Taipei
The newly elected President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, who takes office in a month, defended this Saturday (15) the opening by Brazil of the archives of the Paraguayan war and the return of military equipment that would today be in Brazilian museums.
When asked if he would make a formal request, he said he “didn’t want to rewrite history.” “I don’t have any hard feelings, hate or anger, but I think it would be good. I would like to have such a conversation with President Lula, but in a positive way, not with a complaint.”
Peña argues that it would be good not only for Paraguay but also for Brazil to understand what happened. The military conflict, considered the largest in Latin American history, took place from 1864 to 1870 and pitted the Triple Alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay against Paraguay.
The Paraguayan himself raised the issue in conversation with journalists at the end of his fiveday visit to Taipei, capital of the island of Taiwan. The 44yearold economist, who was finance minister and professor at the Catholic University of Asunción, arrives this Sunday to take office on August 15.
He compared Paraguay to Taiwan during the war, “in the midst of very large countries that are proving to be very complicated.” Because of the war, “Paraguay lost 60% of its territory and was an open grave for many, many years,” affecting development, he says.
He added: “It’s not just about the archives: there is also equipment that was confiscated from the Brazilian armed forces and is now in Brazilian museums and that belonged to the Paraguayan government.” He concedes that “there may be controversy will, but it would be really, really good.”
Peña also defended expanding trade with China, which is already the largest buyer of Paraguayan soybeans and “the largest supplier of goods” to his country. However, he prioritized exchanges with Taiwan, which would be better for the development of Paraguayan economy and added value.
“We would like to do more trade with China,” he added. “But we also want to open up the US market. We assume that will happen soon. We also work with Japan.”
In the case of China, he defended Mercosur’s conclusion of a trade deal with the country, as Uruguay had requested. Brazil took over the bloc’s rotating presidency, and Lula first backed a deal with Beijing but only after another with the European Union.
The Brazilian President travels to Brussels, Belgium this Sunday for a summit meeting between Latin Americans and Europeans with the aim of hedging differences for this agreement. Given that the negotiations “have been going on for more than two decades,” Peña isn’t expecting much.
“The matter is further away,” says the presidentelect. “Lula is a president with a lot of leadership qualities. I hope that his leadership role in Mercosur will be very important. But I think the problem is more in Europe, the complication is on their side, not ours.”
The European bloc is under pressure from its “primary producers, who cannot compete with the production of the Mercosur countries,” he said. “It’s not easy to compete with us,” he says, proposing to give priority to other agreements, citing the United Arab Emirates.
He made another allegation about Mercosur, recalling that Bolivia’s accession had been approved by the others and “only Brazil is missing”. When asked about a return of Venezuela’s dictatorship, he avoided answering, but said he would reoccupy the embassy in Caracas.
“My decision is to restore bilateral relations with Venezuela. We will speak to the government. We have a very clear position in defense of human rights and political freedoms.”
Regarding Taiwan, he said he has not done any business since he is not president yet. At the meetings, according to the local press, he even mentioned his country as a “gateway” for Taiwan in the South American market, mentioning Brazil and Argentina in particular.
Paraguay is one of the 13 countries that recognize the “Republic of China, Taiwan” diplomatically, as Peña calls the island, who even studied at a Taiwanese university in 1999. Beijing regards Taiwan as a rebel province.
At a daily press conference in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning responded to Peña’s visit: “Upholding the one China principle is the right thing to do. We believe that the appropriate country.” [o Paraguai] will sooner or later recognize the trend of the world and make the right decision.”