Paraguay’s population in 1999 was estimated at 5.2 million people, with a growth rate of 2.8%. The economy of Paraguay was largely dependent on its agricultural sector, which accounted for around 40% of the country’s GDP. This was supplemented by the services and manufacturing industries. Foreign relations in 1999 were largely positive with the country enjoying strong ties with many Latin American nations and the wider international community. Politically, Paraguay had been a constitutional democracy since 1992 when it formally adopted a democratic system. The ruling party at this time was the Colorado Party (CP), which had been in power since 1993. In 1999, Raúl Cubas Grau was President and had been since 1998. See ethnicityology for Paraguay in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
Paraguay. On March 23, the country’s Vice President Luis María Argaña was assassinated on an open street in Asunción, triggering a political crisis with street unrest and rumors of a military coup. The opposition singled out President Raúl Cubas and former commander-in-chief General Lino Oviedo as morally responsible. Brazil intervened as an active mediator, i.e. by activating the so-called Democratic Clause, or the Ushuaia Protocol, of 1996 in Mercosur (of which Paraguay is a member), according to which a country that automatically breaks the democratic process is automatically excluded, after which President Cubas and General Oviedo fled abroad.
Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Paraguay. The office of president was fundamentally assumed by Senate President Luis González Macchi with the intention of continuing the previous president’s term of office. Election for Vice President shall be held on August 13, 2000.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of PRY which stands for Paraguay and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
The origins of political drama were the controversial Oviedo’s revolt in 1996, the fact that Cubas abolished Oviedo’s ten-year prison sentence and Paraguay’s distinctive political system in which the various factions of the Colorado Party act as separate parties. For example, Oviedo and Argaña were arch enemies, and Cubas was widely regarded as the protector of the former who would prepare the way for Oviedo’s presidency. In February, the state prosecutor ordered that the national court process initiated against Cubas in August 1998 be resumed, and as late as nine days before the murder, a party convention had ended in riot with handgun between Oviedistas and Argañistas.
Economic conditions
Numerous difficulties and slownesses characterized the implementation of the agrarian reform, above all due to the lack of the necessary funds. The distribution of medium-sized agricultural plots to colonize the most marginal regions began in the early 1990s, in the context of a modernization policy that was strongly opposed by large landowners. The trade balance of Paraguay is in deficit as exports can only count on agricultural and livestock products. The industry is concentrated in the metropolitan area of Asunción and in the Central department; some textile factories are also located along the river axis of Paraguay, near Concepción and Pilar.
The strong items of Paraguayan industrial crops are soybeans and cotton (of both Paraguay is the third largest producer in South America after Argentina and Brazil), which together with tobacco and wheat are concentrated in the departments bordering Brazil; sugar cane is also of some importance, widespread in the departments of Guairá, Paraguarí and Central; among the crops destined for internal consumption stand out corn, cassava, legumes, rice and citrus fruits. Animal husbandry is of great importance, based on extensive cattle breeding, which dominates in the central regions and in the Chaco, covering about 40% of the surface. The forest resources are highly respected, rich in precious essences (walnut, cedar, mahogany), from which tannin and the base of the national drink, yerba mate, are also extracted. Forests cover just under a third of the area, but the exploitation (about 9. 000. 000 m ³ annual timber, average 1994 – 96) raises fears of excessive deforestation, with negative environmental consequences: between 1970 and 1990 the area covered by forests had decreased from over 50 % of the entire territory to 36%. The secondary sector has recently undergone an impulse for the diversification of production sectors, with the birth of chemical, petrochemical, electromechanical and cementitious plants, which have flanked the traditional sector, connected to agri-food production. One source of income is hydroelectric production, thanks to whose development Paraguay has overcome energy self-sufficiency and now makes excellent gains from the sale of excess energy. Brazil and Argentina contributed to the construction of large hydroelectric plants (Itaipú and Yacuretá sul Paraná), to later become the major buyers of this energy source. Tourism, still underdeveloped (about 450. 000 annual arrivals), is attracted by the presence of tropical forests in the Chaco and subtropics to the South along the Paraná, which are modestly protected (14 areas covering 3 % of the land area, 1994).
The GDP per resident (1760 dollars per year in 1998), rather low also for Latin America, reflects an economic and social situation that is still backward although in evolution. The Paraguay sets itself the dual objective of the partial recomposition of the typical imbalances of its socio-economic structure, and of the launch of a territorial and productive organization that knows how to exploit its potential resources without compromising them, with a view to sustainable development. It is also necessary to avoid that the partnership with Brazil and Argentina in the context of MERCOSUR (Mercado Común del Sur), the common market operating since 1995 between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, end up further limiting their autonomy and development capacities. On the other hand, Argentina and Brazil are by far the largest trading partners, followed by the United States.
