Winning respect.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Source:
    Economist. 1/10/2004, Vol. 370 Issue 8357, p31-32. 2p. 1 Color Photograph.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      DUARTE Frutos, Nicanor; PARAGUAYAN politics & government, 1989-; PARTIDO Colorado (Political party : Paraguay); PRESIDENTS; DEMOCRACY; MISCONDUCT in public office; DICTATORSHIP; IMPEACHMENTS
    • Abstract:
      The article focuses on Paraguay, a landlocked and insular republic of 5.5m people, with the view that it is known to the outside world chiefly as a centre of corruption, smuggling and counterfeit goods. Nicanor Duarte Frutos, the president since August, says that one of his aims is to turn his country into a "respectable nation". Paraguay has been ruled by Mr Duarte's Colorado Party since 1947, and for most of that period by a dictatorship. The arrival of democracy, in name at least, in 1989 did not prevent mounting economic problems. Mr. Duarte claims to be a reformer and is trying to hold down spending. And the president says he is determined to tackle corruption. Like Néstor Kirchner in Argentina, Mr Duarte is pressing for a clean-up at the Supreme Court: four justices have resigned and two--including the Court's president--have been impeached. He met George W. Bush during a recent visit to Washington--becoming the first Paraguayan leader to hold a tête-a-tête with an American president. Many of Mr Duarte's plans face opposition in Congress, where he has only a narrow majority. All the same, something is stirring in Paraguay.