Nowhere to run to for Bush

By Libby

File this one under poetic justice of a sort. I'm sure most of you remember the interest this purchase generated at the time.

Back in late 2006, it was widely reported in the Latin American media that President Bush, or perhaps his old man, had bought a 100,000-acre farm in a remote area of Paraguay. What struck people at the time was the choice of country. Paraguay, of course, has gained a certain Club Med status among the world's villains and criminal elements as the place to go when the law's on your tail. The country, ruled for six decades by the dictatorial and fascist Colorado Party of Gen. Alfredo Stroesser, an almost cartoon caricature of a Latin American dictator, has no extradition treaty with any nation.

That's why it has long harbored aging Nazis, bank robbers, and a string of ousted or retired Latin American dictators and their assistants over the years.

One might have thought this was a wise buy for a family with a son whose war crimes, when fully revealed, are likely to rival the worst dictators in the world's history. Unfortunately, no one could have predicted this would happen.

Last month, a former Roman Catholic Bishop with leftist, populist tendencies, Fernando Lugo, surprised almost everyone in Paraguay, and no doubt President Bush, by winning the national presidential election, ousting the Colorado Party for the first time in 61 years. There is talk that among other things, Lugo is thinking of returning Paraguay to the community of nations, by signing some of those extradition agreements.

So much for that hidey hole. I have to admit that I'm taking an untoward delight in the idea that they spent all that money to escape justice for naught. I have to believe that someday Bush will be called to account for his lies, by someone. I hope I live to see it.