Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo has replaced his military chiefs after making accusations of a coup plot to overthrow his leftist government, officials said Thursday.
Lugo, a former Catholic bishop who assumed office in August 2008, fired his army, navy and air force commanders on Wednesday, a day after claiming there were "pockets of coup-plotters" in the armed forces.
He named other senior career officers in their place.
The overall head of the joint chiefs of staff, Rear Admiral Cibar Benitez, kept his post but was due to give it up next month. He denied there had been any military rebellion planned.
"Nobody in the armed forces had these intentions," he told reporters.
Lugo made no public statement on the sackings. He reiterated only that "there exists no risk of a coup d'etat, at least not one put forward by the military."
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