Paraguay - Stroessner and Mennonites

April 25, 1991
Once again, Hello:
We are driving down a black asphalt ribbon totally surrounded by the green called "Brazil" and heading toward a meeting with that Brazilian vixen named Sandra who two months ago so bedeviled that old Argentine man that he still probably hasn't slept properly. The moment we crossed the border into Brazil, it was obvious that it was going to outstrip everything else both in size and ambience. Brazil is just that much more than all that surrounds it. Our first introduction was at Iguazu Falls, and they were everything we had hoped them to be. The single most impressive natural sight I have seen anywhere in the world. So often when you look forward to something as much as we did to Iguazu you can come away disappointed. The reality can't live up to the hype. Well. Not Iguazu. The power and immense size of the falls is enough to blow the mind of even the most seasoned traveler. Add to those, the overall setting and the bird life, and you have something which is simply incredible. I was given two "Stretch" cameras before we left, each with 12 pictures on it. I decided to use them for special shots of nature and make a nice montage of the results. To make them last, I decided to take no more than two shots of any one subject. Ha, I took five of Iguazu. I just couldn't stop myself. Each step seemed to bring new and different aspects of the falls which I just couldn't resist. I will pay for this indulgence down the line, I'm sure.
But enough of Brazil for now. If I don't write of Paraguay now, memories will be gobbled up by Brazil and harder to recall.
The western press portrays Paraguay as poverty stricken downtrodden population ruled by a tyrant dictator who is hated by his people. Other South Americans make jokes about the Paraguayans and feel superior (mostly the Argentines, but they feel superior to everybody). It simply is not the truth. It is true that Paraguay is a poor country. But poverty is a relative term at this end of the world. We have seen poverty all around us on this trip and we certainly saw it in Paraguay. Once again, I am faced with the realization that my having so much means that others can have so little. The fact that one person like myself can live as I do, by necessity, condemns dozens, hundreds, to live here as they do. Again I am faced with the frustration of having so many people asking for money or food, and to whom do I give one or the other. I can't, or at least won't give to all and even if I could, or did, it would still not solve the fundamental problems of people her. I do, however, honestly feel that the Gulf War and the apparent tremendous popular support for it notwithstanding, the U.S. and other rich nations could do a better job of helping alleviate the world's poverty than they do. If we spent only a fraction of the money to improve live which we spend on instruments of death those instruments would not be needed. The programs which we have now do very little to improve the lot of the people. They are administered not by the poor, but by bureaucrats who rip off the money and improve their already fine lifestyle and the money never gets to the people who need the help.Time and time again, we have been told what a joke the aid programs are.
So Paraguay is poor, but the people are certainly not downtrodden. In their history they have bounced back from horrendous difficulties. In the war of the Triple Alliance, for example, this California-sized nation took on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay (Paraguay was coming to the defense of Uruguay, which had been invaded and conquered by Brazil). When it was over, five years later, the population was desimated. Of the original 800,000 Paraguayans, only half that number was left alive. 55% of the women were killed and 95% of the entire male p9opulation died. Of the 400,000 males at the beginning of the war, only 14,000 were left alive, and of those only 2,100 over the age of 20 survived. Talk about shaping the future of a country.
Paraguay is just now coming out from under 35 years of stronghanded dictatorship under Alfredo Stroessner. He was one of the most reviled dictators in the American press, but the people of Paraguay do not feel that way. "Okay," so they say, "He had a human rights problem, but he kept the country stable, and he kept the communists out." Paraguay is one of the few S.A. countries not to experience tremendous turmoil in the '60's and '70's. He was overthrown when, they say, he got too old and sick to be effective and those around him, seeing the end coming, tried to steal everything in sight while they could. But the people don't blame Stroessner. That is very strange. Usually there is a national celebration when a country comes out from the shadow of dictatorship, but not in Paraguay.
The country has the smallest percentage of Spanish blood in South America and is basically Bilingual. Guarani, a lovely, lilting language is now studied in France and Belgium because of its musical qualities in the language of choice outside Asuncion, the capitol of 600,000 people. The population of the country is only 4 million. Guarani is now a required language in the public schools.
Besides the Spanish, of course, another major group which has had an impact on life in Paraguay is the Mennonites. They originally fled to Paraguay from soviet Russia in 1927 because they don't believe in war or serving in any military, peaceful or otherwise, and Paraguay is very much removed from mainstream politics. Because Mennonites everywhere in the world speak German, they have arrived in large numbers from many places in the world and can immediately fit in with the other Mennonites. Most, however, come from Germany and Canada. They now have their own "Colonies," which are exempt from many Paraguayan laws. The Mennonites have their own hospitals, co-ops, electrical companies, and, in short, have set up a state within a state. We went to the heart of Mennonite life here, Philadelphia, Pa. Only here it's spelled Filadelfia and the Pa. stands not for Pennsylvania, but for Paraguay. We took a night bus, and it was like going to sleep in Paraguay and waking up in Germany. German is the language of the streets and many of the Mennonites don't even speak Spanish. A Mennonite missionary from Pennsylvania with whom we talked says that the people are surprised to find out there is another Philadelphia. the Mennonites here are more worldly than elsewhere. You can buy beer, rent R-rated movies, some of the kids smoke pot, and the teen-aged girls, with the help of teen-aged boys, become pregnant. But they have carved out a remarkable life for themselves in the middle of a vast harsh, untamed wilderness called the "Chaco."
But problems do exist. They have been here for 60 years and, when asked, they tell you that they feel Paraguayan, but they do everything to separate themselves from Paraguayan life, and many of the Paraguayans resent it. They respect the Mennonites for what they have accomplished, but they don't like the separation. When Mennonite teenagers date Paraguayans, they are shipped off to Canada. Isolated like they are in the Chaco, the young have forgotten many of the lessons of the pioneers and 30% of the boys leave for Canada within one year of high school graduation. The pioneers carved this society out of nothing. But the young people would rather pay on of the local Guaranis a small pittance, stand around like an overseer and, watch the work be done.
There becomes a "Master-worker" mentality in such situations. There is some real concern among the Mennonites about their future. They were favorites of Stroessner, obviously a German himself, because they developed the Chaco, but now there are rumblings about making them serve in the military. All other Paraguayan males serve for one year and eight months beginning at age 17. Well, on paper all serve. As in all South American countries, the rich, powerful, and educated find ways to avoid military service unless they desire it for a career, and that leaves the poor and uneducated to fill the ranks of the army.
The guarani indians represent a special problem to organized society. By their large numbers they form a majority of the population, but they have been nomadic for thousands of years. Their basic philosophy has always been "If you have food for today, there is no reason to worry, since tomorrow isn't here yet." They are a beautiful people with an easy manner and a quick smile. there is an innocence to their nature which is attractive, but for a country which is trying to modernize, it can be a problem.
Bus rides continue to be a "trip" literally and figuratively. I am writing a rough draft of this letter on our way to Sao Paulo, but right now we are broken down, again, on the side of the road. We have had flats, engines which quit, loss of tire tread, and a number of unusual problems which can add delay and frustration. That's the way it goes down here. On one of our day trips to a small town called Itaugua where the woman make beautiful lace, we were so packed in that the driver couldn't see anything except straight ahead. The conductor who collects money shuttles back and forth between the front door and the back door shoving people in or out. Loading and unloading cargo, live and otherwise goes on continually. When everybody and everything is, more or less, on or off the bus, the conductor whistles (a sharp, shrill whistling ability is written into the job description) and off we go again for another jaunt. You never know how far you will get before someone wants on or off. Actual bus stops are a joke because buses stop anywhere. If you want on, you simply wait until the bus is close enough to you that you can read where it is going and then stick out your arm. Since the bus at that point is almost past you, it comes to a quick, shuddering halt and you run anywhere from 10 to 50 yards to catch it and it starts up again. When you want to get off, you yell, "Baja" meaning "Stop the damn thing, I want off here."
You could literally live a full life on these buses. All four-food groups will be offered for sale during your ride by someone of age six or above who jumps on the bus touting the nutritional and savory qualities of the item for sale. When they have milked the bus as much as they can, they get off and wait for the next bus going in the opposite direction, only seconds away. They hawk their wares on these buses all day long and probably never stray more than a mile or two from home.
Not to worry if you spill some of the food on your clothes because on jumps a guy selling the stain remover. He spills some sort of red dye on his shirt sleeve, rubs some of the magic remover on it and Voile, it's clean again.
All sorts of reading material are available: newspaper, magazines, complete sets of medical encyclopedias, and books.
Can't get your food open? No problem! On jumps the guy selling complete sets of tools, you might or might not, need in your kitchen. He gives samples to everybody on the bus and then goes back and collects either the product or the money. The system works because it is used everywhere. People either pay for the products or give them back.
Speaking of paying, when you buy something in a store, say a notebook, you don't give the money to the clerk. He or she writes up the tag in triplicate, you take the copies to the cashier (the only one to handle money in the store), pay for the notebook, take two of the stamped receipts to a different clerk who has wrapped the product, give him one of the receipts and pick up your purchase.
When it rains in Paraguay, it really rains. They get 40 inches of rain a year in the Chaco, but they get it in bunches and then nothing for weeks or months. they got 12 inches of ran in five days last month, and it hasn't rained since. We went through the most incredible lightning storm we have ever seen just before we arrived in Paraguay. For 48 hours, the sky was a continuously blinking strobe light with only a couple of seconds delay before the next window-rattling clap of thunder. Rumblings for 30-40 seconds at a time were normal. Nature really is at work down here.
To explain how many problems a poor nation like Paraguay faces is a monumental task, but I would like to relate a situation which I believe is symptomatic of the overall picture. Carol had to receive official permission from the Ministry of Education to visit schools here. So we talked to the woman in charge of Secondary Education for the entire country. "No problem," she said, "Just write up a proposal and take it to the "Technology Department" to have it officially transcribed. Well, the technology department isn't filled with state of the art computers. In fact, they have one typewriter, manual, for all official documents. And this is the National Ministry of Education. For the entire floor dealing with secondary education, there are only two telephones. the Director of Secondary Education has one, and everybody else lines up to use the other. There simply is not the money for these types of conveniences. For someone who returns to a small school with a full lab of 32 Macintoshes and where there is a mac in every classroom, it was a very telling lesson on why countries like Paraguay have a difficult time modernizing.
Our time in Paraguay came to an end and we left with a fondness for the country and its people, and the anticipation that Brazil lay ahead. That chapter next, stay tuned.