Paraguay Elects Leftist President

Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America, and for the last sixty years it has been ruled by the Colorado Party. This was the party of the privileged, and for the last six decades it made sure the rich stayed rich and the poor stayed poor. But things have changed there now.

Yesterday, the citizens of Paraguay elected a left-leaning president named Fernando Lugo (pictured above). Lugo was an ex-Bishop of the Catholic Church, who campaigned on a promise to help the poor and indigenous people of Paraguay. He received 41% of the votes.

For the last 500 years , the indigenous people of Central and South America have been ruled by the privileged and denied true equality and opportunity. We have supported many of those dictatorships and pseudo-democracies. But whether our own government and corporate leaders like it or not, things are beginning to change.

It started in Cuba and is now spreading. The poor and indigenous peoples of Nicaragua, Chile, Venezuela and now Paraguay, among others, are electing leftist governments that are empowering those who have always been denied power.

One by one these countries are finding their way to equality and equal opportunity for all their citizens. Most are democracies, while others like Cuba are still struggling with that. Someday, I expect all the countries south of our border will achieve that status.

But it will be no thanks to us. Most U.S. administrations, including the Bush administration has opposed this. They have opposed it because it might interfere with corporate profits. Even today, our government considers corporate profits more important than the lives of individuals.

We should be ashamed of the corporatocracy we have established.