A SIX-DECADE grasp on power, the world's longest, has been overturned with the victory of the left-wing former bishop Fernando Lugo in Paraguay's presidential election.
Mr Lugo's victory on Sunday adds to the "red tide" washing over South America, as government after government turns to the Left. The conservative Colorado Party had ruled Paraguay for 61 years.
Mr Lugo gained more than 40 per cent of votes, again
st 31 per cent for Blanca Ovelar, the ruling party's candidate, and 22 per cent for the former general Lino Oviedo.
This result, to Washington's alarm, leaves Colombia as the United States' sole remaining ally on the continent.
"Today we can say that small people can also win. This is the Paraguay of my dreams, the Paraguay that is of all colours and all faces, everyone's Paraguay," Mr Lugo told supporters packing his Patriotic Alliance for Change campaign headquarters.
Nicanor Duarte, the Colorado president, was swift to recognise Mr Lugo's victory, despite accusing him in the past few days of being an agent of Hugo Chavez, the anti-US Venezuelan president, and of having links to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
"For the first time in our history, one party will transfer power to another without a coup, without bloodshed and without fighting among brothers," Mr Duarte said.
Sandal-wearing and bearded, Mr Lugo, 56, who was suspended by the Vatican last year for entering politics, will take office on 15 August and vows to stamp out corruption, bring back home two million Paraguayans living in economic exile and carry out agrarian reform to bring an end to 2 per cent of the population owning 80 per cent of the land.
He also promises to charge Brazil at least 500 per cent more for electricity generated by the jointly-managed Itaipu dam, which supplies nearly a fifth of Brazil's energy – which explains why the giant neighbour ignored him until recently, when his victory seemed inevitable.
As soon as celebrations are over, Mr Lugo will face a daunting task. He will firstly need to keep together his wide coalition, which includes socialists, dissident Colorados, assorted social movements and conservative liberals. Some already fear that internal fights over power and government posts could splinter the coalition even before it assumes power.
In congress, the new president will have to forge alliances to push much-needed reforms forward. In practice, many observers believe this will mean buying the support of the deputies of Mr Oviedo, the third candidate, leaving the new government open to corruption from the outset.
Only then will Mr Lugo be able to focus on the real challenge: reducing the high levels of poverty and unemployment and bring about change for an extremely expectant and impatient population. He has only a small team of officials at the ready.
A source close to Mr Lugo admitted to The Scotsman that they would be forced to work closely with the corrupt Colorado regime and bureaucracy, the key being to identify the strategic areas where they have to place their people.
"We want to avoid the mistake the US did in Iraq, destroying the government bureaucracy and then not knowing how to cover the void," the source said.
Given the challenges ahead and Mr Lugo's leftist past, some already doubt his capacity to bring about peaceful change.
Claudia Ruser, president of the powerful association of soya producers, said: "I'm off to exile. I won't be a victim of a modern dictatorship.
"Lugo will go after us; he supported the takeover of productive land when he was bishop and he won't respect private property," she said.
The full article contains 615 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
