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Bishop’s move in Paraguay
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 PARAGUAY’s general elections on April 20 were won by a political coalition headed by an archbishop, 57-year-old Fernando Lugo, who relinquished his diocesan duties in 2006 because he felt powerless to improve the lives of the poor or truncate Paraguay’s corruption and organised crime from the pulpit.
Lugo headed a nine-party left-wing coalition which was created only eight months ago but, for the first time in 61 years, ousted the Colorado Party, which acquiescently accommodated the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner between 1954 and 1989. On April 20, after the Alianza Patriótica para el Cambio (Patriotic Alliance for Change) took 41 per cent of the vote, Lugo called for unity to bring peaceful change to Paraguay, extending “a very special invitation to everybody without exception.”
The United States will keep a close watch on Paraguay to determine whether its government resembles left-wing Venezuela’s radicalism or Chile’s centre-left moderation. During the Colorado Party’s hegemony, Paraguay’s triple frontier zone with Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina was carefully inspected following the 9/11 bombings for possible Islamist terrorists but, terrorism apart, any left-wing government in Latin America produces unease in Washington. Although it commends attempts to buttress democracy, the redistribution of wealth brings too many upheavals for the White House’s liking.
At present, there has been little wealth to distribute in Paraguay, except what is in private hands. The country’s economy traditionally revolved round agriculture and it has few mineral resources and none of the gas or oil coveted by the West. Nevertheless, it is now so energy-rich that, on a per capita basis, it is currently the world’s largest exporter of hydroelectric power.
Paraguay co-owns with Brazil the Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River and shares the Yacyretá Dam, also on the Paraná, with Argentina. Because production exceeds the needs of Paraguay’s six million inhabitants by 90 per cent, the surplus is exported but, as well as hydroelectric power above ground, Paraguay sits on untold riches.
It is located in the middle of the subterranean Guaraní Aquifer, a freshwater reserve covering 1,200,000 square kilometres beneath Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina which contains enough water to supply 720 million people with a generous 300 litres per day of water for 100 years. It has been predicted that future wars will centre on water, not oil and, if this occurs, Paraguay could find itself on the front line. Fernando Lugo has a huge mission in front of him and he can be sure that every step of the way he will come under the scrutiny of the usual suspects. |  Return to Top
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