Saturday, August 16, 2008

Bishop says Paraguayans enthused about president, who faces tough job

One of the first things Fernando Lugo is expected to do after his inauguration as Paraguayan president is attend Mass in the Diocese of San Pedro, which he once led.

This time, however, he will be part of the congregation rather than the celebrant.

The recently laicized and newly elected bishop-turned-president is scheduled to attend the service Aug. 16, the day after his inauguration, in the town of San Pedro del Ycuamandyju, where his former flock will "pray for wisdom" for him and newly elected local officials, Bishop Adalberto Martinez Flores (pictured) said.

Since February 2007 Bishop Martinez has headed the diocese, a mainly rural area the combined size of Connecticut and Rhode Island, where Lugo served for a dozen years.

Paraguayans are enthusiastic about the country's new leader, Bishop Martinez said.

"This change gives people great hope of leaving behind the poverty and corruption that has characterized the government for so many years," he said, but added, "It will not be an easy transition."

The new president takes office amid protests in rural areas of northern Paraguay, where landless farmers have occupied soy plantations, underscoring the need for land reform in the country.

"There has been talk of agrarian reform for many years," but little action has been taken to address the need for land, jobs and education in the countryside, Bishop Martinez said.

That is only one of the challenges facing the new president, who recently described the country he will take over as "devastated" and in need of infrastructure and new energy policies.

It also needs jobs, health care and education, Bishop Martinez said.

The current economic crisis has forced many rural Paraguayans to emigrate to cities in the country, to neighboring Argentina or to Spain in search of jobs, "which contributes to the breakdown of the family," he said.

"Fernando Lugo has made a commitment to work to create jobs that would allow many migrants to come home, especially those who are in Spain."

With two-thirds of the population under age 30, "Paraguay is predominantly a country of young people," Bishop Martinez said. One of the new president's priorities must be "to pay special attention to youth, in terms of health, education and employment."

Lugo's election broke the Colorado Party's six-decade grip on Paraguay's government. Over the years, administrations have been plagued by corruption scandals, including one in which it was revealed that the president's luxury limousine was a car that had been stolen in Brazil.

The watchdog group Transparency International gave Paraguay a score of 2.4 out of 10 points on its corruption index, slightly below Burundi and slightly above Russia. In the rating system, a score of 10 indicates a lack of documented corruption. In Latin America, Venezuela and Ecuador scored worse than Paraguay.

"There is great support from people for cleaning up the judiciary, which would pave the way for combating corruption ... and impunity," Bishop Martinez said.

In making Cabinet appointments, Lugo "is looking for people who are qualified, but also honest, and many of them are Catholics or Christians," he said.

The bishop hopes "the opposition will allow Lugo to work," but added, "We can't put all the responsibility on the government. The challenge is to seek consensus among people to address these problems."

Despite Lugo's campaign pledges to clean up Paraguayan politics, the task appears monumental and "five years are very little to address the challenges that face us as a country," Bishop Martinez said.

The Paraguayan bishops' conference has carefully distanced itself from Lugo's administration while pledging support for policies that contribute to the "common good."

Lugo's election in April "reflected the people's longing for change," the bishops said in a statement issued Aug. 6.

"No one questions the importance of turning these expectations into action, eliminating errors and negative practices from politics and urgently adopting measures that will put the common good above personal, family, group and partisan interests."

"The Catholic Church does not identify with the new government" and "cannot neglect pastoral work to enter the field of politics," the bishops said. "The church and state are independent and autonomous institutions."

The bishops expressed support for "any policy for the common good, which promotes human dignity and rights and which seeks the integral development of the people and their communities."

They said the church would maintain "a constructively critical stance" toward the government and make "its prophetic voice heard."
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