Fernando Lugo, a bearded, left-leaning bishop is expected to win Paraguay’s historic presidential election on April 20th, upsetting a 60-year rule by the right wing Colorado Party. While escaping the heat of the Paraguayan sun by sitting in the shade of an orange tree, farmer union leader Tomas Zayas explains, "If Lugo is elected, it will open a door for more changes in the future, but that’s all. We’ll take what we can get."
As much of the rest of Latin America shifts to the left, Paraguay remains a key ally of Washington, a human rights nightmare and example of the amorphous and survivalist qualities of the Latin American right. In the April 20th presidential elections, Blanca Ovelar and Lino Oviedo, two representatives of Paraguay’s old right will come head to head with Fernando Lugo, a new face, and possibly a new beginning for the Paraguayan left.
Former Education Minister Blanca Ovelar, is carrying the torch of the 60-year rule of the Colorado, or Red Party, and General Lino Oviedo- nicknamed the "Bonsai horseman" for his short stature – is an ex-Colorado Party member himself, and until recently was serving prison time for an attempted coup. Alternately called "the Bishop of the Poor" by his supporters, and "the Red Bishop" by his right-wing opponents, Lugo is leading in the polls, and may do the same in the elections – if he can out maneuver the gargantuan resources and corrupt politics of his opponents.
Lugo: The Bishop of the Poor
Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez was born in 1951. As a young man, he taught in a rural school district which, according to reporter Andrew Nickson at Open Democracy, "was so remote that he was able to escape the usual rule that teachers had to be members of the Colorado Party."[1] In 1977, Lugo was ordained as a Catholic priest, and worked as a missionary in indigenous communities in Ecuador until 1982. He then spent 10 years studying at the Vatican, at which time he was appointed head of the Divine Word order in Paraguay. In 1994 he became the Bishop of the Paraguayan department of San Pedro. Though Lugo was frequently away from Paraguay, he did not avoid the repercussions of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship and its conservative influence. In fact, three of Lugo’s brothers were exiled and the conservative Catholic hierarchy pressured him to resign as bishop due to his support for landless families’ settlements on large estates owned by absent elites.
However, Lugo’s resignation as bishop also allowed him to realize his ambitions as a presidential contender. On December 25, 2006, Lugo announced he would run for president in the 2008 contest. As a candidate, he is riding the waves of discontent of a population that’s tired of Paraguayan business as usual. After leading a march and rally in early 2006 protesting the civil rights abuses committed by president Duarte Frutos, his popularity rose.
At first, Lugo’s candidacy was impeded by the fact that the Vatican did not accept his resignation, which allowed Colorado party members to claim that his candidacy would be unconstitutional, as clergy members can’t hold political office in Paraguay. However, a legal team soon established that this was not the case, and he has become "a disturbingly credible threat to the Colorados."[2]
On September 17, 2007 Lugo created a seven party opposition coalition called the Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC), and on October 31, 2007, he registered himself as a presidential candidate of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC) to participate in the primaries of the opposition group which is a part of the APC.[3] Senator Juan Ramirez Montalbetti, a Lugo supporter, has said that the election day of April 20, 2008 will be approached as "a day of war" to protect votes in the face the maneuvers in which "officialist" Colorados are experts.[4]
The Paraguayan Right
The current political landscape of the Paraguayan right is shaped significantly by the 35-year dictatorial rule of General Alfredo Stroessner, a mustachioed man described by Graham Greene as looking like "the amiable well-fed host of a Bavarian bierstube," who maintained power through a mixture of brutal repression, corruption and cronyism. After 61 years, the Colorado Party, which Stroessner was a part of, has had the longest continuous run in power of any political party in the world.[5]
Stroessner’s reign dominated the second half of the last century in Paraguay, and casts a dark shadow into this one. Originally elected in 1954 to fill a vacancy, Stroessner was "re-elected" seven times through a state-of-siege law in the constitution and with the aid of the military and the Colorado Party. The Colorado Party had already ruled Paraguay from 1947 until 1962, as a one-Party state in which all other political parties were illegal.[6] It also served in tandem as one of the "twin pillars" supporting the Stroessner regime (the other pillar being the military).[7] Stroessner collaborated with Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the military junta in Argentina to orchestrate a regional crackdown on political opponents through a mixture of kidnapping, torture and murder. In 1989, the transition to democracy pushed the hard-line Stronistas out of power. Though a new constitution created in 1992 established a democracy and new legal protections of rights, the Colorado Party has continued its rule over Paraguay.
The Colorado Party’s vast system of clientelism – offering public jobs to people to gain political support – is entirely reliant on state programs and public services. It is effective because of the country’s high unemployment rate: one of citizens’ few prospects for employment is through the Colorado Party, whether in such positions as a road construction worker, teacher or mayor. Though many citizens view the Party as corrupt and ineffective, supporting it often means receiving a salary. The Colorado Party employs some 200,000 people, 95% of whom are members of the Party.[8]
Yet another Colorado Party Candidate, Nicanor Duarte Frutos was elected president in 2003. The current leader of the Colorado Party is president Nicanor Duarte Frutos, who joined the Colorado Party when he was just 14.[9] Duarte, a fiery, gravel-voiced public speaker who styled himself a populist, grassroots politician, campaigned in 2003 on promises to fight crime and corruption and to create public works jobs. However, during his presidency, rising crime and high-profile kidnappings have drawn criticism.
In the middle of the current "pink tide" of Latin American populist governments, Frutos allied himself with the United States during the majority of his presidency. According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Washington, with its nightmares of a communist haven replaced by fears of terrorist funding, has lavished Paraguay with democratization projects (read military training), which have helped keep "the Brazilian military at bay while effectively intimidating the armed peasant groups into submission." Renewed cooperation has been felicitous for the security self-interests of both parties, and promises to continue. He signed an energy agreement with Chavez, and supports the Bank of the South, the project for economic integration among South American nations as pushed by Chavez.[10] Duarte has made populist gestures publicly, notably condemning "lawless capitalism" in a UNESCO assembly.[11]
Recently, Duarte has cooled his relations with Washington and warmed up to Caracas – if for no other reason that, in Latin America, it’s popular to do so.
The Red Queen and the Bonsai Horseman
In the current electoral field for the presidential election, Lugo’s opposition is represented by the massive state and social apparatus of the Colorado Party, as well as newer, right-wing opposition parties.
Ironically, the shift in economy from public works and government spending to the booming agricultural export business has eroded some support for the Colorado Party. The newly strengthened left and the emergent new right are evidence that, according to political analyst Milda Rivola, "Economic times have changed. . . The idea of the state as the country’s biggest employer no longer works," she said.[12] That is exactly where the interests that form the new right come into play.
"Bonsai horseman" General Lino Oviedo, a former presidential hopeful is another representative of the old right. Ironically, Oviedo originally rose to political fame in Paraguay as an upholder of democratic values by participating in the uprising that overthrew Stroessner. Yet after Oviedo disobeyed a presidential order to step down as commander of the army in April of 1996, he began to resemble the militaristic caudillo of the past.
Oviedo, who left the Colorado Party in 2005, was until recently, exiled for his participation in a foiled coup in 1996. Still popular however, Oviedo continues to be a presidential contender, and was pardoned for his coup attempt on October 30, 2007. This brought his National Union of Ethical Citizens Party (UNACE) back in to the fray
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