Change in Paraguay

Elections everywhere. Fernando Lugo and the Patriotic Alliance for Change were elected in Paraguay on Sunday, ending 61 years of rule by the Colorado Party, the longest serving party in the world no more. Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, somehow united unions, Indians, farmers and radicals. This result follows the shift towards the left in South America (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay).

Luis Fajardo, from BBC Mundo, (yea, I know that is not English) raised the interesting possibility that Lugo might start off by doing what Hugo Chavez did: raising the price for his country’s energy resources.

Many Paraguayans are apparently not satisfied with what their neighbors in Brazil, for example, pay for hydroelectric energy produced in Paraguay. Paraguay owns the largest hydroelectric plant in the world, yet 40% of its people live under the poverty line.