Politickin´in Paraguay

As a former government major and current political junky, I’d be completely amiss to pass an entire year in Paraguay— a year, coincidentally, that will see the first national presidential elections in five years—without ever talking once about the current political situation. And so, in honor of the national political elections that will take place tomorrow, I’ll go through a summary of the current Paraguayan political situation, the major candidates in the election tomorrow, what are the major concerns and voter issues (hint: abortion is not one of them. In a nearly all-Catholic country, el aborto remains, blessedly and wonderfully, a non-issue in the hearts and minds of the people), and what democracy looks like in a developing country. I’m doing my best to surmise and summarize everything I’ve seen, heard, and learned from the papers, people, and culture, so I cannot pretend to be authoritative in fact or unbiased in opinion. It’s long and might bore you if you don’t like politics, political philosophy, theology, or other cultures.

On the Ground: The Paraguayan Political Situation

First, a quick political primer on Paraguayan politics: The nation was governed up until 1989 by the second-longest running dictatorship in world history under a certain General Alfredo Stroessner. His was the brand of authoritarianism that people didn’t mess around with: you vote for the other guy, you go to jail; you protest, you end up missing; you do something wrong, there’s a swift and terrible recompense. After the dictatorship fell, the leftovers of the general’s Colorado political party remained in national and presidential power without any of the difficulties or obligations of formal tyranny. So-called free democracy took the place of the well-committed despotism, and Paraguayan society “opened up” to all the bad elements of a society completely bereft of traditional authority. Because criminals no longer get shot for stealing the first time, there is a lot more stealing today and everyone has built high fences around their homes. Because prostitutes are no longer hidden away in the dungeon for selling themselves, you can buy one openly on the street for the price of a good cup of coffee.

Although the strict rule of law and conservative society under the dictatorship has come to an abrupt end, the basically one-party self-feeding rule of the Colorado Party and blatant simony of the connections-based political system has continued without flinching. Your position in the government is not based on your skill or talent, but rather on the person you know and how you know them. To the victor belong the fiscal and political spoils in every election and level of government, and on the national level nearly every executive victor is Colorado. There’s a lot of support, too, for this deeply established “democratic” system. Those in all varieties of public jobs depend on the Colorado party for their positions, so public school teachers, police officers, and nearly every other government official is eager to and must, if they like their work, vote Colorado. It was no surprise for me to see one of the sisters in our church with a relatively good job as a school principal campaigning openly in the street for the Colorado party. Her job and livelihood depend in large measure on who wins the election and how good a supporter of the party she is in the process.

The Candidates:

Blanca, Te Quiero!!
The Colorado Party’s main candidate for this round of national elections is Blanca Ovelar, a former minister of Education and well-grounded party insider. Having coming through the fire of an intense and bitter inner-Colorado primary, she is the establishment’s own and current president’s hand-picked successor to lead the nation. Although a novelty for Paraguay as the nation’s first female candidate for president, Ovelar represents the “man” of the powers that be in one-party Colorado rule.

Lugo: the Bishop with Many Demons
The main opposition to Ovelar and the Colorados comes from the PLRA, a mixed bag of politico nuts that have come together to fight the Colorado candidates. At the PLRA’s head and the liberal party’s national candidate for president is Fernando Lugo, the former Catholic Bishop of San Pedro. So far, I’ve had a very difficult time of discerning the facts from the fictions about Lugo. Since so many members of our evangelical church in Asuncion originally come from San Pedro, they claim to be very well-informed about the bishop, and, because of their insider information, have very definite negative opinions of him. I’ve heard from them among other things that Lugo is an international drug trafficker (we can show you where is his marijuana-growing church compound and estate), is personally responsible for the deaths of many connected to his cruel drug ring (we saw the trail of blood that led straight to the bishop’s mansion after a former chauffer who accidentally found a suitcase of the bishop’s crack cocaine was murdered and his body dragged away), maintains a harem of mistresses (we know one of the poor girls who escaped from his evil grasp), and even made a pact with the devil and other international leaders on a trip he made to Voo-dooville in Brazil (well, we weren’t actually there, but we heard about it, at least).

In real life, though, Lugo’s dual position as a former bishop and current presidential candidate, when taken together with the way he has been speaking and politicking in his campaign, represent something very, very, dangerous for Paraguay and for Paraguayan Christians both evangelical and Catholic. First, Lugo’s thinking and actions in regards to the Faith can only be seen as a perversion of true Christianity. As a bishop and theologian, he has embodied in the past and even now especially stands for a very precariously-founded and historically unchristian form of liberation theology that seeks to realize the Kingdom of God through political processes in the kingdom of man. This is the sort of theology, born in South America and other developing regions as a reaction from brutal colonial oppression traditionally and shamefully partnered with the established church authorities, that calls for social revolution and political change in the name of opposing radical Christian faith. Liberation theologians say that Jesus was a man of political change whose goal was to bring about justice for the poor and to bring power to the weak on earth, that God’s general goal in the world is to establish a nearly-Marxist equality of persons under just political authority, and that as followers of God through Jesus Christ we must do all we can to bring about that reality. Thus, in a Paraguayan context, liberation theology would say that good Christian voters and revolutionaries must upset and bring to an end the abuses and injustices of the all-powerful Colorado party, establishing through whatever means necessary more just and more equalizing social and socialistic political structures. And so, through his own presidential campaign, Lugo hopes to bring about this real justice and real dramatic change to the corrupted Paraguayan government.

On the surface, Lugo’s dream doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea. After all, the current political establishment here in Paraguay is unjustly corrupted by the rich who take advantage of the poor and, as Christians, we serve a God of justice Who has an incredibly large heart for the needs of the poor. Why shouldn’t we support and take part in social change that promises justice and equality? The problem, though, is that the social changes that Lugo and liberation theology champion to solve humanity’s political problems are only surface-deep. They only touch the things that can be seen in outward politics, government structures, and the tangible state of affairs. The real problem with humanity and all political structures and institutions is not, however in the structures and authorities as Lugo would say. Instead, these troubles are the direct and universal result of our first parents’ original sin, and the real problem of corruption and injustice lies within the sinful heart of every human being. Hence, the real answer to the quandary of sin is not in political campaigns or revolutions or changes of governments, but rather in God’s saving graces through Jesus Christ alone. Only the work of the Holy Spirit can change hearts of government officials from greediness and abuse to service and care, and only the work of an almighty God in an individual life can bring about the call to true justice and divine standard of conduct with others. Worldly and broken political processes and institutions will always be just that: worldly and broken. Only the pure good news of Christian faith and hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ can give heavenly purposes and heal the tendencies toward injustice in all human hearts.

Lugo, however, doesn’t represent this Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has turned to man’s gospel, trading the good news of spiritual liberation in Christ though the Church for a perverted faith in human politicking and the always-fallible realm of political institutions. What is worse and even more condemnable is that Lugo has used his position of spiritual authority as a former bishop in the Catholic Church for his own purposes in search of political authority and power. He has twisted his God-given Christian ordination into something very ugly to garner the temporal support of the easily-influenced masses. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, preaching a false gospel of political change devoid of hope apart from the true Gospel of repentance from sin in Jesus Christ. Thankfully and rightfully, the Catholic Church has recognized this and has suspended Lugo’s rights and responsibilities as bishop and priest. The Vatican has installed a new bishop in Lugo’s place in San Pedro, distancing itself from Lugo and from his blighted forms of thinking. In the process, the Catholic Church preserves the Gospel of Faith in Jesus Christ from being polluted by the all too-temporal and all too-human political social movements that Lugo represents. In the end Lugo and all revolutionary social movements will come to an end, but the news of salvation through Christ will remain forever.

Apart from his dangerous and heretical theology that twists beautiful and simple Christian faith into a human system of social change and politics, Lugo’s blasting rhetoric and appeal to far-left populism also show him to be a very dangerous presidential candidate for Paraguay. He has aligned himself with the likes of Hugo Chavez, the off-the-edge Venezuelan loudmouthed president and ally of Cuba and Iran, by promising a fiercely patriotic and self-focused Paraguayan government to the exclusion of friendly relationship with the United States, the gentle giant of a country to the north. No, Lugo is definitely no friend of America as he spouts off fierce but tired jingoistic rhetoric. If elected, Lugo would put himself and all of Paraguay in political and cultural peril outside the good graces and influences of North American values and helps.

Lino: Crotchety but Firm
The third major candidate is Lino Olviedo, a former military general who managed to get himself into a pile of trouble in the aftermath of the Stroessner dictatorship. Throughout much of the 90s and early 2000s he was confined to prison for being accused of plotting a military junta against the established democratic government, but recently he was released to plot and carry out his own and now legal political junta in the elections. Although popular among the people and especially the military for his role in the 1989 ouster of Stroessner, Olviedo represents an old-era style of Paraguayan leadership that promises to bring back authority and the order of law to the now-disordered democratic nation. The youth especially despise him because they think he will bring back nine-o’clock curfews to clear the late-night streets of vagabond kids. Last week I saw a group of folks campaigning for Olviedo and not one was under the age of sixty. Thus, I’m pretty sure Olviedo is like your crotchety old neighbor who waved his cane and yelled at you for walking on his grass when you were little: although loud and annoying and demanding you respect him, he isn’t going anywhere and can’t really do anything.