As part of the Dean’s Leadership Series, President Santiago Peña of Paraguay joined the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) on Friday, Sept. 27 to discuss his ascent to public office and his visions for economic development in Paraguay and the Latin American region as a whole.
The event represents another step in expanding SPIA’s focus on the Latin American region. Last spring, SPIA hosted the Latin America Conference to bring together leaders and officials from across the region to discuss opportunities for international collaboration. In an introduction to the event on Friday, SPIA Dean Amaney Jamal framed the talk as an opportunity to continue to “spotlight this most important region.”
Elected at age 44, Peña is the youngest president in Paraguay’s democratic history. However, his beginnings are unusual for an international leader. At just 17, as a junior in high school, Peña became a father. He recounted how his own father stressed to him the value of an education.
“You will not inherit land,” Peña recalled his father saying to him. “You will not inherit companies. The only thing that you will inherit is your education.”
Peña went on to receive a Bachelors in Economics from the Catholic University of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción before earning his Master’s Degree in Public Administration at Columbia University.
At that point in his life, Peña was not set on a career in politics. Instead, he climbed the ranks as an economist, eventually becoming the Minister of Finance of Paraguay at 36 — making him the youngest ever to hold that position as well.
“He’s made a career that I think a student in SPIA can empathize with,” SPIA Ph.D. student Agostina Dasso GS told The Daily Princetonian. “I think it was very valuable to see [that] someone making their career in SPIA can end up being president of a country.”
Peña explained that it was while he held the Minister of Finance post that he finally began his shift into politics. The tipping point, he said, was learning the importance of trust, saying that when he became an elected official, he needed the trust of lots of people, and with that trust he could make a real difference.
“In democracy, it doesn’t matter how good you know about things,” Peña said. “What is important is — how can you convince people to trust you?”
In 2017, he resigned as Minister of Finance, ran for President, and lost. Five years later, in 2023, Peña ran again and won. “I won by the largest margin in the history of my country,” Peña said.
Peña said that during his term, he has focused on security measures and economic policy.
“I truly believe that Paraguay is regaining its place, not only in terms of economics, but also in terms of policy and in politics at a regional level,” he said. He noted his belief that Paraguay is leading the integration of Latin American economies into the global market.
“Our region, over the last 20 [to] 25 years, has been moving from extreme to extreme,” Peña said. Paraguay’s strength, he said, has been to “remain in the middle.”
“Extremes don’t do any good,” he said. “Extremes take you to polarization, division, and intolerance, and we know by our own experience that when you reach a level of hostility and polarization, the worst happens.”
Peña concluded his talk by discussing Paraguay’s future, emphasizing the potential of the country’s younger population. He mentioned that Paraguay is “an island surrounded by land” — a term coined by Paraguayan novelist Augusto Roa Bastos representing the nation’s general isolation from the world.
“But now we’re ready,” Peña said. “We’re ready to speak loud and defend the things that are important — freedom, self-determination. These are the things that are behind every position that Paraguay has in the international arena.”
“[Latin America] is a region [that is] quite important for the world because of its natural resources, but like for the last couple of decades, it has been left behind,” Dasso said. “I think that it’s good that Princeton makes an effort to bring back the focus and discuss what’s going on.”
After Peña’s speech, the floor was opened up to audience members for questions. SPIA Ph.D. student Isabelle DeSisto GS started off the questions by asking Peña about his stance on same-sex marriage, which is banned in Paraguay. Peña responded by asserting that this debate does not exist in Paraguay.
“It’s always hard to talk about this, but not hard in a country where … same-sex marriage and abortion are banned in the Constitution,” Peña replied.
Peña went on to explain how although this subject may be up for debate in a country like the United States, in Paraguay, most of the population would vote to maintain conservative bans on same-sex marriage and abortion. He went on to underscore the Jesuit and Catholic foundation of Paraguay and how it still strongly influences the nation today.
“We are a population where probably 99 percent of the population practices the Catholic faith,” he claimed.
Peña went on to assert that Paraguay as a nation is tolerant. “We don’t discriminate at all. There is no discrimination in Paraguay,” he claimed.
The Dean’s Leadership series will continue with General Mark A. Milley on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
Doug Schwartz is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Elisabeth Stewart is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ who typically covers student groups and religious life on campus.
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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