Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic Bishop famous for his work with the country’s poor majority, was elected President of Paraguay on April 20, 2008, putting an end to over six decades of one party rule by the right-wing Colorado party. He was elected with 41 percent of the vote and a ten-point lead over his closest rival from the Colorado party, Blanca Ovelar. The 2008 presidential elections had a remarkably high level of participation, 66%.
Known as the “bishop of the poor,” Fernando Lugo is the first former bishop to ever become president of a country. He is a follower of liberation theology, a movement within the Catholic Church that favors social justice and a “preferential option for the poor” while challenging the church’s rigid hierarchy and traditional social values. Lugo became a priest in 1977 and spent several of his earliest years with the Church doing missionary work with indigenous peoples in Ecuador. In 1994 he was ordained Bishop of San Pedro, a notoriously impoverished and primarily rural department in the north of Paraguay, where he gained a reputation for working closely with the poor. In 2005 the Catholic Church forced him to resign from his San Pedro post for siding with landless peasants who had invaded the property of large landholders.
Political Background
Before Lugo’s election Paraguay had been ruled by the Colorado party for more than 61 years, 35 of which were under the brutal dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner. Although Stroessner was overthrown on February 3, 1989 and the country ostensibly returned to democracy, the Colorado party remained in power through its vast patronage system and party apparatus. Paraguay subsequently experienced a period of considerable political instability, which saw the rise of social movements as an increasingly powerful political force, several corruption scandals involving high-level public officials, the assassination of a vice-president and the return of military interventions in politics.
Lugo was thrust on to the national scene in 2006 when he helped organize and spoke at a large rally against the sitting president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, denouncing violations to the constitution. Growing in popularity as a political outsider untarnished by the corruption of traditional Paraguayan politics, Lugo became the presidential candidate for the Patriotic Alliance for Change, a coalition of center-left opposition parties. Lugo’s pledges to address Paraguay’s severe poverty–the second worst in the region after Bolivia–and inequality earned him the support of landless farmers, indigenous groups and trade unions.
Leading in the polls, Lugo encountered a problem that could potentially block his presidential bid. As members of the Colorado party pointed out, it was unconstitutional for a priest to become president of the country. Lugo’s request to the Catholic hierarchy for permission to leave the Church in order to become president was initially denied. However, after his election, the Church finally accepted Lugo’s request, allowing him to assume the office of the presidency.
Economic Background
During the 1970’s Paraguay’s economy grew rapidly, which was in large part due to the construction of the Yacyretá and Itaipú hydroelectric complexes. However, the economy stagnated throughout the 1980s and during the 1990s had the worst overall growth performance in the region, with an average real per capita GDP growth rate of -0.9 percent a year. Between 1980 and 2005, Paraguay’s real per capita income shrank by 8.5 percent.
This dismal growth performance was in part driven by a series of financial crises. Like most of Latin America during the 1990s, Paraguay underwent a process of rapid financial liberalization at the behest of the IMF that lacked needed prudential regulations and accompanying reforms. As a result, between 1995-2003 Paraguay experienced five successive financial crises with severe effects on economic growth.
Recent Political Developments
Lugo inherited numerous social and political challenges following over 60 years of Colorado party dominance, including struggles over land reform and the pursuit of justice against members of the Stroessner dictatorship who committed human rights atrocities. The U.S. military also conducts training and assistance with the Paraguayan military, which the U.S. government justifies in part by claiming Hizbollah and other U.S.-designated terrorist groups are active in the country.
Recently, activities by a Leftist guerrilla group forced Lugo to cancel plans to travel to Bolivia for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change. Lugo’s term has also been plagued by coup rumors since the beginning, which took on a new significance following the coup d’etat in Honduras in the summer of 2009.
Resources:
Paraguay page, UpsideDownWorld.org
Democracy Now! Interview with Fernando Lugo, September 23, 2008
Books:
The Priest of Paraguay: Fernando Lugo and the Making of a Nation
By Hugh O’Shaughnessy. Zed Books: 2009.
