The new President, Fernando Lugo, is inaugurated on August 15 – at which point the 62-year reign of the Colorado Party will be over. But the country is so anxious to transfer power that Lugo is already assuming diplomatic roles of sorts. Yesterday there was a meeting of all of the South American presidents, intent upon forming an alliance of South American nations on par with the likes of the European Union, and although Duarte Frutos is still very much the president, Lugo tagged along.

Let’s imagine it is early December 2008 and Senyor Bush, as he is known in these parts, has to address the United Nations about some nuclear reactor in Iran. Lame duck though he may be at that point, it’s hard to envision a situation in which he would let Mr. Obama (or Clinton…erm…) just tag along for fun, to get the feel of it or something.

August 15 can’t come fast enough for this country. It’s going to be a long winter…

A reference for those hispanoablantes among you