A Dragon in the Shadows
PARAGUAY
When voters in Paraguay go to the polls on April 30, they will vote for every high office in the land – president, vice president, all 80 lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies and all 45 senators, as well as every governor of the country’s 17 regions.
And yet the South American country’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan might be the most important question on the ballot.
Since incumbent Mario Abdo Benitez of the dominant center-right Colorado Party cannot run for reelection, Santiago Pena will be the party’s standard-bearer. The party held the presidency for six decades – effectively creating one-party rule – until losing the office in 2008, only for Colorado Party candidate Horacio Cartes to win back the top job in 2013, explained the Journal of Democracy.
As the Americas Society/Council of the Americas explained, Abdo Benitez did not support Pena’s candidacy. Cartes, instead, shepherded Pena’s rise. The US, coincidentally, has slapped sanctions on Cartes for alleged human rights violations and corruption, the US Department of State announced in a January press release. The sanctions also hit Hugo VelĆ”zquez Moreno, who is currently Paraguay’s vice president. American officials believe corruption “starts at the top” in the country, quipped the Economist.An Important Election Comes In Paraguay
