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[1/5] Paraguay's new President Santiago Pena wears the presidential sash and holds the baton of command as he greets people with the first lady Leticia Ocampos during his inauguration, in Asuncion, Paraguay August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo Acquire Licensing RightsASUNCION, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Santiago Pena was sworn in on Tuesday as Paraguay's new president, promising to "build alliances" and show "firm and ethical leadership" for the next five years after his April election victory. "We will build alliances and cooperation with a geostrategic vision," the president said in his inaugural speech, adding that Paraguay's relationship with Taiwan "is an example of this and of Paraguay's friendly and cooperative spirit with nations." Despite pressure from farmers who want to open up Chinese markets, he has pledged to stick with Paraguay's decades-long diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Pena faces the additional challenge of shoring up relations with the United States after the U.S. government accused his political mentor, former President Horacio Cartes, of corruption.

Persons: Santiago Pena, Leticia Ocampos, Cesar Olmedo, Pena, Spain, William Lai, Mario Abdo Benitez, Santi, Horacio Cartes, Cartes, Milda Rivarola, Rivarola, Daniela Desantis, Lucinda Elliott, Jonathan Oatis, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, South, Taiwan's, Colorado Party, U.S, Ultima, Thomson Locations: Asuncion, Paraguay, Rights ASUNCION, William Lai . Paraguay, China, Taiwan, Paraguayan, United States

Paraguay's President-elect Santiago Pena speaks during an interview with Reuters ahead of his inauguration, in Asuncion, Paraguay August 7, 2023. His party's diplomatic support for Taiwan has hurt local farmers' grains exports to China, which claims sovereignty over the self-governed island. Taiwan Vice President William Lai is in Paraguay for Pena's inauguration. Relations with the United States will also be in focus after the U.S. government accused Pena's political backer, former President Horacio Cartes, of corruption. Pena also wants to create 500,000 new jobs in five years to boost the South American country's farm-driven economy, dominated by soybeans and beef.

Persons: Santiago Pena, Cesar Olmedo, Pena, William Lai, Horacio Cartes, " Pena, Cartes, Santi, Daniela Desantis, Lucinda Elliott, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Colorado, Colorado Party, Pena's, U.S, American, Columbia University, IMF, Thomson Locations: Asuncion, Paraguay, ASUNCION, Taiwan, U.S, China, United States, Washington, Colorado

[1/4] Paraguayan presidential candidate Santiago Pena from the ruling Colorado Party gestures next to his wife Leticia Ocampos at the party headquarters as he and his running mate Pedro Alliana won Paraguay's presidential race, according to the preliminary official count, in Asuncion, Paraguay April 30, 2023. Still, Pena will be able to keep a cool head amid the tumult, his supporters say. "I think what characterizes him is that he has infinite tranquility," said Lea Gimenez, who served as Pena's deputy when he was finance minister and was later finance minister herself. Throughout the campaign the Colorado Party candidate has vowed to extend Paraguay's decades-long diplomatic relations with Taiwan, despite pressures to open up to China and its huge consumer demand for soybeans and beef. He became finance minister in 2015.

☆ Paraguay's conservatives score big election win, defusing Taiwan fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Paraguayan presidential candidate for the Colorado Party, Santiago Peña (C), celebrates with his wife, Leticia Ocampos de Pea (R), and Paraguayan former President Horacio Cartes, after winning the presidential election in Asuncion on April 30, 2023. Norberto Duarte | AFP | Getty ImagesParaguay's ruling candidate Santiago Pena, 44, scored a big win in the country's presidential election on Sunday, tightening the conservative Colorado Party's political grip in the country and defusing fears about the end of diplomatic ties with Taiwan. "Thank you for this Colorado victory, thank you for this Paraguayan victory," Pena said in a speech. Colorado and right-wing party candidates also performed strongly in congressional elections and governor races, with some provinces recording a historic Colorado majority over opposition rivals. The Colorado Party has dominated politics in the landlocked South American country since the 1950s.

☆ Paraguay Voters Elect Conservative Economist as President
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jack Nicas | Laurence Blair | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

POZO COLORADO, Paraguay — Paraguayans elected Santiago Peña, a 44-year-old conservative economist, as their new president on Sunday, keeping the South American nation in the control of the right-wing Colorado Party that has run the country for all but five of the past 76 years. The result means that Paraguay, a landlocked nation of seven million people, has resisted the leftward shift across Latin America in recent years. Instead, Paraguayans delivered victory to a right-wing candidate who made vague promises to add jobs, lower energy prices and clear drug addicts from the street. Mr. Peña had 43 percent of the vote with 99 percent of the ballots counted, defeating two challengers who split the opposition vote. Mr. Peña is a political protégé of a former Paraguayan president, Horacio Cartes, who is one of its richest men and the president of the Colorado Party.

ASUNCION, April 30 (Reuters) - Paraguayans are readying to head to the polls on Sunday in what could be the biggest electoral challenge to the ruling conservative Colorado Party in over a decade and with the country's near 70-year ties with Taiwan potentially at stake. In the streets and news debates, the political build-up has been dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and the candidates' views on Taiwan. Paraguay is one of only 13 nations to maintain formal diplomatic ties with the democratically-governed island that China claims as its own. Pena has said he would maintain ties with Taiwan. In final campaign events, Alegre took aim at corruption charges that have dogged Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury this year.

☆ Paraguay Picks a New President: What You Need to Know
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jack Nicas | Laurence Blair | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Colorado incumbent, President Mario Abdo Benítez, cannot run again because of term limits — and surveys show he is one of Latin America’s most unpopular leaders because of his handling of the pandemic. Representing the Colorado Party at the polls will be Paraguay’s former finance minister. In January, the U.S. government placed financial sanctions on the Colorado Party’s leader, the former president Horacio Cartes, accusing him of bribing his way to power. The sanctions have complicated the party’s financing. Some recent polls have shown that the leading opposition candidate — a conservative who is still to the left of the Colorado Party’s contender — holds a narrow lead.

The ruling Colorado Party has dominated Paraguayan politics for the last three-quarters of a century, in power for all but five years. "We never talked about politics before, because a win for the Colorado Party was a done deal," 40-year-old bank worker Gustavo Vera told Reuters in the capital. "There's more corruption in Paraguay than work... All I know is we have to work much harder to make ends meet." The U.S. Treasury earlier this year imposed sanctions on party chief Horacio Cartes and Vice President Hugo Velazquez, citing "rampant corruption." Alegre, on his third presidential campaign, has pulled together a broad alliance of independent parties to challenge the powerful Colorado political machine.

But Pena, who has powerful party backing, is able to keep a cool head amid the tumult, his supporters say. "I think what characterizes him is that he has infinite tranquility," said Lea Gimenez, who served as Pena's deputy when he was finance minister and was later finance minister herself. Opinion polls suggest either Pena or center-left opposition leader Efrain Alegre could triumph and most analysts predict a close race. "He matured very quickly, being a young father... he became an adult very quickly," a former colleague told Reuters. He became finance minister in 2015.

☆ In Paraguay, calls for change test Colorado Party's political machine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Daniela Desantis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ASUNCION, March 28 (Reuters) - Paraguay's ruling Colorado Party - a conservative political machine that has dominated government in Asuncion for some eight decades - could be facing a major challenge at the ballot box next month. Many voters say they feel it is time for something new. Pena may also be impacted by a U.S.-led graft probe into Horacio Cartes, a former Colorado president who led the country from 2013 to 2018. However, the Colorado party retains a powerful election campaign machine and supporter base that goes back generations. Adelina Caceres, director of a public school in the town of Guarambare, on the outskirts of the capital, said she supported the Colorado party mainly because "her grandfather had been Colorado," and despite being often frustrated by them.

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