TOP STORY
Spooky season cancelled
The mayor of the small Paraguayan town of Caapucú has banned the public celebration of Halloween. A municipal decree bans “any kind of parties, events or public or private activities” related to the festival, which it calls a “foreign” imposition that “promotes symbols and practices linked to darkness, death and superstition, contrary to the religious and moral instruction of children and young people as well as the Christian identity of the district.” Police will supposedly be on patrol on the evenings of October 30 and 31 to enforce the prohibition and issue fines.
Speaking to ABC Cardinal, Mayor Gustavo Penayo clarified that the ban would only prevent Halloween parties taking place in public spaces or being advertised. He lamented that “young people are becoming more degenerate, they end up in a coma from alcohol or I don’t know what.” Penayo said he would personally go out, “club in hand,” with a posse of Christians and police in search of people who “strip off”, wear “anti-values or anti-Christian outfits in front of the church”, or “carry out rites” in the cemetery. “If people end up doing something private at home, we won’t be able to stop them,” conceded the top official in Caapucú (pop. 15,000), 90 miles south of Asunción.
On Radio 1020 AM, Penayo – who hails from the conservative cartista wing of the ruling Colorado Party – said the measure was designed to prevent young people “from falling into Devil-worshipping situations or practices that distort the values of our society.” Human rights advocates have reacted with alarm, noting that the local ban on Halloween – which has its roots in the Christian feast day of All Hallows’ Eve, but spread to Paraguay in its modern form roughly 15 years ago – is illegal given that Paraguay’s constitution protects freedom of expression and (non)-belief.
THE PARAGUAY POST ANALYSIS:
While Paraguay has long been Catholic and conservative – same-sex marriage or civil unions are prohibited, and abortion is de facto banned in all circumstances – municipal expressions of “family values” are becoming more common. Minga Guazú and Encarnación are among the town halls that have declared themselves “pro-life and “pro-family”. In 2019 the mayor of Hernandarias sought to bar Pride on the grounds of “public morality”, and marchers were pelted with stones. In 2015, metal statues of an unborn foetus – commissioned by Christian groups and approved by local officials – were installed in public squares in Asunción and Luque.
Ironically for groups railing against foreign ways, evangelical churches headquartered in the US and Brazil with growing congregations in Paraguay are a clear driver of the latest wave of intolerance. For politicians, reinventing oneself as holier-than-thou can play well with the public. Witness crusading anti-NGO senator Lizarella Valiente, previously best known for twerking on TV, or how President Santiago Peña – who once came out in favour of equal marriage and debating abortion – has since rebranded as a woke-bashing warrior.
Despite claiming to hate Halloween, Mayor Penayo has a few skeletons in the closet of his own. Councillors have complained for years that Penayo has failed to properly account for extravagant spending. In 2023, Paraguay’s interior minister called on him to be removed. Unrepentant, earlier this year Penayo splashed out $37,000 on trash cans and umbrellas for a local beach, bypassing scrutiny by claiming “undelayable urgency.” Transparency and austerity would seem not to number among the Christian values espoused by the local Colorado caudillo.
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Also in this week’s issue:
Controversial NGO “gag law” implemented · Foreign investment booms, says Central Bank · Chinese companies in Paraguay · Eligio Ayala: Hero or Villain? · Guaraní voices uncovered
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POLITICS
NGO “gag law” now in force
Paraguay’s president Santiago Peña has implemented controversial legislation controlling NGOs, nearly a year after he signed the bill into law in November 2024. A decree published on October 23 gives civil-society organisations up to 90 days to provide detailed financial information to the authorities. They will subsequently have to provide an annual report to the Economy and Finance Ministry detailing their activities, programmes and beneficiaries; their sources of financing; a list of their personnel, and their balance sheet, among other data.
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