Paraguayan businessman Horacio Cartes of the Colorado Party (Partido Colorado–PC) was inaugurated this morning as the president of Paraguay for a five-year term. Cartes won the presidential election in April with 46 percent of the vote, outpacing his opponent, Efraín Alegre of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico —PLRA), who won 37 percent of votes cast. Heads of state present during the ceremony include Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Chilean President Sebastían Piñera, Uruguayan President José Mujica, and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.
Cartes inherits a difficult political and economic situation for Paraguay. In his inauguration speech, the president vowed to strengthen international ties and continue the fight against poverty. Paraguay is one of the more unequal societies in Latin America, with 39 percent of its population of 7 million living in poverty. Cartes and his cabinet will also work to improve bilateral relations throughout the region—beginning with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay—and will later focus on Paraguay returning to the Mercosur trade bloc. In July, Mercosur lifted its suspension of Paraguay but negotiations continue around the circumstances in which it would re-enter the trade bloc.
An outsider himself in the political sphere, Cartes comprised a cabinet of experts with various backgrounds and experiences, snubbing the more entrenched political leaders of the past. New cabinet ministers represent varied backgrounds: Francisco de Vargas, former head of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Secretaria Nacional Antidrogas—SENAD) was appointed as minister of interior, Ana María Baiardi Quesnel formerly the ambassador of Paraguay to Israel is now the minister of women, and Bernardino Soto Estigarribia who is a retired general will be minister of national defense.
