UN’s World Food Programme

In the study by the World Food Programme, 25.5% of the Paraguayan population is undernourished, while the figure rises to 30.4% in Guatemala and 44.5% in Haiti.

Nearly two million people worldwide are suffering because of malnutrition according to the WFP’s “Hunger Map“. Only US$0.25 per day is needed to feed a hungry child and “change his or her life forever,” the study states.

In the conclusion of the report the researchers wrote: “Economic growth is necessary, but it is not enough to fight hunger and malnutrition.” During the last decade, the GDP per capita increased in developing regions, but in many countries this growth did not result in a significant reduction of hunger. And this growth “should be reflected in additional government revenue used to fund education and development of public nutrition and health programmes,” states the UN document.

The report calls for increase of employment in all sectors in countries with the highest risk of malnutrition and therefore as well for opportunities that would generate income.

Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua recorded a high-regular risk. Brazil, Perú, Surinam, Guyana, Colombia, Panamá, Honduras and Costa Rica were listed between the countries with a moderate malnutrition rate. On the other hand, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, Uruguay and Mexico are considered countries with a very low rate of malnutrition.

Flag of Paraguay (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

More than 10,000 Paraguayans crossed the border to Argentine city of Clorinda yesterday to shop on what was a holiday in Paraguay. The influx led to a collapse of the computer systems at the immigration office.

Irma Llano, head of Paraguayan immigration, stated: “The agency urgently needs more servers to prevent our systems from falling back, so we will request a budget increase for this purpose.” In addition, Llano also called for more officers at customs.

The shopping exodus has been attributed to the announcement the day before by the Paraguayan Industrial Union (IPU) of the government’s commitment to block shopping trips to Argentina, where they can purchase products up to 50% cheaper than in their home country.

The number of Paraguayans who shop on the Argentine side of the border has been increasing for several months now, because of the low value of Argentine peso – at today’s rate, 550 Paraguayan guaraní. Argentina’s northern neighbours have grown accustomed to filling up their trunks on weekends and holidays, something which may soon come to an end.

Previously, one Argentine peso was equivalent to one thousand guaraní, but the increasing difference in recent times has resulted in Paraguayans crossing the border not only to buy basic goods, but also to fill up their fuel tanks at cheaper prices.

Paraguayan school children from the Chamacoco community in Fuerte Olimpo, Paraguay. (Photo: Michele Molinari)

Over 50% of school children in Paraguay fail to complete the nine years of basic education, according to an official report carried out by the Programme to Promote Education Reform in Latin America and The Caribbean (Preal).

The report revealed that a large part of the Paraguayan population does not have access to formal education and that only three out of 10 pupils who entered first grade in 1999 managed to see out the full nine years until 2007.

Paraguay has one the lowest rates of students attending secondary school in Latin America. A large number of 13 to 17 year olds are also not enrolled in the level of education that corresponds to their age.

According to estimates based on the Encuesta Permanente de Hogares, approximately 60,000 children aged between five and 11 years old did not have the option of attending school in 2010, due to the poor educational infrastructure of the country.

The study also showed that there are currently over 170,000 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 out of school. However, officials say these numbers are slowly decreasing.

The Preal report is the first in Paraguay and aims to monitor the progress, quality, and equity of the national education.

President elect Horacio Cartes has stated that it is seeking to implement an interactive education policy and an improved teacher training system. Cartes has also said that his main goal is to increase the skill level within the labour market, “increasing know-how among young Paraguayans and beginning a new era for education in the country.”

The challenge to the hegemony of the Partido Colorado (PC) in Paraguay was but a historical blip. On Sunday, Paraguayans elected colorado businessman Horacio Cartes as their new president until 2018, returning the traditional party to power after five years in the opposition.

The Partido Colorado party draws a big crowd in Paraguay (Photo courtesy of Partido Paraguay FB)

Cartes, who admitted he had never registered to vote in a presidential election before this one, is the second political outsider in succession to lead the republic. The first, Catholic bishop and reformist Fernando Lugo, broke more than 60 years of uninterrupted PC rule – including the long dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner between 1954 and 1989 – only to be controversially impeached by Congress on 22nd June 2012.

As the figurehead of a united leftist political front, Lugo generated considerable expectations, which, ultimately, he was unable to meet due largely to widespread opposition from the establishment, an unstable alliance with the Liberal Party (which supported Lugo’s dismissal and controlled the interim government), and an inability to capitalise on social-based movements as Latin America’s other ‘pink tide’ presidents have done.

It is the disillusionment caused by this failed leftist experiment that seems have prompted voters to return to conservatism and the PC, albeit under a promise from Cartes to renovate the party and shake up Paraguayan politics. But is this pledge credible given his background and affiliations?

The Candidate

Despite having been the candidate of the most traditional party in the country, president-elect Horacio Cartes’ meteoric rise to the top job, driven by his unease at the country’s “political course under a leftist, ‘Chavista’ government” only began in 2009, when he joined the ParCHe founded the internal faction Movimiento Honor Colorado in 2010, won the party’s primary elections in 2012, and became president of Paraguay in 2013.

Horacio Cartes wins the election in Paraguay and is now President-elect. (Photo courtesy of Horacio Cartes FB)

Born in Asunción and educated in the US, the 56-year old built an empire called Cartes Group, with interests in the banking, tobacco, textile, and stockbreeding industries, among others. He is also the president of first division football team Club Libertad, and is involved in the Paraguayan Football Association.

Cartes has pledged a fresh approach to politics, bringing business-like efficiency and ridding state institutions of corruption. However, though distanced from the historically murky politics of the past, his success in business has not been without controversy. Cartes has been accused of contraband, drug trafficking, and money laundering, and has been investigated by the Brazilian parliament and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), though he has never been formally charged.

In the ’80s, he escaped the country for four years, accused of being part of an illegal scheme to obtain US dollars, and was eventually imprisoned for a few months, before being released. Cartes claims he was being persecuted by Stroessner’s dictatorship at the time.

More recently, in 2000, a private plane carrying cocaine and marijuana was found on one of his estancias, while a Wikileaks-leaked diplomatic cable sent from the US Embassy in Buenos Aires to Washington in 2010 alleged that Cartes was a leading figure in a major money laundering operation in the tri-border area.

Cartes dismissed stories from a murky past as “anecdotes” during the campaign, pointing out repeatedly that he had never been charged with any crime. It was a tactic that paid off.

Cartes also dodged accusation by Lugo’s supporters that he was behind the so-called ‘parliamentary coup’ that ousted the former president last year. An alleged alliance between Lugo and the colorado leader, Cartes’ internal rival- Lilian Samaniego, could have strengthened both before the 2013 elections, to the detriment of Cartes, and his faction of the PC was the first to call for impeachment proceedings.

Cartes, however, later distanced himself from the ‘coup’, tacitly supporting Franco while refusing to enter into an alliance with the liberals and letting them bear the weight of public office by themselves. Franco’s short time in government, in which he reversed many of Lugo’s policies, was not enough to convince Paraguayans of their skills, or their honesty, and liberal candidate Efraín Alegre came second in the polls.

The Challenges

Looking at the cold numbers, it could seem that Cartes will not have much to worry about in terms of the economy -Paraguay’s GDP is forecast to grow between 10 and 13% this year, leading economic growth in the region.

Soy is the main crop in Paraguayan agriculture. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

The Paraguayan economy has enjoyed almost a decade of economic expansion at high rates -some of the highest in Latin America. However, many wonder how sustainable the current economic model is in the long term. The sector responsible for the country’s growth has been agriculture, driven by the production of meat and, mainly, soy.

Agriculture makes up 22% of the country’s GDP, but it is not a labour-intensive activity. In Paraguay, employment in the agricultural sector is low even by regional standards. And while growth in this sector has had a positive impact on related industries, such as construction, trade, and services, the expansion has not trickled down to the economy as a whole, nor has it contributed much to reducing the alarmingly high levels of poverty and inequality. While in 2001 poverty stood at 61%, ten years later it had decreased to 49.6% -a reduction of barely more than a percentage point per year. Extreme poverty still affects an estimated 28% of Paraguayans.

Adding to the problem of low employment in the agricultural sector is the issue of massive land concentration: 2% of the population owns 80% of the land, and many large landowners are foreigners, particularly from Brazil. The land issue has been one of the most crucial in recent years, having enourmous economic, social, and environmental consequences. Lugo’s inability to carry out a signficant agrarian reform that could correct such disparity in the access to land ownership eventually cost him the presidency – his impeachment was triggered by the death of 11 farmers and six policemen in Curuguaty, as a result of a land conflict.

Does Cartes have the will to transform Paraguay’s economic outlook, or at least to re-invest and re-distribute the massive profits made by the agricultural sector in a fairer way? As candidate, he promised to carry out a national census of agricultural producers and farmers, in order to execute a “serious and responsible” agrarian reform. “There’s not shortage of land, there’s more than enough… foreigners should be limited, they live better than our compatriots,” he said in a 2010 interview.

However, as part of the minority of major landowners – Cartes owns large swathes of the Chaco region – many rural sectors do not hold much hope for a change in their favour, especially the estimated 78,000 families that are still without land and at the centre of the current land conflicts.

The Return to Mercosur

“Your place is here, in Mercosur,” said Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a phone conversation with Cartes shortly after the electoral results were announced. Indeed, once the new president takes office in August, Paraguay will be welcomed back to the South American trading bloc after it was expelled following Lugo’s ousting.

Cartes has promised to rejoin Mercosur, though it will not be the same bloc that the country left last year. The Paraguayan senate had been the only thing blocking Venezuela’s membership for years, and soon after Asunción was out, Caracas was in. Cartes and his party opposed the inclusion of the Bolivarian country as a full member, but they will now have to coexist. More so than ever, the Paraguayan government will be the odd one out among the more progressive governments of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Its bigger neighbours, Brazil and Argentina, will no doubt be keeping a close eye on Cartes. Despite Paraguay being one of the smallest members of Mercosur, it plays an important role in the key energy generation sector. Both Brazil and Argentina benefit from Paraguay’s large hydroelectrical potential and have important bilateral undertakings such as the Itaipú (Brazil) and Yacyretá (Argentina) dams, which supply Brazil with 17.3% of its energy, and Argentina with 15% respectively.

The Return of the Bipartisan System

In an article for Le Monde Diplomatique, Argentine sociologist Lorena Soler, who specialises in Paraguayan studies, analyses the fall of the Partido Colorado in 2008 within the context of a loss of traditional political identities and a decrease in party membership, especially among young people. This, in turn, is related to structural changes brought about by an increasing urbanisation of Paraguayan society, as a result of the expulsion of -and lack of opportunities for- rural workers in the countryside.

Though Cartes also boasts a non-traditional political background, the fact that his turn to politics came at the first break of PC dominance – under which he made his fortunes – suggests normal order will resume in Paraguay. Furthermore, the president-elect’s troubled past undermines his claims that he will clean up the corruption that has traditionally been embedded in colorado governments.

The deeply fragmented PC has regrouped behind its new leader, and once again faces its traditional political opponent, the Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico (PLRA), which came out relatively unscathed after ousting a democractically-elected president. Lugo’s leftist front, meanwhile, has splintered: the fragmented forces of the left – Lugo’s Frente Guasú, Avanza País, and Movimiento Kuña Pyrenda – received less than 10% of the vote between them.

When the colorados lost the 2008 election, many were hopeful that a new chapter would open up in Paraguayan history. It was a short-lived dream with a traumatic end. While the PC victory restored political legitimacy, it also handed power back to the elites that have run the country for decades. On Sunday, Paraguay returned to reality, one which Cartes himself recently said would this time last “not for another 50 years, but forever”.

Heribert Roedel (photo courtesy of Heribert Roedel’s official Facebook page)

The Exnet community of the Sawhoyamaxa tribe in Paraguay is reclaiming its ancestral lands after nearly two decades of disputes. Over the past week, the indigenous group has begun moving back to its historic territory that was snatched up by German businessman Heribert Roedel in 1995.

Roedel is a major landowner in the area who attained his Paraguayan territory and apparent personal fortune illicitly, convincing German investors to pour funds into a sham project to ‘improve’ rural lands. Interpol subsequently released a warrant for his arrest.

The Exnet community as well as another indigenous people, the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode, insist that much of the land overtaken by the German rancher is rightfully theirs. Both groups were forced to relocate after Roedel’s acquisition of the territory, and the Exnet community was displaced to the side of a highway where they have waited for their lands to be returned to them for almost 20 years. Reports suggest that at least 19 people of the Exnet group have died preventable deaths since the relocation, including children.

In 2006 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that a minimum of 12,000 hectares of land be returned to the native peoples within a three year period. However, Roedel has not ceded any territory seven years after the court’s decision, and the Paraguayan government has failed to ensure that the court’s order is carried out.

Tierraviva film showing the the Exnet’s reclaiming of land. Video in Spanish.

Because the Exnet land has still not been returned to them, the group decided to reclaim its territory anyway although it is in danger of being evicted.

According to a community member, “During these 20 years we have been living along the side of a road, watching how cows occupy the land where we used to live and where our parents lived. These lands are ours, and we do not want to live any longer along the side of this road, witnessing powerlessly the birth of our children and the deaths of our parents and grandparents from this road … Our culture, language, and traditions are inextricably linked to this land– without it, we run the risk of disintegrating as a community.”

In regards to the recent development, María José Eva, investigator with Amnesty International South America, said: “With the entrance of the Sawhoyamaxa to their lands, a new scene has opened up in which it is even more necessary that the demands of the community be addressed without delay. We trust that the authorities will guarantee the physical safety of the community at all times and will prioritize a solution that will permit the restitution of the ancestral lands.”

Horacio Cartes (photo courtesy of Horacio Cartes’ official Facebook page)

Last night, 23rd April, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) announced its official recognition of Horacio Cartes as the legitimate president of the Republic of Paraguay.

In a press release from the union’s headquarters in Quito, Peru, the international body congratulated Cartes and the Partido Colorado on their win of Sunday’s presidential race. It also confirmed that its observation mission that had been monitoring the country’s electoral situation was pleased with Paraguay’s apparent full-compliance with the democratic process.

According to the organisation, the observation team found “fulfilment of the electoral timetable, normal development of the elections, and a high participation rate amongst citizens”.

UNASUR commended the large sector of Paraguayan citizens that voted in the recent elections and congratulated state officials on their efficient management of the process on the day of the event.

According to UNASUR, the instalment of Cartes, who was elected with approximately 46% of total votes, represents advancement in Paraguay’s democratic-institutional development after last year’s dismissal of President Fernando Lugo, which left the country suspended from UNASUR and political-economic bloc Mercosur.

In the light of the UNASUR approval of the democratic process and that of 74 observers from the European Union who also monitored Sunday’s election, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Jose Felix Fernández Estigarribia said: “We have shown to the world that we are capable of sustaining democracy and have opened the doors for foreign missions to come here and observe how Paraguayans vote and chose our authorities in clean, exemplary elections.”

Despite UNASUR’s acknowledgement of fair elections, according to news agency Agencia Púlsar, the Organisation of American States (OAS) has called attention to an apparent lack of regulation regarding campaigning in the media leading up to the general election. The OAS is also criticising lax oversight of campaign spending.

Mercosur as of 2012 with Paraguay suspended (courtesy Wikimedia)

Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes has vowed to develop trading relations by ensuring his country’s return to Mercosur, South America’s leading trading bloc.

Mercosur, which aims to promote the free trade of goods, capital, services and people among its member countries, suspended Paraguay after its former President Fernando Lugo was dismissed last June.

In one of his first public speeches after Sunday’s vote, newly-elected Cartes has pledged to enter into fierce negotiations with Paraguay’s senators to seal the country’s Mercosur place, stressing that it would be “sheer nonsense” to abandon the block.

Speaking at his first press conference, Cartes said that even though many aspects of the bloc could be improved, Mercosur is too important for Paraguay as it will channel jobs and foreign investment. He stressed that it will be his priority to ensure the quickest possible return to the trading bloc for the sake of his country.

“The preferential tariffs we enjoy inside the block attracts mostly Brazilian companies that are established in Paraguay and gives employment to our people; this is unquestionable. We are going to do everything possible to return to Mercosur,” he told press.

The billionaire entrepreneur said he is ready to normalise Paraguay’s relations with other countries and believes that re-entering Mercosur will provide a platform to begin negotiations and develop relationships with other regions of the world. And Cartes is likely to start by attempting to ease tensions with an aggrieved Venezuela, after Paraguay blocked the country from Mercosur membership in 2006.

After Paraguay’s dismissal last year, however, the remaining members, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, admitted Venezuela into the union. Cartes said that although he has not yet spoken with Venezuelan President Maduro, he has sent “messages with buena onda“.

Known as the common market of the South, Mercosur aims to enable a free-trade area within the South American continent and was created in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The bloc is responsible for more than three quarters of South America’s economic activity. Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are associate members of the bloc, which means that they can join free-trade agreements but are exempt from its customs union.

Horacio Cartes (Photo source: Facebook official page)

Horacio Cartes, candidate for the conservative Partido Colorado (PC), was yesterday announced victor in the elections and the new president of Paraguay.

According to the Electoral Court of Justice, Cartes won with 45.9% of the vote. His nearest rival, Efraín Alegre, achieved 36.8%, while the centre-left coalition, Avaza País, trailed behind with only 5.6%.

The result puts the PC, which had ruled uninterrupted for 60 years until electoral defeat in 2008, back in power.

Billionaire, multi-business owner, and newcomer to politics, Cartes’ comfortable victory came as something of a surprise, with surveys leading up to the elections predicting a closer result.

The electoral organ reiterated that: “The result is irreversible… the people have voted and the defeated recognised the results”. Alegre pledged an “orderly, serene, and peaceful transition”.

Following his victory, Cartes thanked God and his supporters, and in his first official message as president elect said: “This is a victory for the Republic of Paraguay because we have all won.”

It is hoped that Cartes’ victory will help to re-invigorate and restore legitimacy to Paraguay in the region. In June 2012, the country was thrown into political turmoil when Congress ousted the democratically elected leader, Fernando Lugo, following violence during a farming eviction in the local of Curuguaty, in the south-east of the country.

Since then, the Paraguayan government has not been recongised by various regional blocs including the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Readmission to these entities will be one of the major challenges facing the new president as he begins his term.

Thousands protest the impeachment of Fernando Lugo (photo courtesy of anticapitalistes.net)

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an autonomous organ of the Organisation of American States (OAS), held a hearing on the “general situation of human rights in Paraguay” in Washington, US, on Friday and various Paraguayan organisations brought grievances to address.

Among the most important issues presented were the Curuguaty Massacre of last June and the so-called ‘parliamentary coup’ against Fernando Lugo last year. The organisations demanded that the commission urge Paraguayan state investigation into the allegations of torture in the Curuguaty incident.

They also asked for clarification regarding the procedure for the seizure of lands belonging to the Cuyabia indigenous community. The same request was made on the continuous felling of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode Natural and Cultural Heritage Site.

The organisations alerted the Commission to the recent murders of three farming leaders. They also asked them to help get the threats against human rights advocates in the country under control.

The Commission received the complaints of the Human Rights Coordination of Paraguay, the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights, the Peace and Justice Coordination of Paraguay, and Rural and Indigenous Women Workers of Paraguay, among others.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.

A Aedes Aegypti mosquito is pictured above. (Photo: Jon Hayes)

Thirty-five people have died this year in Paraguay after contracting dengue fever, as the country battles an epidemic that has affected almost 70,000 so far this year. Yesterday alone 1,915 new cases were suspected as the government tries to counteract the tropical disease caused by mosquitos.

The Paraguayan Ministry of Health has so far recorded 42,068 confirmed cases this year and the figure looks set to rise. The worst affected area, accounting for 71% of all cases, is the territory of Asunción, Paraguay’s capital and surrounding areas.

The ministry has asked those who have symptoms of dengue not to travel next week during the Easter holidays to avoid the further spread of the virus. The heavy rainfall in much of Latin America is compounding the problem, making it harder to eliminate breeding sites of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, transmitter of the disease.

Last November, 200 troops from the Paraguayan army attempted to destroy large swathes of the mosquito population by spraying breeding sites in the capital and surrounding areas. Yesterday military forces sprayed large areas of districts Itá Pyta Punta, San Antonio and Rodríguez de Francia.

Health authorities have attributed the escalating mortality rate of the disease to the fact that “four serotypes of the virus now exist, making it harder to treat.” Symptoms include high fever, headache, vomiting and skin rash. If left untreated, death can occur.