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On April 20th 2008, carried by a tremendous popular support worthy of the greatest South American revolutions, Fernando Lugo, the suspended’ bishop, is elected president of the Republic of Paraguay. After sixty years of absolute power, the Colorado party is compelled to accept the changeover of political power. That very same evening, this people who has for so long been oppressed, bursts into joyful revel and pours out into all the streets and squares of the country for a celebration that looks like a liberation. The author of this film, of Paraguayan origin, takes this democratic event as a point of departure to help us to discover the little known history of her country, as well as the high stakes attached to its future development. A small country squeezed in-between Bolivia and the two South American giants, Brazil and Argentina. A country born from interbreeding – a unique phenomenon on the whole continent – between a handful of Spanish and Guarani Indians. A region impregnated with idiosyncrasies. But above all a country synonymous with corruption and poverty, a lawless land marked by Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship, the longest dictatorship ever experienced in South America. Through her encounters and her questioning, we plunge into this scarcely known country nestled deep in the heart of the South American continent, its unique social structure, its painful past and its surprising identity. By listening to the newly elected president, to his deposed Colorado opponents, to the specialists of the history of the country and to the people itself, this documentary will help us understand why the Paraguayans, after so many years of dictatorship and unopposed governing, have entrusted their destiny to a free man: a religious figure who threw himself into the political arena to try and rescue his country of crime, injustice and poverty. And to restore democracy. Maybe now, the many Paraguayan exiles will consider returning to their home country….
