U.S. Assistance to Paraguay from years 30s to 60se from Director

Bilateral U.S. Government development assistance began in 1942 with the creation of the Servicios.  In Paraguay three Servicios were created to work in their respective fields of development.  SCISP (Servicio Cooperativo Interamericano de Salud Publica), the public health cooperative service, was created in May 1942 and worked with the Ministry of Health.  STICA (Servicio Tecnico Interamericano de Cooperacion Agricola), the agricultural service, was formed in December 1942 within the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry.  The third Servicio, SCIDE (Servicio Cooperativo Interamericano de Educacion), was created in 1945 and worked with the Ministry of Education.

The Servicios were organized as cooperative ventures with the host government.  The co-directors, U.S. and Paraguayan, had an important degree of autonomy managing the financial and human resources provided by the respective governments.  During the 1940s, major emphasis was given to technical training outside of the country, and to in-service training activities in Paraguay.  Programs which enhanced the quality of education at the National University of Asuncion were begun during this period.  Personnel trained were selected on the basis of their interests and abilities.  Many of these same people later assumed key positions of responsibility in the Paraguayan government.

SCISP reached out with program that introduced and extended the idea of, and the infrastructure for, public health services.  SCISP built and organized two major hospitals and the Ministry of Health buildings, which have been well maintained and are still important assets of the Government of Paraguay (GOP).  SCISP also made major contributions to the facilities and organization of the leper colony and the education of Paraguayan doctors and nurses.

STICA concentrated on agriculture and ranching and brought about a number of innovations.  These included the establishment of the first experimental station, the promotion of a farm extension service, the development and strengthening of a school of agronomy and veterinary science, the introduction of artificial insemination, and improvements in seed production and animal feed.  STICA was concerned about human nutrition and, among other things, brought about the use of pasteurized milk.  STICA was also instrumental in organizing Credito Agricola de Habilitacion (CAH), the first supervised agricultural credit institution in Latin America .

SCIDE's principal objectives in the education sector were to (a) develop a vocational education program with Paraguay; (b) improve rural education through teacher training, curriculum reform, production of educational materials, and classroom construction; and (c) institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Education (MOE).  SCIDE helped to establish the President Carlos Antonio Lopez Technical Vocational School in Asuncion and to strengthen the Salesian Vocational Institute.  A model school was built, equipped and operated in San Lorenzo to train teachers under SCIDE auspices.  In-service and participant training were provided to MOE staff.

Point Four, which began in 1952, resulted in a slight administrative change for the Servicios.  Placing all in-country activities under a single administrative head allowed Point Four to expand beyond the three traditional areas of concentration (health, agriculture, and education) into new areas, such as infrastructure, taxation, public administration, and private sector development.

Point Four was involved in road construction and in the training of military engineers to build roads.  Point Four assisted the GOP with tax reform and the organization of various tax offices.  It also provided assistance in the area of data collection and census taking.  During this period, a new administrative procedures manual for the government was produced.  At the close of the decade of the 1950s, Point Four made an important effort to draw the public and private sectors together through the establishment of the Industrial Development Center .

The most radical change in U. S. foreign assistance was John F. Kennedy’s "Alliance for Progress" program.  In response to the Cold War, and possibly to the perceived threat from the Cuban revolution, President Kennedy reached out to all of Latin America and the World with a plea and a program for a decade of development.  He emphasized the human aspects of development, "homes, work and land, health and schools," and called for respect for human rights.  In an address given at the White House on March 13, 1961 , Kennedy announced that the U.S. foreign aid program would be reorganized into a new agency to be called the U.S. Agency for International Development, thus coining the acronym USAID.  Also, he called for a greater input of self-help for the less-developed countries.

The Alliance for Progress charter was formally approved in August 1961 at a meeting of the Latin America States held in Punta del Este , Uruguay . The Charter was a declaration of intent and of objectives to be pursued by the various signatories, rather than a treaty, and therefore did not require ratification by the Senate.  It not only pledged the U.S. to offer economic and technical assistance, but called on the member states to govern themselves democratically and to respect human rights.

During the Alliance for Progress period, major projects in health emphasized family planning and a successful national program for the eradication of malaria.  In the agriculture sector, emphasis was placed on the development of mechanized farming to produce export and import substitution crops.  Continued support was given to developing new crop varieties and agricultural extension work.  In education, programming concentrated on the development of regional education centers in a major effort to develop a system more responsive to local educational needs.

Road construction was considered basic to all programming efforts in infrastructure, since roads were a key to bringing isolated areas into the national development scheme.  The Trans-Chaco road (740 km. to the border of Bolivia) was constructed and its maintenance responsibility transferred from USAID to the GOP, as was the construction of the major highway which links Asuncion to Brazil.  With USAID support, a new road was opened to connect central Paraguay with the northern cities of Concepcion and Pedro Juan Caballero, which up to that time were accessible only by river transportation.  Many farm to market roads were opened and placed in service.  Also, USAID extended loans for the improvement of the runway at the International Airport of Asuncion.

Major USAID efforts were devoted to developing the institutional capabilities of the various ministries and agencies within the GOP.  Special emphasis was placed on developing the capabilities of the tax and census offices.  In 1966, USAID provided assistance to the private sector through a newly created private non-profit Development and Productivity Center, which assisted the business community.