While the international press continues to be eclipsed by the news coming out from the recent Venezuelan elections, their eyes are slowly starting to turn to Paraguay and the upcoming elections this Sunday. Unfortunately what they found is not pretty! (to say the least)

According to a piece done by The Guardian which was published today:

“Even by the historically dire standards of corruption in Latin America, the two frontrunners in this weekend’s presidential election in Paraguay may well represent a new low.

Horacio Cartes, a homophobe who has been jailed after accusations of currency fraud, investigated for tax evasion and widely accused of drug trafficking.

His main challenger, Efrain Alegre, meanwhile, is fighting off claims that his centre-right Liberal party used millions of dollars in public funds to buy an electoral alliance that gives him an outside chance of an upset.”

The New York Times practised was a bit more cautious when describing the situation, but the tittle of the article really says it all: Candidate Disparages Gays in Paraguay, Stirring Dispute. They choose to described Cartes as “no stranger to controversy. His campaign has faced scrutiny over a State Department diplomatic cable, obtained by WikiLeaks, in which he was described as the focus of a money-laundering inquiry related to an institution under his control, Banco Amambay. He has rejected the accusations of laundering money as “laughable.”

The Huffington Post had a similar reaction with their article: Horacio Cartes, Paraguayan Presidential Candidate: I’d ‘Shoot Myself In The Testicles’ If My Son Married Another Man.

While the news-round illustrate a situation far from ideal for most Paraguayans the good news is that officially the campaigning period is OVER! Now, we just need to wait until Sunday!