“In Paraguay we have candidates who are drug traffickers”
By A. Taglione
The Paraguayan opposition looks confidently at the presidential elections on April 30 of next year. The wear and tear of the Abdo government, the internment with the Horacio Cartes sector, and the population’s fatigue after the pandemic and the global crisis, are the elements that they consider to be the keys to making the final blow and returning to power after the frustrated project of Fernando Lugo.
Another key aspect, unlike other electoral processes, is the unity of the opposition, which today is grouped in a large front called Concertación. The two forces that stand out are the traditional Authentic Radical Liberal Party and the Guazú Front of Lugo.
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The former president’s candidate is called Esperanza Martínez, Senator and former Minister of Health, as LPO anticipated, she was chosen by the majority of the progressive groups in the coalition. However, what is being studied at this time is a possible binomial with the Liberal Party that would lead to Efraín Alegre, candidate for president in 2018. In that case, the management would be for the former minister to go as vice.
In this framework, Martínez spoke with the LPO and said he was “certain that we are going to win the election, but we are also going to build an alliance to govern.” The pre-candidate for president assures that drug trafficking got into the Colorado Party and confirms that if they become a government, they will break with Taiwan to build trade relations with China.
Martínez affirms that a judicial reform is necessary, she looks with concern at the increase in hired assassins and political violence and assures that “Lugo is the great articulator of the opposition.”
WHAT CHANCE DOES THE PARAGUAYAN OPPOSITION HAVE OF DEFEATING THE COLORADO PARTY?
The strength and roots of the Colorados should not be underestimated, a party of more than 130 years with a clientelistic model that has been in government for 70 years with a single interruption of 48 months during the Lugo term. Its system of use of the public media and its officials, linked to the great fortunes of this country, legal and illegal, especially in this time when narco-politics, money laundering and irregular businesses have grown that today place gangsters on the political agenda.
Before they financed politicians, now in Paraguay we have drug candidates in the Central Government, in the Departmental and local ones. That makes our adversary powerful, therefore, the opposition made a great effort to mature politically with the construction of a great tool such as the Coalition, which brings together more than 30 organizations ranging from the center and in some cases from the center-right to the progressive left. The idea is to arrive with a presidential badge that competes against the Colorado Party. In the previous elections we lacked 90 thousand votes (3 percent) and we were divided. To this is added the social fatigue, the crisis and the weariness with corruption that led to interventions by foreign governments that make us think that, beyond the difficulties, there is a population that awaits change.
The Coalition is a great hope and I am certain, not only that we are going to win as we did with Lugo, but that we are going to govern and we will obtain results. It is not enough just to win, we have to have an agenda of political governability and great transformations, people hope that this will be the beginning of a change in the country.
GOVERNANCE IS WHAT LUGO LACKED TO COMPLETE HIS MANDATE. HOW WILL THEY BUILD THAT ALLIANCE TO GOVERN?
Agreeing on 5 or 6 key points without thinking that we will be able to do everything in five years. A political, economic, social and international relations agenda-we have Itaipu’s debt that ends and implies a new political agreement in 2023 and is strategic for Paraguay. We have to face a good negotiation that defends the interests of Paraguay, if we agree on that, we give participation quotas to the people and we preserve this space for debate, we will be able to achieve governability within our space.
Later, we have to be able to talk with the Colorado Party, businessmen and all sectors of society, peasants, workers, agro-exporters and the entire professional sector. Most of the reforms need laws with citizen support, that is key, an interested and mobilized citizenry to support the measures of change. We are going to touch powerful interests, it is not going to be an easy dispute.
LET’S GO BACK TO POLITICAL VIOLENCE. YOU TALKED ABOUT NARCO-POLITICS. WHAT IS THE DEGREE OF COLLUSION OF THE COLORADO PARTY IN THIS SCOURGE?
Unfortunately, the mafias, drug trafficking, money laundering, smuggling or the big business that the State does are linked to sectors of power that are political and business alliances that have used the Colorado Party to penetrate all levels of government and that is why corruption becomes a cultural issue that must be addressed in the long term. There is a micro-corruption in the public sector, the minister takes the tenders, the director of the hospital the tomograph, the doctor stethoscope and so on… it is a corruption that has permeated but there is also a citizenry that has become aware. This rage is expressed in a vote against the corrupt and pressure for justice to be served. This patronage and prebendary model imposed by the Colorado Party merged the three powers of the State, we need the head of the country to be a reliable person and to place honorable and experienced people in public management positions.
The Coalition is a great hope and I am certain, not only that we are going to win as we did with Lugo, but that we are going to govern and we will obtain results. It is not enough just to win, we have to have an agenda of political governability and great transformations, people hope that this will be the beginning of a change in the country.
THERE ARE VERY STRONG COMPLAINTS IN THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE INDICATING THAT FORMER PRESIDENT HORACIO CARTES IS LINKED TO SMUGGLING AND OTHER ILLICIT ACTIVITIES. HOWEVER, WHAT IS SAID IS THAT HE CONTROLS EXACTLY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. HOW IS IT DONE THEN?
It is so. I will give you an example, the Superior Court of Electoral Justice has three ministers supposedly from the opposition (that is what the Electoral Code establishes), but the reality is that they are all colorados and for that reason, the electoral process has always been flawed. In the last elections, the two new ministers were from the opposition and the balance of powers was recovered that allowed us to recognize the Coalition.
Before the 2023 elections, we must change the State Attorney General, we need Parliament to achieve a majority to prevent Cartes from advancing. The Prosecutor is not leaving because Cartes extorts money from Abdo in this love and lack of love that exists between them, I do not remove you from the government, you do not remove the Prosecutor. More than 400 raids were carried out with Europol in cases against Cartes, but the Prosecutor does not advance or take measures, that is why it has to be changed and we must carry out a comprehensive reform of the Judicial Power. At this time, more than 147 judges and prosecutors who participated in the Colorado Party internship, prohibited by law, are being investigated.
We are going to have to face a process that allows us to build a more credible society and take the issue of drug trafficking as a national cause, it is no longer a passing thing, it is a problem of the whole society that includes our youngest and in a context increase in the hired killer industry. In the last elections candidates were assassinated, something that had never happened before. Therefore, the forecast is to advance towards countries such as Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.
THOSE COUNTRIES EXPERIENCE QUITE HOSTILE SITUATIONS. PETRO HAD TO SUSPEND CAMPAIGN EVENTS IN COLOMBIA DUE TO DEATH THREATS AND LULA SUFFERED AN ATTACK AND THEY APPEAR WITH A BULLETPROOF VEST. DO YOU THINK ABOUT REINFORCING SECURITY IN THIS CONTEXT?
This country has killed a vice president of the Colorado Party because of his grudges, as happened with Dr. Luis María Argaña. The right always resorts to violence when it cannot win democratically, of course that risk exists and to the extent that we reach the final stage of the campaign with an identified duo, I have no doubt that our security system must be reinforced. I do not have custody, I drive my car but we must not neglect that because there are many interests at stake and they are in a very strong internal dispute.
Because of the patronage system of the Colorado Party that uses public funds and has culturally created the idea in the population that the caudillos are the ones who deliver what are actually the rights of citizens. A poor family that needs help turns to the political class to get a job, an ambulance or access studies, and the resources are used with that logic, it generates dependency and also operates under threat. When there is an election year, if you want to collect the subsidy for poverty, you have to vote for the Colorados and that has created a very strong social culture, but in any case it is insufficient because there is a lot of discomfort.
In the last municipal elections we saw the waste of money in the purchase of votes, it is pitifully incredible. There is like a cultural issue where people end up looking for stability because their basic needs are tied to that model.
The right always resorts to violence when it cannot win democratically, of course that risk exists and as long as we reach the final stage of the campaign with an identified duo, I have no doubt that our security system needs to be reinforced.
AS A FORMER MINISTER OF HEALTH, HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ABDO PANDEMIC?
At the beginning, it was opportune and efficient, it took measures of social restriction, closure of airports and there were mechanisms to curb and control income. The first weeks we had very few cases and a lot of social acceptance and sacrifice from the people despite the economic consequences. This coincided with the vote on an economic aid package to face it in better conditions. What happened is that there were 514 million and the first 100 were suspended for acts of corruption, overpricing or arbitrary management. That meant that when we had to lift the measures, we had an increase in cases that generated a lot of anger because people were outraged because resources had been stolen. A person who needs measured care has to take money out of her pocket and that is very heavy for such an unequal country.
There are tensions at the Mercosur summit because Uruguay wants to sign a free trade agreement with China without the consensus of the entire bloc. For Paraguay, the China issue is a dilemma because they recognize Taiwan. What are they going to do with China if they get to the government?
We have to open up to the world and establish trade relations with China. Our bench asked in the midst of a pandemic that when China began to donate vaccines it was time to interact and receive technical support. We lost all the votes.
Taiwan has Paraguay as a strategic point and the United States protects that relationship, we are the only country in the region with an embassy. Also. Taiwan has a wallet policy, it helps politicians more than the State, unlike what happens with Korea or Japan that helps you build infrastructure works.
AREN’T THERE HOSPITALS WITH PLAQUES “WORK BUILT WITH TAIWAN FUNDS”..?
You don’t see them…but the politicians are happy. They will be very kind, I don’t know..
HOW DO YOU THINK THE REGION?
With more regional integration through CELAC, Mercosur and Parlasur. I think that if we had maintained that spirit of solidarity and integration, we would have done better in the pandemic, we would not have bought vaccines with leonine clauses and we would have bought supplies. They divided us up and placed their conditions on us and we had to get out of the well by ourselves. It would have been another story if we articulated the more than 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries. When I was Minister of Health, in Celac we discussed collective purchases of strategic supplies for cancer, it is transcendental that we integrate into the region and that the new governments of change join.
Taiwan has a wallet policy, it helps politicians more than the state
In relation to the electoral assembly. Fernando Lugo took a photo with the liberal leader Efraín Alegre that was read as an agreement for a binomial. Can there be a formula with it?
The possibility of a formula with the Liberal Party is always open. It is the largest and most important opposition party, with structure, history and militancy, as well as our strategic ally. We are in that process, I think we are on the way to an integrated duo in some way. There are three candidates within liberalism and four other non-liberals. If the agreements are not given, there will be an internal one in December.
WHAT ROLE WILL LUGO HAVE?
He is the great articulator, respected and loved who has an enormous ability to summon.
With information from LaPoliticaOnline
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