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ASUNCION : President Fernando Lugo sacked the commander of Paraguay's armed forces, two days after firing a trio of top military commanders amid rumours of a potential coup, government sources said Friday.
Lugo, a former Catholic bishop who assumed office in August 2008, sacked Rear Admiral Ciber Benitez. He will be replaced by General Juan Oscar Velazquez, a former army commander and a Lugo confidant, an official statement said.
Lugo fired his army, navy and air force commanders on Wednesday, a day after claiming there were "pockets of coup-plotters" in the armed forces.
Opponents accuse Lugo of styling himself after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in his focus on helping the poor in this land-locked South American country.
Lugo's opponents in Congress are hoping to gather a two-thirds majority to remove him from office under the constitution.
Opponents say that Lugo has been incompetent in failing to focus on a crime wave that includes kidnappings and robbery, as well as administrative improprieties.
Lugo's support base has been eroding under a growing scandal in which three women claim he fathered their children while he was a priest. In May, he admitted responsibility for one of the children.
Benitez, who was to retire in December, on Thursday denied that a coup was brewing.
Democracy was restored in Paraguay only in 1989, at the end of the 35-year dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner.
- AFP /ls
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