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PARAGUAY: An Injection of Hope

David Vargas

ASUNCION, Apr 22 2008 (IPS) - “This is an injection of hope,” said Ricardo Cáceres, a resident of Asunción, celebrating the victory of former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo, who was elected president of Paraguay in elections that put an end to six decades of rule by the conservative Colorado Party.

In a country with abundant natural resources but with more than one-third of the population living in poverty and notorious levels of corruption, the president-elect has his work cut out for him.

“The new president’s task will be more one of dismantling the system in order to build another,” political analyst Roberto Paredes told IPS.

“Although Paraguay is a small country, with little economic influence, the arrival of an honest man is a message for this region, which is so heavily affected by corruption,” he added.

Lugo told journalists Monday that “my government will be transparent, clean and honest. I will not steal a single guaraní (the local currency) from the state coffers. And with improved tax collection, I will carry out the agrarian reform necessary for the poor to have land of their own as well as adequate assistance to work it.”

“The first measure I will take is one that I carry deep in my heart: to make good on the historical debt that we owe our indigenous people,” he said.

The overwhelming majority of Paraguay’s 6.7 million inhabitants are “mestizos” or people of mixed European (Spanish) and indigenous (Guaraní) descent. But there is also a small minority of native people, who belong to 17 different ethnic groups, and who live in extreme poverty, abandoned by the state.

But addressing the problems faced by the country’s indigenous people is only one of the challenges that the man known as the “bishop of the poor” will face when he takes office on Aug. 15.

The 56-year-old candidate of the centre-left Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC), who was punished by the Vatican when he left the priesthood in 2006 to go into politics, garnered 40 percent of the vote Sunday, against the 31 percent taken by the Colorado Party’s Blanca Ovelar.

According to official statistics, 35.6 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, although independent estimates put the figure at 40 percent.

In addition, 19 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty, four percent more than in 2005, the country’s statistics office has reported.

The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Paraguay as the third-most corrupt country in Latin America, only ahead of Venezuela and Ecuador, and one of the most corrupt in the world.

The corruption is partly the legacy of the 1954-1989 dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner.

“Paraguay was the black sheep of Latin America,” political analyst Milda Rivarola told IPS. “This is a huge relief for the Mercosur (Southern Common Market trade bloc, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) – that we now have a president who gives us a glimmer of hope for the future transformation of this country.”

The success of Lugo’s government will largely depend on balancing the numerous interests brought together by the APC and on coexistence with the Colorado Party, which will become the leading opposition party.

Although the makeup of the new Congress will not be completely clear until the final vote count is in, the preliminary results point to a Senate in which no party or coalition has a clear majority.

“The transition to full democracy has been completed with the fall of the Colorado Party, and now a new stage is beginning, which will involve seeking governability. The question is how Fernando Lugo will govern with an alliance that brings together right-wing, neoliberal, conservative, socialist, leftist and even extreme leftwing factions,” sociologist Carlos Martini told IPS.

The coalition led by Lugo was formed eight months ago, when a number of opposition groups decided to set aside their differences and join forces to defeat the all-powerful governing party apparatus.

At the core of the coalition is the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), the country’s second-largest political force, which named physician Federico Franco as Lugo’s running-mate. Former members of the Colorado Party comprise the next largest group within the alliance, which also includes around 20 indigenous, peasant farmer and leftist organisations.

Martini said Sunday’s elections were a “punishment vote” for the ruling party, and in particular for President Nicanor Duarte, whose popularity has plunged.

Lugo, who said his mission would be to strengthen the opposition alliance, promised not to launch a witch hunt against the Colorado Party, which many Paraguayans hold responsible for the high levels of poverty and corruption in the country.

“There are great possibilities for dialogue and for the creation of new blocs within parliament that can ensure governability, for the sake of the country,” the president-elect told the press.

He also said his first tour would focus on the region, and especially Bolivia. “I am interested in Bolivia, because historically we have not had very close relations. I believe the time has come to deepen ties with our neighbour and sister country,” he said.

Paraguay and Bolivia faced off in the 1932-1935 Chaco War.

Another crucial issue will be relations with the Catholic Church, which is extremely influential in Paraguay.

For over a decade, Lugo was bishop of the diocese of San Pedro in northern Paraguay, one of the poorest regions in the country, where he provided support to landless peasant farmers.

When he decided to enter politics, the Vatican denied his request for laicisation and instead suspended him “a divinis”, which means he cannot say mass or carry out other priestly functions such as administering the sacraments.

The big question is what shape Lugo’s relations with the Church will take now that he has been elected president.

“This is the first case that has occurred in the Church, and the Holy Father (Pope Benedict) will take time to study it,” Ignacio Gogorza, the president of the Paraguayan Bishops’ Conference, told the local radio station Primero de Marzo.

Lugo told the Church that if his decision to get involved in politics and his “disobedience of canon law have caused pain, I sincerely apologise.”

The immediate challenges the new president will face will require a rapid response, in order to maintain the support of people like Cáceres, who voted for change and are now “full of hope.”