News (1)
Paraguay presidential hopeful Santigo Pena seeks to be calm amid political storm
Image of Paraguay presidential proposition candidate Santiago Pena : Eric Piermont / Getty Images
Paraguay's conservative ruling party presidential candidate Santiago Pena will need all the composure he has from a journey as a teenage father to the International Monetary Fund as he faces down an opposition challenge at the ballot box on Sunday.
The 44-year-old former finance minister is trying to navigate a political maelstrom, with corruption allegations engulfing his party, internal divisions, and rising pressure from farmers over his plans to maintain ties with Taiwan.
But Pena, who has powerful party backing, is able to keep a cool head amid the tumult, his supporters say.
"I think what characterizes him is that he has infinite tranquility," said Lea Gimenez, who served as Pena's deputy when he was finance minister and was later finance minister herself.
"Even during this election campaign, which has been so long because we have been in the process for almost a year and a half, I have not seen him once lose his temper. I don't know where he gets that strength, that temperance."
Pena will face a cluster of candidates in a single-round vote. Opinion polls suggest either Pena or center-left opposition leader Efrain Alegre could triumph and most analysts predict a close race.
News (2)
Pena aims to keep taxes low, attract foreign investment, extends relations with Taiwan
"Santi," as he is often known, has pledged business-friendly policies that focus on job creation, keeping taxes low and attracting foreign investment.
"I want Paraguay to have a much greater international role, to be a much more important player on the international stage," Pena told Reuters in an interview in January.
Throughout the campaign the Colorado Party candidate has vowed to extend Paraguay's decades-long diplomatic relations with Taiwan, despite pressures to open up to China and its huge consumer demand for soybeans and beef.
Pena has defended the country’s relationship with Taiwan, but says he would seek more trade with CCP China, without explaining how that would come about. He told Associated Press, “Paraguay must insert itself in the world, in all the markets, including the Chinese market of 1.4 billion people.”
Those who know Pena described him to Reuters as "clean cut," "decent" and with "good ideas." Others cite a contemporary mindset and steady hand. Critics say he is a member of the out-of-touch elite who lacks political experience and is acting as a puppet of party leader and close ally Horacio Cartes.
"He is not a politician who wants a revolution, he wants evolution," said a businessman with investments in Paraguay who knows Pena personally, asking not to be named.
News (3)
Pena enters politics in 2016
Pena's political career took off when protests in 2016 forced then-President Cartes to abandon plans to seek an extra term by amending the constitution and to hand-pick Pena as his intended successor.
Members of the Colorado Party, however, were unconvinced that Pena's slick city appearance and time in Washington would go down well with voters and he lost out to current president Mario Abdo Benitez in the 2018 primary election contest.
This time around Pena is the party's man. He is backed once more by Cartes, who some see as the power behind the throne, but who is facing U.S. sanctions over corruption allegations that have hurt his reputation.
Pena married his childhood sweetheart and became a father for the first time at 17. He studied economics in Paraguay and later attended New York's Columbia University.
News (4)
Pena is a natural negotiator
"He matured very quickly, being a young father... he became an adult very quickly," a former colleague told Reuters. "Santi has a lot of life experience and is a natural negotiator."
He worked as an economist at the central bank in Asuncion and then with the IMF in Washington, before returning to Paraguay on the central bank board. He became finance minister in 2015.
"Many believe that I'm a young man... but I've been in the public sector for years," he said in an interview with regional media. "I could be doing my career abroad, but I decided to come back because I love my country and I want to work for it."
News (5) to (11) / Reporters : Hugo Olazar, Debora Rey / https://sg.news.yahoo.com/socially-conservative-rivals-vie-catholic-013054130.html, https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/coalition-challenges-paraguays-long-ruling-colorado-party-98927341, https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4284591
News (5)
Conservative rivals vie for Paraguay's top job
A right-wing economist and a center-left lawyer, both social conservatives, will face off Sunday in Paraguay's most closely-run presidential election in many years.
Santiago Pena, 44, carries the hopes of the right-wing Colorado
party in power almost nonstop since 1947, but faces a tough challenge from
Efrain Alegre, 60, representing the center-left Concertacion coalition narrowly
ahead in opinion polls.
The pair sit on opposite ends of the political aisle, but are on
the same page when it comes to abortion and gay marriage: It is a strong
"No" for both.
News (6)
Alegre aims to reassess diplomatic ties with Taiwan, fight corruption, reduce energy tariffs if elected
Image of Efrain Alegre : AFP
According to consolidated media reports, Alegre started in politics very young, campaigning in opposition
to the 1954-89 dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner -- one of the longest in
Latin American history.
He trained as a lawyer and served as a lawmaker for 15 years,
also serving as public works minister more than a decade ago during the only
four-year term not won by the Colorado party.
If he wins, Alegre has vowed to reassess Paraguay's
long-standing diplomatic ties with the Republlic of China (Taiwan).
Alegre has said Paraguay's relationship with Taiwan is too costly.
“Under current circumstances, Paraguay is making a significant effort,
despite being a small country, by choosing to maintain relations with Taiwan
instead of pursuing opportunities with China. We do not see Taiwan making a similar effort,”
Alegre said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We believe that this
relationship is unfair, and as a result, we have a critical stance.”
According to the "Financial Times" report, Alegre, who is running for president for the third time, publicly stated in January 2023 that if he were elected, he would choose to establish diplomatic relations with CCP China. In an interview with the Financial Times on 26 April 2023, he said bluntly, "We have not seen Taiwan make the same level of sacrifice as Paraguay. We are not saying that we must establish diplomatic relations with China, but we cannot ignore our national interests."
The report pointed out that Paraguay, a landlocked country with a population of 7 million, is also the world's fourth largest exporter of soybeans and the eighth largest exporter of beef. However, the country's agricultural industry has been complaining for many years that because Paraguay is an ally with Taiwan instead of choosing to establish diplomatic relations with CCP China, it prevents them from participating in the Belt and Road Initiative of the CCP and loses billions of dollars in revenue.
In this regard, Alegre also said bluntly that if Taiwan wants to continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Paraguay, it must pay more money out of its wallet, because it is Taiwan that caused Paraguay to lose too many opportunities to earn money, so Taiwan must make up for Paraguay, "We don't intend to talk about the amount, we just want to say that Taiwan's commitment is too small. We believe that (Taiwan) can do and contribute a lot."
In addition, the current President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, who supports Taiwan, also stated in 2022 that Taiwan should invest US$1 billion (approximately NT$31.8 billion) to help them withstand the pressure to change their diplomatic stance. Although Alegre stated that he would sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan if he won the election, he also claimed that if he were elected president, Taiwan could still negotiate a new bilateral relationship, and insisted that no final decision had been made.
Alegre has beaten a loud anti-corruption drum, frequently pointing the finger at the ruling party which he has accused of being "linked to organized crime, to money laundering." As part of this stance, Alegre has ruled out a tax reform in a country that has one of the lowest rates in the region.
"Corruption robs us of $6 million a day. That means more than $2 billion per year. These are not the conditions within to ask more of the private sector when the public sector is stealing," he said.
In 2021, he himself was detained for 18 days in a forgery investigation he claims was nothing but a political set up.
On the economic front, Alegre has proposed reducing energy tariffs to boost small- and medium-sized companies and generate jobs in the hydro-electric power giant.
Alegre is the son of a farmer and a merchant from the southeastern Misiones department -- the eighth of 12 brothers.
He has four children and has been married to Mirian Irun for 31 years.
This is the Liberal Party leader's third presidential run.
In 2013, he lost to millionaire businessman Horacio Cartes -- the political mentor of Alegre's rival Pena -- who has since been sanctioned for corruption by the United States.
Five years later, he was narrowly beaten by the Colorado party's Mario Abdo Benitez, soon stepping down after serving his constitutionally-limited single term.
News (7)
First presidential race for Pena, he aims to increase employment in Paraguay
This is the first presidential race for Pena, who previously
came closest when he lost the conservative primary to Abdo in 2017.
Economy minister under corruption-tainted Cartes, and a former
IMF economist, he is widely seen as a technocrat with little political
exposure.
He studied at Columbia University in New York.
Pena had previously come under fire for praising the
"stability" he said Stroessner had brought to the country,
overlooking the dictatorship's toll of up to 3,000 people dead or disappeared.
He has promised to create 500,000 jobs, without specifying how.
News (8)
Alegre and Pena are against abortion and gay marriage
Alegre vigorously bats away talk of legalizing abortion or gay marriage.
"I am against abortion and all these issues," he said recently. "They are resolved in the Constitution, they are resolved in law, they are not a subject of debate. What is there to discuss?"
For Pena, too, abortion and gay marriage are a no-go, defending
the family "in its traditional composition: mother, father and
children."
Pena is the youngest of three siblings and is married to his
childhood sweetheart Leticia Ocampo. The couple has two children.
"I became a father at 17. It was a difficult time in my
life," he once told an interviewer.
"But it led me to build on very solid principles of
commitment, of responsibility, of honesty, of integrity, of knowing that there
are people who depend on you. And without realizing it, when I was 17, I began
to develop a vocation of service," said Pena.
News (9)
American economic sanctions against Cartes has hit Pena's presidential campaign
Pena’s presidential campaign was
hit by U.S. economic sanctions against Cartes for alleged bribery and ties to
Hezbollah, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization.
The State Department said Cartes is “one of the wealthiest individuals in Paraguay” and charged he has “engaged in a concerted pattern of corruption, including widespread bribery of government officials and legislators.”
Pena said the accusations against Cartes “are groundless.”
The lethal sanctions blocked Cartes, who is president of the Colorado Party, from the U.S. financial system and cut off funding and loans for the Colorado Party’s campaign.
News (10)
13 candidates contesting for the position of President
Paraguay goes not have a runoff, so whoever of the 13 candidates receives the most votes on Sunday will be the country’s next president.
News (11)
Low polling numbers expected
as overseas Paraguayans do not vote and because of Labour Day
One key factor will be turnout, considering that on average only around six-in-10 Paraguayans go to the polls.
The low participation numbers are at least in part due to the “Paraguayan migrant population in Argentina, Spain and the United States that, despite having the legal right to vote, does not,” historian Milda Rivarola said.
The May 1 Labour Day public holiday could also decrease participation by voters.
News (12)
President Abdo’s government began the switch to electronic elections in
2020, prepping for the Presidential Election of 2023. The first electronic
voting option to be presented to Paraguayans was from the clearly
Soros-connected “Smartmatic” election company. It’s controlled by top and long-serving Soros
(and Epstein-linked) henchman, Mark Malloch-Brown.
Knowing that the Soros pill
would be hard for Paraguayans to swallow, Abdo used a beard – or a mask – in
the form of a non-Paraguayan businessman to create the illusion that his
government was considering two electronic election options.
“Magic Software Argentina” (MSA), which is
also controlled by a top and long-serving Soros henchman, Eduardo
Elsztain, was
presented as this second option.
Magic Software was ultimately chosen –
but not much changed depending on which company won the bid.
In both cases, George Soros, who has recently
been closely affiliated with an uncovered transnational drug trafficking
operation inside Paraguay, was going to be the winner.
The Paraguayan people revolted, and in late
2022 a mysterious fire destroyed some
8,500 voting machines.
The links between Soros and MSA’s Elsztain,
who’s reportedly the largest property developer in Argentina, are tangible and
public. Decades ago, though Elsztain was inexperienced and
unknown at the time, Soros saw something he liked in the Argentine, so much so
that he gave him $10 million.
According to Elsztain’s own
recollection, “[George Soros and I] talked for an hour or so, and then he asked
how much money I thought I could handle. I told him I could manage $10
million.” Soros, as Elsztain remembers it, simply said “Okay, no problem.”
Soros later explained his seemingly impulsive
investment by saying that Elsztain “knew when to sell and when to buy.”
Like the infamous Smartmatic,
Soros-backed IDF-linked Magic Software Argentina has
been plagued by Latin American vote-rigging scandals, which have followed the
company from Argentina to Honduras.
In 2019, a group of computer experts detected
a series of irregularities in the electronic voting system that
was used in the provincial elections in Salta, a major Argentinian city and
state. Despite the blatant election integrity issue, local authorities did not
allow a complete audit of the source code provided by MSA – matching what
occurred in the recent fraudulent 2022 elections in neighboring Brazil.
Now, serious concerns are being
raised by serious people that similar problems will follow MSA to Paraguay.
According to the Paraguayan mainstream
press, it is worth
mentioning that the ballot printing mechanism used by Magic Software Argentina
is the only one in the world based on RFID chips, which – according to experts
– are vulnerable to hacking.
This ballot security issue has been harshly questioned
by various experts, due to the
high risk it poses for fraud in Paraguay’s Sunday, April 30th Presidential
Election.
News (13) to (20) / https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4285384
News (13)
Embracing CCP does more harm than good! American scholar urges Paraguay to heed a warning from other countries' experiences
Image : Paraguay's general election will be held on 30 April 2023. American Latin American expert Ellis called on Paraguay to take El Salvador, Panama and other countries with Taiwan's former diplomatic relations as a warning. Only a few people will benefit from embracing China, and it will attract wolves into the house. (File photo, taken from the Twitter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
[Central News Agency] Paraguay’s general election is held on 30 April 2023. American Latin American expert Ellis called on Paraguay today to take El Salvador, Panama and other countries with former diplomatic relations with Taiwan as warnings. Only a few people will benefit from embracing China, and it will attract wolves into the house and allow Beijing to influence or take control of the Paraguay government.
Paraguay will hold a presidential election on 30 April, with the winner taking office on 15 August 2023. Lawyer Efrain Alegre, who has been campaigning for the presidency three times, has expressed his intention to turn to China for economic reasons. This election is considered to affect the relationship between Taiwan and the only remaining diplomatic ally in South America.
The Washington DC think tank "Atlantic Council" held an online seminar on 29 April 2023 inviting former Paraguayan officials and a number of American scholars on Latin America to discuss the impact of the Paraguayan election on the United States, CCP China, and Taiwan in Latin America and the Caribbean.
News (14)
Paraguay faces three major problems
Fernando Masi, who once served as chief advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Paraguay, said frankly that in the past 10 years, Paraguay has faced three major problems: the decline in the quality of life of the people, insufficient financial funds, and serious corruption. However, Taiwan has no regard for Paraguay. Foreign direct investment (FDI) only donates public construction funds every year, and the amount is only "symbolic" and cannot have a real impact on the Paraguay's economy.
News (15)
The benefits that Paraguay and CCP China may get from establishing diplomatic ties with each other
On the contrary, Masi said that if Paraguay instead recognizes CCP China, it will be able to enter the Chinese market and obtain potential investment from China, and the investment may not be limited to public or energy construction, but also include non-agricultural industries that Paraguay is trying to promote.
Masi pointed out that for CCP China, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Paraguay has political and economic benefits. On the political front, reducing the number of diplomatic allies to Taiwan could strengthen the narrative that there is only one China in the world; on the economic front, the absence of Paraguay's hindrance could lead to a trade agreement between China and South America's Mercosur.
However, Evan Ellis, a professor of Latin American Studies at the Institute of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Army War College, called on Paraguay to use the experience of Taiwan's former allies Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, and other countries that have embraced China as a warning.
News (16)
The diplomatic turn to China is not "romantic"
Ellis pointed out that the diplomatic turn to China is not as "romantic" imagined by the outside world, thinking that everyone can get rich, and often only a few exporters with good political and business relations benefit, and public construction projects are mostly taken by Chinese companies.
News (17)
If Paraguay switched ties to CCP China, "government capture" phenomenon will continue
Not only that, but Ellis said that due to Paraguay's weak system, if it establishes diplomatic relations with China, it may allow Beijing to greatly expand its economic influence in the region, resulting in the so-called "government capture" phenomenon; after conquering Paraguay, China will not stop there, will more actively "pursue" regional countries such as Haiti and Guatemala.
News (18)
The U.S. is authorizing the USDA organic certification mark for Paraguayan beef
As for what the U.S. can do, Ellis said that the U.S. is in the process of authorizing the USDA organic certification mark for Paraguayan beef, which will not only allow Paraguayan beef to enter the U.S. market, but also open up the European Union and Asian markets.
News (19)
The U.S. can do more in response for Paraguay maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan
Ellis pointed out that the U.S. government in Washington should give Paraguay a higher priority in terms of resource allocation, foreign aid and military cooperation in response for allowing Paraguay to know the importance of maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
News (20)
The latest Paraguayan polling results as of 29 April 2023
According to polls conducted by the polling agency Encuesta Atlas from 20 to 24 April 2023 24, Alegre and the former Finance Minister Santiago Pena, who represents the ruling Colorado Party (Red Party, ANR), have achieved 34% and 33% of the votes respectively.
However, Ellis said that in the past two weeks, the support rate of the independent candidate and former Senator of Paraguay (2018-2019) Paraguayo Cubas (above), who ranked third in the polls and advocates death penalty for corruption, has increased significantly, due to his absorption of Alegre votes, the Colorado Party is expected to continue in power.
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