According to a report by a Bloomberg correspondent based in Rio de Janeiro, citing Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, the Brazilian government has outright refused to take on the $19 billion of debt contracted to build the Itaipu power plant.
Paraguay’s suggestion was that Brazil take over 97 percent of the debt, leaving Paraguay with approximately $600 million, because Brazil uses almost all the power. Currently, the two countries both share responsibility for the deb under the original treaty that resulted in the dam, completed in 1984, being constructed. Brazil does not wish to renegotiate the treaty.
The recently elected Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo has recently celebrated his first hundred days in office, to distinctly mixed reactions from both the general population and the blogging community online. Seattle-based Paraguayan blogger Muna, who writes the most informative and best-established blog on Paraguay, has recently collected together views of different bloggers.
You might have seen something on the news about the protests in Paraguay. Protests seem to be a regular occurence in Asuncion, something that has not changed under the new Presidency. I was last there in November and saw thousands of people being bussed in from the countryside to protest about various matters. The most controversial lately was the story about Brazilian farmers taking over indigenous lands – and the legal victory of an indigenous tribe.
The first question many people ask when I talk about investing in Paraguay, particularly when it comes to land in the Chaco, is whether title is safe and new landowners won’t be accused in the way that happened with these high profile cases.
The answer is that the Chaco is an entirely different case. Generally, when people are looking at buying land in the Chaco, they are thinking of buying land on which there simply are no people, indigenous or otherwise. The Chaco is a vast, barren expanse, in no way comparable to the populated areas in the south and near the Brazilian border where the problems have occured.
Lugo, however, does give the impression that his initial strategy is to dig himself in politically, strengthening and reinforcing his political power. While this might well be necessary to get things done, it will not reassure his detractors abroad, who have watched how Chavez took over Venezuela using democratic institutions then changed things around to make his power absolute.
100 days is still a short time. We will reserve judgement. Anyway check the link to Muna’s blog above for more commentary from the Spanish language Paraguayan bloggers.
A number of people have asked us about the tri-border region, that is the name given to the area where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet. In particular, people get confused about customs and immigration between Brazil and Paraguay. So how does it work? What are the rules? Do you have to get your passport stamped?
The border between Brazil and Paraguay is basically open. Anyone can jump on a moto-taxi and whizz across in a couple of minutes. Drivers of cars are not normally stopped by customs officers either. Nobody will ask to see your passport. The rationale behind this open border arrangement is free trade between the two countries. (It’s worth noting that Argentina is not part of this agreement and has much stricter border and customs checks)
However, anyone planning to travel on beyond the immediate border area is required to check in with the passport offices on both sides of the Puente la la Amistad (Friendship Bridge) that links Paraguay and Brazil. Once to get a stamp out of the country you are leaving, and once to get a stamp in to the country you are entering.
Certain citizens need a visa for Brazil but not for Paraguay, and vice versa. For example on my last trip to that area, one of our group was a Cypriot (Cyprus) passport holder. Cypriots don’t need a visa for Paraguay, but they do for Brazil. In Asuncion, we went to the Brazilian consulate and asked for a tourist visa, but they said it would take 3 days and there was no time for that in our itinerary. Fortunately, at the Brazilian consulate in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, he was able to obtain a visa in 3 hours one morning, and we crossed to Brazil that same afternoon.
The requirement to obtain stamps in passports also applies to people travelling on long distance buses between Brazil and Asuncion. Many times the bus drivers want to save time and refuse to stop at customs, but it is important to be insistent. Stories abound of travellers who have arrived overland in Asuncion without a visa, only to be forced into paying huge fines when trying to leave by air from Asuncion.
If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer. Otherwise, I’m now researcging overland border crossings from Paraguay to Bolivia and will let you know what I discover.