The president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña (Asunción, 45 years old), who next month will celebrate one year since his electoral victory and was previously Minister of Finance, belongs to the conservative Colorado Party, the political force that has historically dominated the life of the South American country ―70 years―, except for very brief periods.
However, his model is the white club, Real Madrid, and especially its president, Florentino Pérez, with whom he has been these days during his stay in Madrid.
“I am convinced that Paraguay has a destiny of greatness.
I want the Paraguayan to stop thinking that misfortune has taken over the country or that it is the island surrounded by land that [the writer] Augusto Roa Bastos said.
Paraguay's problem is mental Mediterraneanness, not physical one,” he states with passion, the same with which he says he is learning Guaraní, in an interview held this Thursday at Casa América.
An economist by training, Peña has visited Spain, where he has met with the King and the president, Pedro Sánchez, in search of investments.
Ask.
What does Paraguay offer to Spanish investment?
Answer
.
First, reconnect with our roots.
I talk a lot about the resurgence of a giant and that forces us to look at history.
This year marks 500 years since the arrival of Alejo García, a Portuguese who came with a mandate from the Spanish Crown.
But it was later, in 1537, when the colony was established in Asunción;
and they went there because the Guaraní were there, who were a friendly people, undergoing a process of miscegenation like nowhere else.
Paraguay's history of greatness is linked to Spain, but that history was broken and we believe that these 35 years of democracy - because it is not just a comparison with [the dictatorship of Alfredo] Stroessner -, the longest period in our history, have generated tremendous benefits.
We have what the world needs: water, land and young people.
And most importantly: a people that dreams of a better future.
We want to insert ourselves into the world and be a global player;
Europe offers many opportunities and Spain is the entrance to Europe.
Q.
You are the youngest president of Paraguayan democracy.
He campaigned to put the country on the world map and create more than half a million jobs.
What is he most satisfied with?
A.
Not only did I win by the largest difference in history, I won without having to appeal to a populist discourse, neither from the right nor from the left.
I obtained a majority in both chambers of Congress and that has enormous value if we look at the Latin American context.
I have been working from day one on an agenda that generates transformations, with six or seven very important laws, some of which have been stopped for 30 years, such as the creation of a regulatory body for pensions.
We have serious problems in Social Security and we have strengthened the organizations so that collection increases by 30% in a country that has an inflation of 3%.
Q.
But there are about two million Paraguayans who have emigrated, almost a third of its population;
It is estimated that 60% of the labor market is informal…
A.
That's right and that requires labor reforms.
That is the objective: to generate 500,000 jobs that are incorporated into the Social Security system.
Paraguay today has the strongest macroeconomic scenario in Latin America, last year we grew close to 5%, inflation and interest rates are falling.
Standard & Poor's has improved Paraguay's risk rating after 10 years.
We lowered the price of fuel that was generated through a public company four times, which represented enormous relief in very vulnerable sectors;
We lowered the price of gas for domestic use and increased the program of conditional [cash] transfers to families in extreme poverty.
P.
_
And in the field of security?
A.
I have launched a very ambitious agenda on two major fronts: one, organized crime and the other, micro-drug trafficking.
We disrupted a criminal gang that was dedicated to arms trafficking, in collaboration with the United States and Brazil;
We disrupted the groups that transported drugs in Paraguay and internal crime, we took control of the Tacumbú prison, one of the 10 most dangerous in the world.
I refuse to live in a country where those of us who follow the laws are afraid of those who don't.
P.
_
Paraguayan economist Fernando Masi says that Paraguay's raw materials are full of cocaine because the country has become a drug distribution center.
What are they going to do?
R.
_
This is what we did in these months.
We began to control better, hence the tax and customs reform.
There is a long road ahead, but we are on the right path.
Santiago Peña, during the interview at Casa América, in Madrid.
Samuel Sanchez
Q.
Despite presenting himself as a generational replacement, opposition voices accuse him of being a dolphin of Horacio Cartes, his mentor and former president between 2013 and 2018, sanctioned by the United States for money laundering, and of whom he was Minister of Finance, also the youngest, as well as director of Banco Basa, of the Cartes group.
A.
When I left the ministry, I went to work in the private sector, at Banco Basa, which is not owned by Mr. Cartes, he has no shareholding.
It belongs to his sister because it is a family business that was created by his father, who when he retired gave the financial business to his daughter and the agriculture and livestock businesses to his son.
The accusation against Cartes by the United States is his responsibility, not mine.
He is president of the Colorado Party by popular vote, I was elected by popular mandate to be president of the Republic.
I do not accept that they try to assign his responsibilities to me.
I am not his defender, he has his lawyers.
My election campaign was not financed by Cartes either.
Q.
You have expressed your sympathy for the Argentine president, Javier Milei, also an economist.
R.
_
I have a close relationship with him as president, just like with Gabriel Boric or Lula da Silva.
Q.
Not like that with Nicolás Maduro.
R.
_
Venezuela is further away from us, but we reopened the Embassy in Caracas, which is an important step, and we hope that there will be free elections and that the opposition Corina Machado can participate.
Q.
Your economic model is similar to Milei's;
less state, less taxes...
R.
_
In reality, he is wanting to do what we did, which is a low inflation economy, with low public debt, with high investment.
Milei tries to replicate the Paraguayan model.
P.
_
Paraguay is one of 12 countries that maintains relations with Taiwan, rather than mainland China.
Will you maintain this policy?
A.
Yes. China is welcome in Paraguay.
In fact, Beijing is Paraguay's main partner, but as a sovereign country we have the freedom to choose with whom we have relations.
There are no restrictions on operating with Beijing, it is China that has problems with countries that recognize Taiwan.
It is a deep and long-term relationship that will not change.
Q.
You have been pessimistic about the Mercosur-EU agreement being ratified this year.
A.
I think that the conditions are not met in Europe, which is not at a time to make such an important decision.
But we will continue to integrate globally.
We closed a trade agreement with Singapore, we are close to doing the same with the United Arab Emirates and we believe that Mercosur is the most dynamic area in the world at this moment and in the future.
The president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, at Casa América, in Madrid on Thursday.
Samuel Sanchez
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