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Mennonites Leaving “Political Footprint”

Mennonites first came to Paraguay from Canada in the 1920s, wanting a place to live quietly without interference. For many years they succeeded, carving out a life of their own in the rugged Chaco where they originally settled. Over time their national presence has become more visible. Now, numbering some 45,000 baptized members, they are a vital part of the country’s economic fabric, dominating industries such as dairy production.

They are also more visible in government, the country’s First Lady said in an interview at the annual convention of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) in Tampa, Florida (USA), Nov. 2-6. Mennonites are playing a key role in her husband’s efforts to elevate Paraguay economically and morally, said Maria Gloria Penayo de Duarte, wife of President Nicanor Duarte, and herself a baptized member of a Mennonite congregation.

When her husband became president in 2003, “he really wanted to be an agent of change. Corruption had become a way of life. We had a culture of not paying taxes, of tax evasion,” she said.

“Part of this was probably also due to people’s lack of confidence in the government’s wise use of the money. Our country has the reputation of being an informal country. We started to help people understand the tax system, to understand what it means to pay taxes and have a formal economy.”

To help bring reform, Duarte appointed several Mennonite businessmen to key economic posts, such as Ernst Bergen as minister of finance, Carlos Walde as economic adviser and Andreas Neufeld as vice-minister of taxation.

These and other Mennonites who serve in the government are “leaving a footprint,” said Mrs. Duarte. “They are showing it is possible to be in public office without contaminating themselves.

“My husband says it would have been difficult without the support of the Mennonites. People respect the Mennonites highly. They think of Mennonites as honest, hardworking and having a strong ethic.”

This doesn’t mean everything has gone smoothly, however. There has been stiff opposition from some who do not want to pay taxes, as well as from some media outlets owned by powerful business interests.

“People ridiculed us for our faith,” said Mrs. Duarte. “The press gave me a nickname — ‘Mrs. Bible.’ They publish lies about us and about the Mennonites. We feel bad about this because we know the Mennonites have always guarded their reputation very well. They and their families are not prepared for this type of thing.”

Some officials have received telephone threats (“Be careful or we’ll kidnap your children”).

“But through all of this the Lord has given us his hand,” she said. “We really have to rest in the Lord, or else we’d always live in fear. We hand it over to him and trust in his care.”

— Wally Kroeker

Photo by Burton Buller of Mennonite Media available on request: Phyllis Pellman Good, MWC communication consultant, with Mrs. Duarte at the workshop titled “Why Should the Global Church Come to Paraguay in July 2009?”