Three Major Risks Facing Paraguay

Growing threats the country can't afford to ignore.

You may have noticed: there’s a major effort underway to whitewash (and greenwash) Paraguay. It’s “the hidden gem of Latin America,” one of the most eco-friendly countries on the planet, which supposedly “runs on 100% renewable energy”, a fertile, peaceful, sleeping giant just starting to realise its potential.

I don’t like being down on Paraguay for the sake of it. As I’ve written recently for Lonely Planet and the New York Times, the country has so much to recommend it: from its rich history, burgeoning cultural and gastronomic scene, relaxed and hospitable people, and stunning — if endangered — natural beauty and biodiversity. Paraguay has made strides in slashing poverty. It’s more stable than its neighbours.

But as journalists, we’re not in the business of selling fairytales. I don’t have a crystal ball either, but there are multiple worrying trends I think Paraguayans — and the rest of the world — should keep an eye on. Here are three of them, ordered in terms of probability and impact, and expressed as worst-case scenarios.

1. Social Unrest Explodes

Probability: Low 🎲

Impact: Moderate ☠️☠️

Demonstrators celebrate as congress burns, March 2017. (Photo: Laurence Blair)

Why don’t Paraguayans protest? I’ve often heard such laments from commentators mystified at the public’s alleged passivity at the latest corruption scandal.

But people do hit the streets when it counts, with fiery consequences: the 2017 burning of congress over presidential re-election, the arson attack on the Colorado Party HQ during anti-corruption demonstrations in 2021. And some think that Paraguay’s woeful hospitals, schools and wages are priming society for an explosion of social unrest. “When people have nothing left to lose,” congresswoman Johanna Ortega told me recently, “it’s a bomb that could explode at any moment.”