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End of a Brutal 60 Year Single Party Rule in Paraguay |
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When I called my father in near hysterics about the Paraguayan election on Sunday, he did not truly grasp what had taken place. He turned to CNN and they had this brief, unfeeling article about the historic election. So I started to explain.
Fernando Lugo, an ex-bishop, had won the presidency in Paraguay as a liberal. For the first time in 60 years, Paraguay was to have a leader not from the Colorado Party. Up until now, elections were simply a passing of the torch. This time, Blanca Ovelar gracefully conceded the victory, ending years of what many saw as a dictatorship.
Paraguayans no longer scared to show their support flooded the streets chanting, "Paraguay! Paraguay! Paraguay!" Fireworks went off throughout the night. Many missed work on Monday. I was lucky enough to be inside the country at the time and to understand a bit better why there was so much joy.
Weeks before the elections, the capital city of Asuncion was covered in red, the color of the Colorado Party. Their banners said, "Somos 1, Somos ANR (We're 1, We're Colorado)," referring to their listing number on the ballots. Unlike in the US, here there seemed to be no laws governing distribution of propaganda. Every open wall, tree, lamp post, car, and shirt was covered; everything was red.
Yet, even with the advertising blitz, the polls leading up to the election showed a majority of the population supported Lugo, with Blanca a close second. My coworker's girlfriend, the night before the election, explained that she had been pulled aside several times at work (she's a nurse at a public hospital) and asked who she would vote for. She had to respond Blanca, she had to wear the red shirt, and she had to make sure nobody knew she was supporting Lugo. Shades of 1984 or Nazi party propaganda raced through my head.
For some it's worse. My friend's father had to wear Colorado gear, tell his wife she couldn't mention Lugo, dress his son in Red, and so on. He eventually did vote for Blanca, because the ruling party doubled his salary for one month.
I was lucky enough to help my Paraguayan mother bring her entire family out to vote. Over 60 percent of eligible Paraguayan voters voted last Sunday. In some places they reported more than 90 percent turnout - all in a country with few paved roads and where owning a motorcycle is impressive, much less a car. Compared to typical US turnout, I felt ashamed.
The actual voting process is much like in America. Each member of my family was assigned a polling place and a table to vote at based on their address and last name. My sister was unsure of where she was to be voting so she called her friend, a young leader in the Colorado Party. This friend looked her up by last name and was able to tell her where she was voting, who else was at the table, and how many votes they expected from that table.
Once at the table, there was about a 40-minute wait as people went in alone, no children, no friends, nobody. (After the media reported that the Colorado party was paying children to act as spies on voters, this rule was instituted.) The ballot seemed to me to be especially easy to understand, complete with pictures, colors, and big boxes for voting marks. There was only one reported incident of vote manipulation, when a group of Colorado party members was asked to move away from the front of a polling place. Other than that, everything seemed very peaceful. Afterward, my family had an asado (bbq) and watched the election returns on television.
For the first time since my arrival in Paraguay, my mother asked that I not leave the house that night because she was worried about violence. This fear was hard to understand; peaceful changes of leadership in America are so natural. But nobody knew if it would be peaceful here. Some even expected a full coup from the current president, Nicanor Duartes Frutos.
Several Senators running on Lugo's ticket in the interior of the country had been murdered in the weeks leading up to the election. As the numbers started to come back after the polls closed at 4 pm, my mother started crying. Finally she confessed that she had watched friends and family be tortured or simply disappear under the Colorado regime. We watched as people filled the streets of downtown crying, chanting, hugging, cheering. It was over; they could finally show their faces. They could finally say that they did not agree with the ruling party, that they wanted change, that they wanted hope.
When I asked my mom why people voted for Colorados for so many years she gave me three reasons: First, many voters are either a politician or in a politician's family. They are extremely well off and don't want to see their money disappear. Second, someone in many people's family works for the government and they don't want to loose that income. Third, many were simply afraid.
My mother said she thought there was a big change this year because the younger generation does not know what it's like to live constantly in fear. They don't worry about losing their jobs so much as wanting more for themselves. (She told me that when she was 25, torture was normal.) She also thought some accredit the change this year to the inability of the Colorado party to commit as much election fraud due to the increased number of international observers.
Whatever the reason, Paraguayans voted for change this week. They deserve our respect.
KTB graduated from Northwestern in 2006, worked in a law firm for a year, and then escaped the country to do good. She is planning on pursuing a dual degree in law and public health.
