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elmateo
sleepy.
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 4978
Location: socialist corner, ottawa
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 Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:34 pm Post subject: Elections in Paraguay |
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This is going under the radar, but Paraguay is the last "dictatorship" in South America and one of the only 3 remaining rightwing governments and after Colombia, the US' strongest ally in the region (what a statement, little Paraguay being the holdout of American imperialism).
Those things could change today, but there is a lot of uncertainty in the air. The (more) leftish candidate, former Catholic Bishop (there was a question mark over his head whether the Vatican would allow him to rescind his position within the Church to allow him to legally run for office - also known as political interference and another example of this Pope's strong dislike of the leftist Catholics in Latin America), Fernando Lugo according to polls seems poised to win. But the political future is never decided by polls in a country where the ruling Colorado Party has manipulated politics to remain in power for decades.
The election is happening today, it is hard to say whether the international media from Canada, the US or Europe will care much. A victory for Lugo would be leave the US politically cornered in Colombia (and hypocritically supporting destabilizing social movements of the wealthy elites in the rest of the region) and a blow to the military co-operation between the US and Paraguay. It will also be a massive political change for a country that has been under a one-party and anti-participatory government that has made Paraguay one of the most socially regressive countries in Latin America.
It is unlikely that, if this election is stolen which is very likely, that it will gain the world's attention beyond cursaroy mention. Nor is it likely that a victory of Lugo would receive the attention such a radical political change would deserve.
Here are some articles, nevertheless, from the upsidedownworld:
Dissecting the Politics of Paraguay’s Next President
Report From Paraguay on the Eve of Historic Elections
Paraguayan Election Forecast Shows Fraud On the Horizon
The Real News clip |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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The BBC seems to be covering the elections.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7357013.stm
_________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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elmateo
sleepy.
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 4978
Location: socialist corner, ottawa
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:48 am Post subject: |
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With 85% counted, Lugo has proclaimed victory by a margin of over 10% of the nearest candidate Colorado's Blanca Ovelar, who I gather has accepted defeat.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/obispo/Lugo/proclama/v...
What happens now is a big question mark for Paraguay, but this is a god result nevertheless. The last dictatorship of South America has fallen, and it has fallen away from the US once again. |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:36 am Post subject: |
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So who's left on the US side in South America? Colombia of course, but is there any other country? Lula is rather tepidly left, and has opposed nationalizations affecting Brazilian companies in Venezuela and Bolivia. From what I have heard of Bachelet in Chile, she is rather tepidly left as well.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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elmateo
sleepy.
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 4978
Location: socialist corner, ottawa
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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It was a big street party in Asunción last night:
| Quote: | Asunción, Paraguay – Fireworks can still be heard in the distance where thousands of people are in the streets of downtown Asuncion sharing, embracing, reveling, hugging, smothering each other in kisses, and dancing until the early morning.
Fernando Lugo, the opposition candidate and progressive former bishop, has won with just over ten points above his closest challenger Colorado candidate, Blanca Ovelar.
Mark this one down in the books because this moment is already engrained in the hearts of many Paraguayans - both here and across the globe.
People here from age 10 to 100 will never forget it, and it will be talked about for as long as they shall live - regardless of what comes after. It is the beginning of something else, new horizons, a new chapter in this book that is Paraguay, and this is living history. Everyone here realizes it, and tonight, you couldn't help but get teary-eyed as the grandmothers, wrapped in the Paraguayan flag, danced with children in the streets, and cried at the top of their lungs that this is the moment they've been waiting for their whole lives. |
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1243/44/
| TS. wrote: | | So who's left on the US side in South America? Colombia of course, but is there any other country? Lula is rather tepidly left, and has opposed nationalizations affecting Brazilian companies in Venezuela and Bolivia. From what I have heard of Bachelet in Chile, she is rather tepidly left as well. |
The only countries with presidents not from the "left" or "centre-left" are Peru and Colombia. Countries like Brazil and Chile, while not really that left (though both governments do have certain policies that are leftist), are at present very independent of the US - particularly Brazil which sees itself as the regional counter-hegemon to US influence. While Petrobas wasn't happy about Bolivia's nationalization plans, overall they have been one of the more receptive foreign investors into the national gas industry. Similarly, in Ecuador it is Petrobas along side PdVSA and CNPC (China) that are the major foreign investors as the western companies pulled out. |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 17636
Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
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| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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Go Paraguay! Fernando Lugo has been elected and sworn in.
| Quote: | ... Tens of thousands of Paraguayans cheered as the tieless, sandals-clad Lugo raised his hand in the air and was sworn in, addressing the crowd in both Spanish and the indigenous Guarani language from a huge stage in front of the Congress building in Acunción.
Lugo pledged to do away with the misery and corruption that has defined the desperately poor nation under the Colorado Party, which supported the brutal 1954-1989 dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessneró.
... The conservative Colorado Party still dominates most government institutions in the small landlocked country, where corruption is entrenched and just 1 per cent of the population controls 77 per cent of the land. |
CBC.
And so he wasn't wearing a tie? And was wearing sandals! Oh, the horror, the horror. |
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elmateo
sleepy.
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 4978
Location: socialist corner, ottawa
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Here is a table for you:
Leonardo Boff, , Hugo Chavez, Fernando Lugo, Rafael Correa, and Eduardo Galeano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7szILu3DEmE
"..todos que estan en esa mesa son de liberacion" - Leonardo Boff.
It must be a moment that someone like Leonardo Boff or Eduardo Galeano thought was near in the 1960s, stolen away in the 70s and could rarely even dare to dream about through the 80s and thought impossible by the 90s - yet they continued to lucha, to fight. And now they sit beside 3 presidents and to include Evo Morales, each that has their own problems and things to be careful about I will completely agree, but each that represents the potential of their hopes and ideas. It is a moment to witness for these fighters who have been in it for the long term, and it must be a moment of great hope after decades of fighting. Something for our Canadian politicians to learn? ... not to mention what a fool it makes of the Catholic Church who fought to destroy the Liberation Church, including Benedict himself.
| Quote: | I asked her about the party and she confessed that she was involved because her daughter was a member. I admitted to being surprised that any party claiming to be "socialist" could find members at this juncture in history, so soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the turn of China toward capitalism.
"We've organized on issues that are relevant to people, especially the poor people of Paraguay, who are the majority. That is, Paraguay is a poor country. I mean it's rich in the sense that you can drop a seed anywhere and it will grow, but the people here are very poor," she explained.
...
"I'm the mother of one of the founders of that party. The parents and grandparents of the youth who founded this party are involved because this is going to be a hard struggle. Very difficult, indeed. Because the struggle against capital isn't easy. But we have to fight so that everyone is able to live well and eat well every day. "
"What we want is work and dignity for the people of Paraguay. That's what we're fighting for."
"And so today we're celebrating. This is a celebration of the people of Paraguay because we won, not with guns, but with votes, a battle against a party of genocide."
...
The party, Elena explains, started organizing around school bus tickets because the poor couldn't afford transport to school. They've since been organizing for university bus tickets, as well as for community kitchens and cultural events in the poor neighborhoods.
"Each neighborhood has a nucleus of the party, but we organize in popular assemblies around the needs that the local people have. That's how we hope to build the socialism of the 21st century."
Earlier in the day, Fernando Lugo summed up the sentiment of Elena and all those who had supported him to become president. "I refuse to live in a country where some can't sleep because of fear and others can't sleep because they're hungry."
...
As one local writer put it, "The party is over and it's time to get to work. Today hope has won. May it continue for a long time to come." |
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1434/44/
What a moment for the people of Paraguay |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Lugo administration fails to confront agribusiness
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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