Senator Líder Amarilla of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) criticized on Wednesday, September 2, the priority given by Santiago Peña’s government to major sporting events while problems persist with the supply of medicines in hospitals, public safety and highways.
During a Senate session, Amarilla said Paraguay was experiencing a “failed state” and questioned the management of public resources and the choice of authorities responsible for overseeing spending. The statement reflects the lawmaker’s political assessment and, by itself, provides no new data to measure each of the difficulties mentioned.
Speaking ironically, the senator asked Peña to organize a “world horse race,” referring to the government’s role in promoting international competitions, including the World Rally. Amarilla said Paraguay had an audience interested in equestrian events and that such an event could attract visitors from Brazil, Thailand, the United States, Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay.
“I ask the president of the Republic to organize a horse-racing event,” said the lawmaker, who described Peña as a “sporting-event organizer.” The proposal was presented as a political provocation, not as an announcement of official planning.
Amarilla also compared the estimated cost of a possible equestrian competition with the US$11 million that, he said, was allocated to the Rally. The senator argued that a horse race could generate economic activity and bring together thousands of people with a smaller investment. The amount attributed to the new event, however, is not included in this summary because it is not sufficiently supported for publication.
The remarks highlight the dispute over the Paraguayan Executive’s priorities. For Amarilla, the promotion of events and efforts to raise the country’s international profile contrast with immediate demands for medicines, security and infrastructure; his intervention, however, represents parliamentary criticism and does not by itself prove the general condition of public services or establish that the country is a “failed state.”