Alexei Barrionuevo: Difficult Road Ahead for New Paraguay Leader
Fernando Lugo, “the bishop of the poor,” as he is known here, was sworn in Friday as president of Paraguay, promising to give land to the landless and to end entrenched corruption after six decades of one-party rule.
Despite his remarkable victory in April, the gray-bearded Mr. Lugo, a 57-year-old former Roman Catholic bishop, faces a challenging road in pursuing his agenda, knowing that the Colorado Party, which ruled Paraguay for 61 years, is still very much ingrained in politics here.
For 35 of those years, the party was dominated by one man, Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, a dictator blamed for many human rights atrocities. In the past five years it was represented by the departing president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, who expanded an already bloated and inefficient government bureaucracy.
The election of Mr. Lugo, the ultimate outsider who spent 11 years as a priest living in the countryside working with peasant movements seeking land reform, was a dramatic break with the past for Paraguay, a landlocked country of six million that is hamstrung by inequality and rural poverty.
He was elected promising change on an ill-defined socialist platform and will now have to manage the soaring expectations of Paraguayans in what by law is a single five-year term.
Wearing a long-sleeve white shirt with no necktie or jacket, Mr. Lugo practically screamed his response on Friday while taking the oath to uphold the Constitution and Paraguay’s laws. “Yes, I swear!” he said to a raucous response.
In his 40-minute inauguration speech, he talked about the need to escape the legacy of decades of dictatorship that had “infiltrated” Paraguay’s culture. “Today marks the end of the elitist and secretive Paraguay, famous for its corruption,” Mr. Lugo told a huge crowd gathered outside Paraguay’s Congress.
He later added: “The change is not just an election question. The change in Paraguay is a cultural challenge, perhaps the most important in its history.”
His political skills still mostly untested, Mr. Lugo now faces the challenge of distinguishing his socialist goals from those of other populist leaders who have taken power in South America in recent years.
Some political analysts consider Mr. Lugo part of a wave of anti-free-market leftists that includes Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia, who have nationalized industries and redistributed wealth to the poor masses...
... One area he is likely to focus on is relations with neighboring Brazil. Mr. Lugo promised during the campaign to try to renegotiate unfavorable contract terms of the Itaipú hydroelectric dam along the two countries’ border, a winning issue with almost all Paraguayans.
Brazilian officials have not signaled a willingness to review the contracts thoroughly, but Paraguay’s long-term stability is important to Brazil.
But a bold proposal for land reform could also serve Mr. Lugo well. Paraguay, nestled between Argentina and Brazil, ranked seventh highest of 139 countries in terms of inequality in a recent United Nations Development Program study.
About 1 percent of Paraguay’s population owns 77 percent of the country’s land, Frank O. Mora, a professor of national security strategy at the National War College, said this week at a conference in Washington.
The country has struggled to shed its reputation as one of the most corrupt in Latin America. It is also one of the poorest. Some 33 percent of Paraguayans live below the poverty line, and about a million live abroad.
Mr. Lugo won in April amid growing impatience with corruption and the public perception — especially amid rising unemployment in Paraguay’s cities — that the Colorados helped themselves to the country’s wealth to the exclusion of average Paraguayans.
For a time, it was not clear that Mr. Lugo would be allowed to make the transition from priest to politician. The Paraguayan Constitution prohibits church officials of any denomination from being elected president, so Mr. Lugo resigned his position as bishop in December 2006. The Vatican initially refused to accept his resignation and considered him only suspended.
Last month Pope Benedict XVI gave him permission to resign as bishop.
Read entire article at NYT
Despite his remarkable victory in April, the gray-bearded Mr. Lugo, a 57-year-old former Roman Catholic bishop, faces a challenging road in pursuing his agenda, knowing that the Colorado Party, which ruled Paraguay for 61 years, is still very much ingrained in politics here.
For 35 of those years, the party was dominated by one man, Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, a dictator blamed for many human rights atrocities. In the past five years it was represented by the departing president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, who expanded an already bloated and inefficient government bureaucracy.
The election of Mr. Lugo, the ultimate outsider who spent 11 years as a priest living in the countryside working with peasant movements seeking land reform, was a dramatic break with the past for Paraguay, a landlocked country of six million that is hamstrung by inequality and rural poverty.
He was elected promising change on an ill-defined socialist platform and will now have to manage the soaring expectations of Paraguayans in what by law is a single five-year term.
Wearing a long-sleeve white shirt with no necktie or jacket, Mr. Lugo practically screamed his response on Friday while taking the oath to uphold the Constitution and Paraguay’s laws. “Yes, I swear!” he said to a raucous response.
In his 40-minute inauguration speech, he talked about the need to escape the legacy of decades of dictatorship that had “infiltrated” Paraguay’s culture. “Today marks the end of the elitist and secretive Paraguay, famous for its corruption,” Mr. Lugo told a huge crowd gathered outside Paraguay’s Congress.
He later added: “The change is not just an election question. The change in Paraguay is a cultural challenge, perhaps the most important in its history.”
His political skills still mostly untested, Mr. Lugo now faces the challenge of distinguishing his socialist goals from those of other populist leaders who have taken power in South America in recent years.
Some political analysts consider Mr. Lugo part of a wave of anti-free-market leftists that includes Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia, who have nationalized industries and redistributed wealth to the poor masses...
... One area he is likely to focus on is relations with neighboring Brazil. Mr. Lugo promised during the campaign to try to renegotiate unfavorable contract terms of the Itaipú hydroelectric dam along the two countries’ border, a winning issue with almost all Paraguayans.
Brazilian officials have not signaled a willingness to review the contracts thoroughly, but Paraguay’s long-term stability is important to Brazil.
But a bold proposal for land reform could also serve Mr. Lugo well. Paraguay, nestled between Argentina and Brazil, ranked seventh highest of 139 countries in terms of inequality in a recent United Nations Development Program study.
About 1 percent of Paraguay’s population owns 77 percent of the country’s land, Frank O. Mora, a professor of national security strategy at the National War College, said this week at a conference in Washington.
The country has struggled to shed its reputation as one of the most corrupt in Latin America. It is also one of the poorest. Some 33 percent of Paraguayans live below the poverty line, and about a million live abroad.
Mr. Lugo won in April amid growing impatience with corruption and the public perception — especially amid rising unemployment in Paraguay’s cities — that the Colorados helped themselves to the country’s wealth to the exclusion of average Paraguayans.
For a time, it was not clear that Mr. Lugo would be allowed to make the transition from priest to politician. The Paraguayan Constitution prohibits church officials of any denomination from being elected president, so Mr. Lugo resigned his position as bishop in December 2006. The Vatican initially refused to accept his resignation and considered him only suspended.
Last month Pope Benedict XVI gave him permission to resign as bishop.