At Disputed Paraguay Meeting, Pontiff Defends Democracy

Pope John Paul II issued a forceful defense of human rights and democracy Tuesday in an emotion-charged meeting that Paraguay’s authoritarian government had banned but then permitted to take place after intense church pressure.

More than 3,000 leaders from business, trade unions, peasant groups and opposition parties greeted the Pope’s appeal for civil rights with bursts of applause, and as he left the hall, many chanted, “John Paul, friend, the people are oppressed.”

“The simultaneous and mutual working of values such as peace, liberty, justice and participation are essential requisites to be able to speak of an authentic democratic society based on the free consent of its citizens,” the Pope said.

Rare Concession

The conflict over the meeting heightened already severe tensions between the government and the church, which has accused President Alfredo Stroessner’s government of detaining political foes, squelching free expression and ignoring other democratic rights. Stroessner’s decision to back down was a rare concession by a man who has ruled Paraguay with an autocratic hand for 34 years.

“It is not possible to speak of true freedom, and even less of democracy, where the real participation of all citizens does not exist in making the great decisions that affect the life and future of the nation,” John Paul said. “In an attitude of concord and dialogue, there must be a search for forms of participation more in accord with the expression of the profound aspirations of all citizens.”

The gathering became in part a rare political protest rally, with an electric atmosphere of anticipation during an hourlong delay before the Pope arrived, but it also offered prayers, folk songs and a brass band. When John Paul entered the indoor sports arena, many participants raised crossed arms with their wrists tied together with handkerchiefs, suggesting the handcuffing of government opponents.

The government announced last Wednesday that it was canceling the meeting, saying that the lay Catholics who had organized it intended to use it to manipulate the Pope’s three-day visit for political ends, to provoke the government and to “tarnish the nation’s image.”

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro immediately declared “astonishment at an unprecedented measure that affects the exercise of the pastoral mission of the Holy Father.” He said it was the first time in the Pope’s 37 overseas trips that a government had canceled a gathering that had been scheduled with the approval of all parties.

Neither the Pope nor Stroessner referred to the dispute when the two men spoke at the government palace Monday night after John Paul arrived from Peru for the fourth and final stop on his ninth Latin American tour.

The Pope called on Stroessner and other government officials to “seek means to facilitate dialogue and better participation of all in public affairs.” He said that “respect for human rights is not a political expediency, but rather a duty for all creatures of God.” He did not address directly the criticism by Paraguay’s bishops of human rights abuses.

Defends Rule

In his welcoming address, Stroessner issued a detailed defense of his rule, citing Paraguay’s peace and stability compared with many Latin American countries and twice mentioning that he was popularly elected. His remarks appeared to be an attempt to refute the common characterization of Paraguay as a dictatorship.

The 75-year-old president’s foes, the Catholic bishops here, diplomats and international election observers agree that Paraguay’s elections are ridden with fraud to ensure overwhelming victories for Stroessner, most recently in February, when he won an eighth five-year term.

“In today’s Paraguay,” Stroessner said, “we live without social and political crises, without tumult, without street unrest, without political prisoners, without hate that makes blood flow between brothers and without mothers in mourning because of political fanaticism.

“Here we don’t suffer the scourge of terrorism, hunger or drugs. In Paraguay, we live in a democracy, with regular and clean elections, like those realized on Feb. 14, in which political parties participated freely.”

Stroessner said that all this reflects the widespread national support for his Colorado Party, and he recounted for the Pope the founding of the party in 1887 by an earlier general, Bernardino Caballero.

Two small opposition parties are represented in Parliament, but their two seats are regarded as tokens by members of the three parties that are not allowed to take part in elections.

Domingo Laino, president of the banned Authentic Liberal Radical Party, was detained last week for several days. Another leader of the party, Hermes Rafael Saguier, took refuge in the Colombian Embassy on March 23. Saguier fled to the embassy along with Napoleon Ortigoza, a former soldier who was under virtual house arrest after completing a 25-year prison term for allegedly plotting a rebellion against Stroessner.

Msgr. Ismael Rolon, the archbishop of Asuncion, had openly criticized the continued restrictions on Ortigoza’s freedom after his release from prison, further aggravating relations between church and state.

Susana Aldana, a Catholic lay worker, said Tuesday night’s meeting of the “builders of society” resulted from a church initiative to assemble the nation’s most influential leaders from all walks of life, including the ruling Colorado Party, the unauthorized opposition and civic and business leaders. She said Stroessner’s party did not reply to the invitations.

Minority Role

“The government,” the lay worker said, “feared being in a minority role for once, sitting among all the opposition groups, which would have in effect legitimized these groups the government says don’t exist. But the minority role of the government among the people is a fact.”

She said the conflict between church and state over the meeting became a conflict between Paraguay and the Vatican, assuming far larger proportions than the government had foreseen. After Stroessner backed down and the people saw the firm stance the church was taking, Aldana said, “Now the people want to see the Pope, seeing that in itself as an act of protest.”