'I Am a Centrist'

Brazil wants to create a South American Defense Council that would develop regional military policies without U.S. participation. Do you back this plan?
We are studying it. We need to see what is best for South America and have more talks on regional security issues. We have agreed to discuss this proposed council, but not as a replacement for the Organization of American States or other international organizations that can help strengthen security in our continent.

Is there any truth to the claims of some activists that the U.S. is secretly operating a military base at an airport in western Paraguay?
I reject categorically any suggestion that U.S. military bases exist in Paraguay. On the day after my Inauguration, we will open that airport facility so we can destroy this myth.

You have announced your intention to seek better terms for the electricity that Paraguay sells to Brazil, generated by the Itaipu dam that is jointly owned by both countries. But Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has already stated that the existing treaty terms governing that energy source are not negotiable.
We think the treaty isn't fair, and we will fight to get a just price [based on] market prices. President Lula is sending an emissary to Paraguay at the end of this month, and that is a clear expression of his will to discuss this issue.

Will you carry out a comprehensive land reform?
We have initiated talks with all the sectors. For the first time ever, large estate owners, peasants, agricultural exporters and rural landless workers have sat down at the same table and begun to design an agrarian reform that won't provoke any friction.

Will you boost export tariffs on agricultural products like soybeans, as the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has done in neighboring Argentina?
Yes. Paraguay is the only country with zero tariffs on soy. We will push for tariffs on the exports of grains and other products [to redistribute resources toward the country's poor].

You have expressed a preference to live in your modest house on the outskirts of the Paraguayan capital of Asunción rather than move into the presidential palace. Is that because it's difficult to leave behind your clerical lifestyle?
You don't stop being a priest overnight. But now I feel as free as any other citizen in my country to exercise my rights.

© 2008