Working Towards TekojojÁ: The Political Struggles of the Paraguayan Left

Abstract

In 2008, Fernando Lugo was elected president of Paraguay, breaking the 60-year, one-party rule of the Colorado party in a country dependent on foreign powers and dominated by a corrupt, clientelist, and violent political and economic elite. Lugo’s election can be explained by changes taking place in the economic context, the exacerbation of structural inequities, divisions in the ruling elite, and the mounting politicization of both rural and urban social movements. This article analyzes how winning the presidency or occupying certain spaces within the state is not enough to guarantee major changes. It demonstrates the need for a united political movement made up of social movements that build on alternative paradigms to pressure government through both political action and grassroots community development.