by the Municipality in recent years. Debts that were used to increase salary expenses and not in the improvement of the city.
BUONGERMINI
Rodrigo Buongermini, former councilor of Asunción, also for Together We Can, said that the number of officials skyrocketed during Rodríguez’s administration.
“Today nobody knows how to quantify the amount of income because the data is impossible to access. The municipal government has generated a demand for resources that simply have two destinations; pay debts and pay public officials,” she noted.
He stressed that, given the chaotic financial situation, Rodríguez saw no better way than to look for a “scapegoat” who found him in the National Government, considering that, in addition, party elections are coming up.
