Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0281/02819.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 30KB | 484 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02819}
$Pretitle{356}
$Title{Paraguay
Chapter 4C.   Business}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Thomas C. Bruneau}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{paraguay
government
paraguayan
stroessner
states
united
brazil
political
late
1980s}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Country:     Paraguay
Book:        Paraguay, A Country Study
Author:      Thomas C. Bruneau
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Chapter 4C.   Business

     The business sector was a relatively weak interest group and generally
supported the government. The local business community was quite small,
reflecting both the country's low level of industrialization and the presence
of many foreign-owned financial institutions and agro- processing firms.
Although local businessmen traditionally supported the Liberal Party, the
political and monetary stability of the Stronato appealed to business leaders
and made them cooperate closely with the Colorado Party and the government.
Furthermore, businesses that strongly supported the government accrued
considerable financial benefits, whereas those who were uncooperative placed
their businesses in jeopardy. In an effort to increase its influence over the
business sector, the government encouraged the formation of associations of
businessmen and industrialists. The two leading business associations--the
Federation of Production, Industry, and Commerce (Federacion de la Produccion,
la Industria, y el Comercio--Feprinco) and the Paraguayan Industrial Union
(Union Industrial Paraguaya--UIP)--each had seats on the Council of State. The
Colorado Party also maintained relations with the business sector through its
ancillary organizations.

     The business sector began to define some independence from the
government, however, following the country's economic slump in the early and
mid-1980s and a perceived lack of government response to the problem. For
example, Feprinco president Alirio Ugarte Diaz spoke out against the
government's economic policies, asking for action in reviving the economy and
eliminating corruption. Although neither the Feprinco nor the UIP participated
in the national dialogue in 1987, both submitted requests to the government
for major policy changes to reverse the economic slump.

Urban Labor

     Labor has not been an organized, tightly knit, autonomous force in
Paraguay. The firms have traditionally been small, workers were not
politically active, and personal relationships between employers and employees
prevailed. As in other Southern Cone (see Glossary) countries, the paternal
state anticipated demands of a growing labor force, granted some benefits, and
impeded the formation of strong labor organizations. When Stroessner came to
power, most of organized labor belonged to the Paraguayan Confederation of
Workers (Confederacion Paraguaya de Trabajadores--CPT), an unstructured
amalgam of trade unions. Despite its loose association with the Colorado
Party, the CPT declared a general strike in 1958. Stroessner crushed the
strike, dismissed the CPT leadership, and appointed a police officer as its
head. Consistent with these actions, the government, and not the workers,
continued to determine the confederation's leadership in the late 1980s.

     The CPT remained the only legally recognized large labor organization; it
contained 60,000 members and claimed to represent 90 percent of organized
labor. The CPT's refusal to endorse strikes after 1959 reflected the
government's dominance over it. In 1985 the CPT lost its membership in the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) after an ILO delegation to Paraguay
determined that the CPT was neither independent nor democratic. Nonetheless,
the CPT's existence allowed the labor force some access to government
officials.

     The first attempt to reform the labor movement came in 1979 with the
emergence of the Group of Nine trade unions. The group, which included bank
workers, a sector of construction workers, and the outlawed journalists'
union, unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the CPT in March 1981.
Several unions of the group subsequently broke away from the CPT and in 1982
led a successful national boycott of Coca Cola in order to reinstate trade
union members at the bottling plant. From this effort emerged the Inter-Union
Workers Movement (Movimiento Intersindical de Trabajadores--MIT) in 1985. The
MIT received recognition from both the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions and the Latin American Central Organization of Workers (Central
Latinoamericana de Trabajadores--Clat), both of which sent representatives to
express their support for the new movement. In the late 1980s, the MIT
remained small, and its members were subject to harassment and imprisonment;
nevertheless, it was still the only independent labor movement since
Stroessner took power.

Rural Labor

     For most of the Stronato, the government could rely on a supportive
peasantry. Linked through the local committees of the Colorado Party, many
peasants participated in the land colonization programs of the eastern border
region that were sponsored by the government's IBR. Others bypassed the IBR
altogether and participated independently in the settlement of the area (see
Land Reform and Land Policy, ch. 3). In any event, the availability of land
served to alleviate somewhat the frustration of peasants who were in a poor
economic situation.

     In the 1970s and early 1980s, a number of factors contributed to a
dramatic reduction of land in the eastern border region. First, an estimated
300,000 to 350,000 Brazilians crossed into Paraguay in search of cheap land
(see Immigrants, ch. 2). Second, many squatters were forced off their lands by
new agribusinesses that were much more efficient than the previous operators
of estates. In addition, the completion of the Itaipu hydroelectric project
resulted in high unemployment of construction workers, many of whom were
former peasants. As a result, an estimated 200,000 families lacked title to
their land or had no land at all.

     In about 1980, landless peasants began to occupy land illegally. Although
some settlements were smashed by the government, others eventually received
formal recognition by the IBR. A number of rural organizations also sprang up
after 1980 to promote the interests of peasants. Although one of these
organizations--the Coordinating Committees of Agricultural Producers (Comites
de Coordinacion de Productores Agricolas)--was sponsored by the government,
its leaders sometimes assumed positions not in line with official policy.
Associations of peasants sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church were formed to
establish cooperatives and commercialize crop production. A variety of rural
organizations loosely grouped themselves into the Paraguayan Peasant Movement
(Movimiento Campesino Paraguayo--MCP) in 1980. The MCP included associations
of peasants and landless workers as well as the Permanent Commission of
Relatives of the Disappeared and Murdered, which dealt with victims of
repression in the rural areas.

     Although small, the MCP was quite successful in mobilizing the rural
poor. For example, in July 1985, it brought together more than 5,000 landless
peasants in Caaguazu, where they established the Permanent Assembly of
Landless Peasants (Asamblea Permanente de Campesinos sin Tierra--APCT).
Despite government harassment, the APCT claimed to be the nation's largest
independent mass organization with a membership of 10,000 families. Its
objectives were spelled out in a thirteen-point program advocating a radical
transformation of society.

Students

     In recent decades, public education has been tightly controlled by the
government, and private educational institutions also had to conform.
Public-sector educational personnel, from the minister of education and
worship down to the primary school teachers, had to belong to the Colorado
Party. The Catholic University, although subject to pressure and even invasion
by the police, enjoyed a somewhat more o