ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – For almost a year, Paraguay has been a leader in keeping the pandemic under control and, despite its persistent problems, the country has remained very calm. No longer.
The rate of coronavirus infection in Paraguay has skyrocketed, becoming one of the worst in the Americas, and its already unstable health system has reached the breaking point. In recent days, thousands of protesters have filled the streets, demanding the removal of President Mario Abdo Benítez, and in some cases there have been bloody clashes with the police.
For many Paraguayans, corruption and the rights of the elite, which were previously just unpleasant facts in life, have become intolerable in the face of the pandemic. There is a shortage of basic medicines that doctors and nurses attribute to grafts; non-emergency surgery has been suspended due to a lack of medical supplies and few vaccines are available.
The crisis hit the streets with a level of anger that county leaders haven’t faced in years. Daily protests started last Friday with medical professionals, who quickly joined other frustrated people. Most were peaceful, but in some cases security forces confronted the demonstrators with rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons.
“There are so many deaths and it is all the fault of the thieves who run our corrupt institutions,” said Sergio Duarte, who joined a demonstration outside Congress on Saturday in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay and the largest city.
The unrest in Paraguay is a snapshot of the enormous challenges Latin America faces as the virus continues to make a big impact, as governments struggle to provide adequate health care and purchase sufficient vaccines.
The virus fell ill and killed Latin Americans in disproportionate numbers. The region has just over 8 percent of the world’s population and about a quarter of Covid-19’s confirmed deaths.
The official case of Paraguay and death rates remain well below the peaks suffered by much of the world, including the United States, but they are getting worse – the number of new daily infections has doubled in less than a month, to the highest level yet – even how many other countries improve.
“We are here because we are tired,” said Rosa Bogarín, one of the thousands of protesters in Asunción. “We need free vaccines for everyone, medicines, education and a way out of this situation.”
Anger over the pace of vaccine implantation has hit many countries, exacerbated in some places by the powerful and well-connected who are skipping the line and gaining early access to vaccines.
In Paraguay, there was barely a line to jump. A nation of 7 million people, last week had received only 4,000 doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. Over the weekend, Chile donated a shipment of 20,000 doses made by the Chinese Sinovac.
The pandemic recession has aggravated poverty, inequality and food insecurity in Latin America, as well as around the world, increasing frustration with the management of the virus. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean recently estimated that 209 million people in the region were living in poverty at the end of 2020, an increase of 22 million over the previous year.
The crisis has fueled long-standing frustrations with wealthy and political leaders who do not feel bound by the same rules as others, said Alejandro Catterberg, a political analyst and researcher who heads Poliarquía, a Buenos Aires-based consultancy.
“In Latin America there is a general social structure in which the powerful have certain privileges and the political class has a self-imposed status as being different from the average citizen,” he said.
In Paraguay, the basis of the current crisis, including corruption, poverty and a fragile health system, “has been exacerbated by the pandemic,” but it existed long before, said Verónica Serafini Geoghegan, economist at the Center for Analysis and Disclosure of the Paraguayan Economy, a non-governmental organization.
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Abdo dismissed his health minister, Julio Mazzoleni, and three other members of his cabinet over the weekend, but that did not suppress the demonstrations. Mr. Mazzoleni followed in the footsteps of his colleagues in Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina, all of whom were forced to deal with the pandemic.
Paraguay was applauded, along with neighboring Uruguay, for taking quick and decisive actions that kept its coronavirus outbreaks modest during the first months of the pandemic. But contagion began to increase at the end of last year, taking intensive care units to the brink.
Opposition leaders encouraged demonstrations against Abdo, a conservative leader who still has two years in office. On Saturday, the president asked all his ministers to write letters of resignation and told the protesters that he understood his frustration.
“I am a man of dialogue and not of confrontation,” said Abdo.
Many protesters say they intend to remain on the streets until the fall of the government. Popular chants include “Elections now!” and “Marito must resign”, a reference to the president’s nickname.
Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo said the government is struggling to get vaccines ordered from suppliers delivered, as the Ministry of Health has declared a worsening of the state of alertt.
“Paraguay is determined to obtain vaccines from anywhere, by any means,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “Here everyone needs to get vaccinated, and for free, that is the government’s intention”.
But many young protesters say they have waited long enough for decent governance.
“We will not stop until Marito resigns,” said protester Melisa Riveros.
Santi Carnieri reported from Asunción, Paraguay. Reporting by Daniel Politi from Buenos Aires. Ernesto Londoño contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro.