ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Protesters clashed with police in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, on Friday night, while anger over the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis seethed on the streets and forced the resignation of the chief official country’s health system.
Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas at hundreds of protesters who gathered around the Congress building, while protesters broke down security barriers, burned road barricades and threw stones at the police.
Protests erupted amid growing outrage, as coronavirus infections reached record levels and hospitals on the verge of collapse across Paraguay.
“It is a pity that young people have taken this too far. They are people who only seek to destroy, ”Arnaldo Giuzzio, the interior minister, told the television channel Telefuturo. “This violence does not make sense.”
Earlier on Friday, Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni resigned, a day after lawmakers resigned.
Mr. Mazzoleni is the latest of several senior health officials across Latin America to have been forced to leave their jobs in recent weeks amid growing anger over the management of the pandemic and the slow release of vaccines.
To replace him, President Mario Abdo Benítez appointed Dr. Julio Borba, deputy minister. Borba told reporters that he would start tracking drugs and supplies immediately.
Paraguay is registering a record number of cases daily, according to a Reuters count, with 115 infections per 100,000 people reported in the past seven days. The country vaccinated less than 0.1 percent of its population, according to Reuters data.