Hugo Velázquez, Vice President of the Republic, answered some queries regarding his candidacy for the presidency, as well as about the management of the Executive during the first three years of his mandate.
EXECUTIVE
At the beginning, he carried out an analysis of the management of Mario Abdo Benítez, the national president. He stated that they had the misfortune to suffer an adverse scenario that affected management.
“Our work began with economic problems at the regional level, also with a great flood, then droughts and fires at the national level. This forced the expectations of a government to be modified in order to alleviate emergencies,” he said.
This adverse scenario changed at the end of 2019 when a significant economic recovery took place. Even with a growth of 7.8% in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), however, in March the pandemic arrived in the country.
“So a lot of the assessment we can do is about the tough time of the start of the pandemic. Not even the great powers knew what to do,” he commented.
HEALTH
When asked about health management during the pandemic, he pointed out that the only error in all management was the late acquisition of vaccines. However, he stated that they followed a recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO)
“I am satisfied with the management of this government. 80% of the decisions were positive. The only mistake was paying attention to the WHO and buying the vaccines through the Covax mechanism,” he said.
Regarding the preparation of the infrastructure, he highlighted that from 200 intensive care beds it went to 800 in one year. In addition, he stressed that the Government prioritized life before the economy during the health crisis.
ELECTIONS
When asked what his priorities will be if he is elected president, he said that recovering jobs and establishing alliances between the private and public sectors will be paramount.
“The State must give the conditions to the private sector so that they can invest again. The recovery of jobs will be the most important thing,” he said.
He affirmed that citizens must continue to believe in the Colorado Party because it is always close to the people, mainly with the most vulnerable sectors. However, he was critical of his party in the sense that the current Governing Board remains indifferent to current problems.
“The weakness of the ANR is that all its life, great men established positions and lowered lines on the national reality from the Governing Board, but today it only administers elections. The debates are over. We are gagged,” he questioned.
OTHER CANDIDATES
The other candidate for President of the Republic by the ANR is Santiago Peña, former Minister of Finance. Velázquez, when asked about how he sees his current political adversary, stated that the fundamental difference between them is that Peña depends on the humor of Horacio Cartes, while he built his leadership from very low down.
“I am an open person who builds his leadership with my colleagues. We are going to respond to the interests of the Paraguayan people and the Colorado people. While the candidacy of Santiago Peña depends on the humor of a person who is Horacio Cartes. Since he did not achieve the amendment, he wants to impose a dispatch manager,” he criticized.
Regarding the opposition candidates, he mentioned that Hugo Fleitas and Kattya González are two good candidates, but he disqualified Efraín Alegre, Paraguayo Cubas and Martín Burt.
“For me, Efraín Alegre is a person who does not unite and who divides society, Ijargel ha, Ija’y (arrogant and bitter in Guarani). I don’t know Hugo Fleitas, but if he won it’s because he is loved in his department. I don’t know how to qualify Payo. Kattya is interesting, but she has to continue to work her way up in politics. We already know Burt because of his background as mayor, I think he did not leave a very good performance, “he concluded.
