It won’t be a revealing ceremony, in the sense that Fernando Lugo will simply offer the usual platitudes, nor an eventful one, since Chavez will be on his best behaviour. But tomorrow signals the beginning of a process of real change in Paraguay, with Lugo assuming the presidency on a day of cultural festivities.
Lugo’s intent to follow the regional current and revolutionize his country is barely concealed in his latest interview. Courtesy of Newsweek, Aug. 13th:
During the electoral campaign you were keen to distance yourself from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Why?
In Paraguay we will design our own political project. Each country has the independence to build its own model, [and] we will not emulate Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia or Ecuador.
But you seem to be following the lead of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador in calling for the election of an assembly that would draft a new constitution for the country.
Paraguayan society wants a new constitution. We traveled throughout the country listening to people’s needs, and one of the most important demands had to do with rewriting the 1992 Constitution, [which] has many flaws. It is time to call a new constituent assembly to modernize our democratic institutions.
What does Chavez’s so-called 21st-century socialism mean to you?
I think it is a work in progress. If 21st-century socialism promotes social justice, equality and harmony, it could be a viable project [for Paraguay].
Good news comes in the form of a done deal with Lino Cesar Oviedo, who came third in the presidential race. The seats held by Oviedo’s party now eliminate Lugo’s problem of being a man down against the impervious Colorado party machine in both Congress and the House of Reps. With majorities of 23 to 15 and 44 to 30 respectively, Lugo will have a passport to gets things done, but now having to please an additional subset of Paraguayan politics (his own coalition is itself diverse).
More later.
