ASUNCION (Reuters) - Paraguayan Senator Mario Abdo Benitez, a lawmaker with ties to a former Paraguayan dictator, won the ruling Colorado Party's presidential primary on Sunday in a sharp rebuke for President Horacio Cartes, the party's flagbearer.
Abdo, the son of former dictator Alfredo Stroessner's private secretary, beat out ex-finance minister Santiago Pena, a young economist and Cartes' hand-picked successor, in a surprise outcome that followed increasing dissatisfaction with Cartes, who has been in power since 2013.
