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A prayer for Paraguay
I have only visited Paraguay once—in 1985. It was an offer that I couldn’t refuse.
I had been attending the Maryknoll Language School in Cochabamba, Bolivia for several months and I wanted to see more of South America before going to Venezuela. Alfredo Stroessner was the dictator-president of Paraguay at the time and he wanted to develop the tourist industry. As a result I was able to get a very inexpensive plane fare from Bolivia to Brazil, passing through Paraguay. The package also included two nights in Asuncion, meals and a show of typical Paraguayan music and dances.
The afternoon we arrived I stepped out of the hotel. Everything was beautiful and modern. An European passenger from the same plane said to me: “If this is the third world, then Bolivia is in the fourth or fifth world.” I agreed with his evaluation. The next day we traveled to Foz do Iguazu, an incredibly beautiful waterfall between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. I was impressed with the bus, the good highways, the scenery, and the living conditions of the people along the way.
Not long after, a Venezuelan woman visited Paraguay also. Upon her return to Venezuela she commented that she was shocked with the poverty she saw in Paraguay. I was surprised with what she shared. The reality was that we had seen two different views of Paraguay. I am even more surprised today when what I read seems to indicate that the world she saw still exists.
In the past few weeks, Paraguay elected a new president, Fernando Lugo, an ordained Roman Catholic bishop. His election brought an end to sixty years of control by the Colorado Party. It is worth considering the state of affairs in Paraguay after these sixty years.
According to the newspapers here, of the South American countries only Bolivia has more poverty. 42 percent of the six million inhabitants of Paraguay live in poverty. Half of the population is illiterate.
It should be no surprise that in the midst of such a situation a bishop who has been in favor of “liberation theology” should be able to muster enough votes to be elected president. Nor should it be a surprise that a British newspaper should report that an official of the U.S. State Department said the victory had left Washington worried about its waning influence in Latin America.
But what is ahead? I am not close to Paraguay and it has been over twenty years since I’ve been there, but I wouldn’t expect a cloud of great peace and love to sweep over the country. Lugo won with about 40 percent of the votes. Evo Morales in Bolivia and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela have won elections with well over half of the votes but the results only angered the minorities that have ruled these countries for ages. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same happen in Paraguay. What we have been seeing in Latin America is an increasing number of progressive leaders being elected presidents, but a powerful and well financed minority rallying in opposition.
One might say that only time will tell what the outcome of all this will be for Latin America. However, it might be more appropriate to say that only money will determine what the outcome may be. It is in this context that the petroleum money of Venezuela, along with acts of solidarity, can play an incredibly important role in the survival of these governments. If half of Paraguay is illiterate, literacy programs such as those that have been implemented in Venezuela and Bolivia will be important. Economic help will be needed if the indices of poverty are to be reduced.
As the U.S. laments the changes in political leadership, the question is why in all these years it has not tried to develop programs for the eradication of poverty and illiteracy. Arms sales and commercial ventures seem to have been the priorities of U.S. foreign policy instead of solidarity and people. That’s a shame.
There is another shame that is in play with this election. Lugo is a Catholic bishop and has indicated that he would like to return to serving in that role after he serves his country as its president. This apparently has evoked the ire of higher ecclesiastical authorities. I find it inspiring that he has separated himself from his ecclesiastical duties to perform the role that he feels he is called to play for a time. He has been very clear about what his intention is — to be a political leader at the present moment.
What is tragic is that in Venezuela and other countries the bishops play the role of politicians without running for any office and don’t evoke any reproach from Rome for their actions. The cardinal in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, recently voted in the referendum regarding autonomy for the region. Regardless of how he voted, his voting was a political act giving legitimacy to the Bolivian opposition forces.
Finally, what I see happening in Latin America is not so much a political change from the right to the left as a social change brought about through political means. Those who have been scorned and spit upon have moved into positions of power. Those who moved within the confines of their country club world are threatened. As they sip their drinks in the club house, they’ve got to figure out a way to get their power back. There is always the possibility that they might succeed.
The presidents of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia plus the vice-president of Cuba held a meeting in Caracas a few weeks ago. The topic for discussion: the secessionist movement in Bolivia. My prayer is that in a few years a similar meeting will not be held to discuss Paraguay.
by Charles Hardy ©
Charles Hardy is author of Cowboy in Caracas: A North American’s Memoir of Venezuela’s Democratic Revolution, published by Curbstone Press. Other essays by Hardy can be found on his personal blog Cowboyincaracas.com. You may write him at cowboyincaracas@yahoo.com.