This Friday, students and alumni gathered in Low Rotunda to attend the final event of this year’s World Leaders Forum. The event featured President Santiago Peña Palacios, who assumed office a month ago as a member of Paraguay’s conservative Colorado Party. Peña gave a short speech, then sat down for a Q&A session facilitated by Professor Maria Victoria Murillo, Director of the Institute for Latin American Studies. 

President Minouche Shafik gave opening remarks at Friday’s event, in which she emphasized Peña’s connection to Columbia—in 2003, the now-44-year-old president graduated from the School of International and Public Affairs with a Master in Public Administration. Peña also emphasized Columbia’s role in his journey to becoming the leader of Paraguay—but, according to Peña, the opening chapter of his story started before his time at Columbia, when he got the news at age 17 that he would be a father. 

Peña credits becoming a young father for spurring his drive to complete a bachelor’s degree in economics in Paraguay, and then an MA at Columbia, all by the time he was 23. For Peña, coming to New York City from the relatively isolated Paraguay was overwhelming, but his cohort of classmates at SIPA left an indelible impact on him, and after graduating from Columbia, Peña worked at the Central Bank of Paraguay and the International Monetary Fund. 

It was during his time at the IMF that Peña was sent from Paraguay to Africa, a move which conversely spurred his drive to work to better his own country. “I began questioning why Paraguay isn’t a more developed country,” Peña said, and soon moved from the world of public policy to that of government, becoming Paraguay’s youngest minister of finance at age 35. 

In Peña’s telling, Paraguay’s past and present have been shaped by the War of the Triple Alliance, a bloody war fought in the 1860s between Paraguay on one side and Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay on the other. After an astonishingly high death toll and loss of land, Paraguay missed out on an immigration wave that benefitted much of Latin America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and according to Peña, has since been in a slow process of recovery for over a century and a half. 

Relentlessly optimistic, however, Peña concluded his telling of this history with a vindication of democracy. Starting in 1954, Paraguay was ruled as a dictatorship by Alfredo Stroessner, before transitioning to a democratic state after Stroessner was overthrown in 1989. Paraguay’s history with both dictatorship and democracy means that Paraguay is living proof that “democracy is a much better system,” said Peña. 

Yet Peña recognized that Paraguay is still a developing country fighting for its rightful place on the world stage—a country that many people don’t think of when discussing its larger neighbors, such as Brazil and Argentina. For many people, “Paraguay doesn’t exist,” Peña said.

Still, he was adamant that Paraguay is full of brimming potential in its 40 million hectares of arable lands, human capital, and, crucially, its ability to be a Latin America leader in the transition to a green economy. Paraguay’s Itaipu Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world by energy produced per capita, and Peña emphasized his desire for Paraguay to forge a blueprint for balancing between development and environmental conservation that other developing countries can follow. 

Peña then sat down for a Q&A session moderated by Professor Victoria Murillo, who first asked the President about how climate change may be impacting a recent downturn in Paraguay’s growth. Paraguay’s largest economic sector is agriculture, an industry highly sensitive to changes in the climate. 

Despite his emphasis on the importance of a green transition, Peña seemed resistant to the idea that Paraguay might be uniquely vulnerable to the climate crisis. Although Paraguay recently suffered the worst drought in over 50 years, Peña emphasized that the Paraguayan economy had been able to cushion the impact better than ever before because of its ongoing diversification. 

He also pushed back on the idea that the Paraguayan agricultural sector might be implicated in deforestation, highlighting a recent study stating that 95% of the Paraguayan soybean harvest is cultivated on non-deforested land. He insisted on Paraguay’s ability to produce enough food despite the climate crisis, stating that while “climate change is having an impact, […] Paraguay is not the one suffering.” 

In discussing the potentials of Paraguay’s agricultural sector, Peña didn’t shy away from potential controversy. In response to an audience question about how Paraguay might protect its indigenous communities from harassment in its ongoing pursuit of development, Peña said that while indigenous communities “hold a lot of land,” many are currently unable to work the land using modern methods and technologies. He then called for the opening of indigenous hunter-gatherer lifestyles to modern technology and a transition to more “productive” development in indigenous communities. 

The moment was a small glimpse into a domestic social issue amidst a conversation that focused on economics and foreign policy. Yet, Peña and the Colorado Party’s stances on issues such as marriage equality and abortion rights have been a source of criticism from the left and international watchdog groups, and as a candidate this year, Peña stated he was against abortion and equal marriage.

Another main topic of conversation was international relations, especially Paraguay’s historic relationship with Taiwan, which it has recognized since 1957. It remains the only country in South America, and one of only 13 countries worldwide, that has recognized the Republic of Taiwan (ROC) as the sole legitimate government of China. 

However, Peña emphasized that Paraguay’s relationship with Taiwan is motivated solely by its economic strategy, not political or moral calculations. Training Paraguayan students in Taiwan has been crucial to Paraguay’s goal of diversifying its economy beyond agriculture and becoming an international player in innovations and technology. 

Yet in response to a student question, Peña also emphasized the importance of Paraguay’s trade relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which is the largest buyer of Paraguayan soybeans and an investor in Paraguayan manufacturing. Peña stated that Paraguay would be open to a diplomatic relationship with the PRC if it would waive its requirement that Paraguay break diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which it is not open to “for the next five years.” Still, one might wonder what factors could play into a re-evaluation of Paraguay’s relationship with Taiwan after 2028. 

Several audience questions addressed aspects of Paraguay’s potential to become a Latin American leader through its renewable energy and agricultural resources. In response to a question about how Paraguay might serve as a role model for worldwide food security issues in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Peña first emphasized what he sees as Paraguay’s moral responsibility to support Ukraine. 

He compared the invasion of Ukraine to “what happened to [Paraguay] 150 years ago” during the War of the Triple Alliance—in both wars, a larger country attempted to invade and exterminate a smaller one. Then, in terms of Paraguay as a leader in food production, Peña touted recent innovations in clean fertilizer and pointed to Paraguay’s future as a clean fertilizer powerhouse. 

Present in each response was Peña’s hopeful vision of Paraguay’s future as an international leader in clean energy with quality jobs, education, and healthcare. However, one of the key challenges in the way of this future, according to Peña, is the pervasive conception of Paraguay as a country beset by a troubled history and lagging in development.

As Peña puts it, “The problem of Paraguay is not [being] landlocked–we are mind-locked. Because of our history, we look to the inside.” Peña believes that Paraguay has the resources and the potential to be a giant on the world stage—and part of his mission as president is to convince the people of Paraguay to believe it, too.

Watch the event video on the Columbia University World Leaders Forum website, here. 

Santiago Peña Palacios and Victoria Murillo vía Columbia University World Leaders Forum