The End of an Era

Fernando Lugo has won the presidency in Paraguay. Lugo leads an alliance between leftists and liberals, forged to defeat the Colorado Party which had been in power for longer than he had been alive. This defeat tops a long transition to democracy in South America. Unlike Argentina, Brazil and Chile, Paraguay’s dictatorship had been intimately associated with the Colorado Party which remained in power long after Stroessner, head of the party and army, left office in 1989. The Colorado Party had dominated Paraguayan politics based on a heavy, overarching political structure, in spite of permanent suspicions of corruption and electoral fraud.

An important question is what changed in South America that allowed for democracy? A full answer will probably require many considerations. But there is at least one important historical event that obviously plays a tremendous role in the explanation: the end of the Cold War. All dictatorships in South America during the 60s and 70s were US-supported (although the Paraguayan one begun in the 50s). After the Cuban experience in the late 50s, and the subsequent Chilean experience during the late 60s, the US began to see South America as a limb infected by the Communist plague and decided to apply shock therapy.

This is not to say that the US was the cause of the extreme political polarization that marked South American politics at the time. This polarization was inherent to these countries and exacerbated by the Cold War itself. In fact, it seems reasonable to regard it as the main cause of the political disaster of the 70s and 80s in South America. Hadn’t the US supported those dictatorships, probably the USSR would have funded inverse but equally cruel regimes.

Be as it may, with the Cold War in the past and much less attention from the super powers, South America has got that long needed breath to reorganize its politics and strive. Moreover the course seems to be set toward a more progressive form of society. Paraguay joins Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador in having democratically elected socialist/liberal governments. Congratulations to Paraguay.