Saro Vera

Monsignor Saro Wilfrido Vera Troche was a Christian priest from Paraguay.
Born on October 6, 1922 in the company of Rosario Tatuy Caazapá Department Paraguay, in a peasant family of profound popular religiosity.
He died in 2000, and because of his career, it was understood that this was a man who has left his intellectual legacy.

Its primary studies were done in Caazapá and interrupted by two years because of the Chaco War in the year 1935.

He did his first year of classic high school in the Metropolitan Seminary of Asuncion. At a very early age, at the age of thirteen, he joined the Metropolitan Seminary in Buenos Aires, where he studied philosophy and theology. In this institution he succeeded in his bachelor's degree.

He was ordained a priest in the same seminar, November 28, 1948. He returned to Paraguay in 1950 and ended a year of preparation for a bachelor's degree in theology.

Since assuming his role in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, he decided not to be a priest in the town of Villarrica, but to work among the poor of the parish of Buena Vista, where he was for many years.

The archbishop of Asuncion, Felipe Santiago Benitez, who prefaces the book "The evangelization of the Paraguayan", defines him as a thinker of theParaguayan church, "In my view, the higher quality of our times," he says. He adds that "many of his claims could be discussed or, perhaps, not acceptable, but deserve our respect and admiration."

Saro Vera has written a lot but not everything writing has been published.

In his book "The evangelization of the Paraguayan", Saro Vera proposed a scientific study of the Paraguayan Catholic in his Christian life.

Another of his books is "Six stories of a peasant", which prologue was written by Helio Vera, who defines this collection of stories as a mixture of fiction and reality that does not lose its testimonial character, as they are developed in the events by the guerrillas of the sixties, which operated in the area where Saro Vera fulfilled his evangelical mission. The prologue writers explain that perhaps is a way to print a reflection and an education: "We drew the tortuous paths that our people had to go, pushed by the unstoppable dialectic of violence," says Vera.

Other titles published by Saro Vera is "Stories of Paraguay locals"

But in his book: "The Paraguayan, a man outside his world", where he clearly defines the three famous laws: the mbareté (the tough), ñembotavy (the indifferent) and vaivai (so-so), which are not stories but ways of thinking and acting of Paraguayans.

Saro Vera understood that "to know the national being we need to discover the hidden reasons or deep motivations, immersed in the distance of time, in the subconscious and into unconsciousness."

This material is of great significance for understanding how Paraguayans are. Here is part of his work.

"Kuimba`e Nahaséiva "(Men do not cry)

In Paraguay, a man should not cry since childhood. Not crying is a sign of something much broader than a mere machismo. This attitude is related to his role. Refrain from showing their feelings, especially adverse ones; he finds it compelling to dominate pain and misfortune. The Paraguayan, even though his role is conducted outside the home, is the facilitator who holds the nurturing and protection. The man does not require feelings. First of all you need strength, skill "ha'evé" ability and ingenuity, a tendency to work.

The anemic man will not be the breadwinner of the family or anyone. What can be expected from a complaining man, who regrets a scratch? The man must master his feelings in general and especially his feelings of pain and setbacks.

This man, owner of himself and pain, is not obtained if he is not educated and formed. Hence from childhood that man should not cry. When he cries, you hit him so he can shut up and learn to master his pain and his tears. With this procedure he does not seek a machismo, but a training for a respectable compliance of his role as man. We must strengthen the boy against pain.

Neither the girl should unleash her expressions of grief. She also requires the self-control to survive in a world of frugality, deprivation and poorly cured diseases. We must her prepare to deal with this.

Paraguay and the common wealth

This corresponds to another fragment analysis in the book "The Paraguayan, a man outside his world" of Saro Vera:

The Paraguayan, with his kind of culture, is not inserted in the macro community. The nation exceeds their psychic ability of integration. His psychological place is in the mini community of the family. The common good of the family is the only thing he finds understandable, or to all interests to which all members are entitled according to a scale of privileged positions in relation to kinship.

Common wealth is the responsibility of the authority. The Paraguayan considers silly the one who is in the Government and has not taken the opportunity to enrich himself. The conviction of dishonesty in dealing with the public response would be purely intellectual, existential without any force.

For the people, what we call dishonesty is taken for granted. What you should do is to ease its public intemperance with works showing that the national treasury is not going entirely to your pocket. "To'úna pero toyapó", to use but to do something. Putting this condition, everything is going to go well. Another condition that clogs the evil of exploiting the common wealth is resorting to the excuse of involving others. "To'una, anínte ho'upaitereí ha'eño; to porokonvidamimi", he who exploits common wealth should involve others in doing so, too.

"The Paraguayan and freedom"

This analysis is part of the study "The Paraguayan, a man outside his world" of Saro Vera:

The Paraguayan still maintains the concept of freedom of a tribal society. He is happy to be free internally.

Any citizen can question the freedom of the Paraguayan. He, in turn, questions the freedom of the citizen who manipulated by appearances, lies, false promises and the media, deposited the vote by which apparently is given to the winner.

Where the Paraguayan feels really free is in the use of time. Being the owner of time is the great freedom. If he happens to work, he works and if not, he does not work. The days, hours and weeks are his, without Damocles’ sword hanging over his head. He should not apologize because he was late by kneeling nearly five minutes.

The Paraguayan and power

This religious man also referred to power in "The Paraguayan, a man outside his world":

Power is a serious temptation for the Paraguayan. Perhaps it is so for most of the world, but not for some few. Through power man occupies a privileged place within society. It is a very remarkable change the one power produces in Paraguayans. He immediately assumes an attitude of life-forgiver and guardian.

He is sensitive to what he is considered the protector of. He would break his own soul not to disappoint the protected ones, because the protected ones will always be inferior to him. He will always require places of prominence; special considerations and honors.

He must be at the head of any enterprise or organization, but do absolutely nothing. No one should count on him if he is relegated to a lower position or if someone has him as subordinate. In this case he will do the impossible by boycotting the work to demonstrate that he is vital at head of the enterprise. Let's not talk of a chief supporter. This will assume all the possible roles of a community. He will be mayor, judge and if allowed, would also be the parish priest. The problem with the Paraguayan power is the misplacement. He is a chieftain in a civilized state. Paraguay is the country of friends. The ordinary people need this support because no rights protect them.

He is bound to obligations and also exposed to the whim of man in power.

The Paraguayan and wealth

Another element that the Paraguayan is totally scrambled with is wealth. Anyone who reaches a certain economic level suffers a change, such that it is difficult to recognize the person after a while. It's amazing the change that comes at them with wealth in their hands. The "riko pyahu." (new rich) is an unrecognizable Paraguayan.

The Paraguayan and work

Is the Paraguayan lazy or not? In this case there are irrational detractors who haven’t thought or want to know anything about defending the Paraguayan.

The Paraguayan does not work as he should. He loses hours drinking terere. He never strives to the maximum. When a loan is granted, the money is invested on superfluous things and not on improving his farming area.

The Paraguayan is a highly valued worker in any field outside Paraguay, because even being semi literate, they become highly skilled workers.

The ideal for the Paraguayan is to earn money without working or working with the least effort. So every time that he can carry out paid work it will be "vaivaí suerte raicha" (in a bad way, for luck)

However, when working for a friend and without payment, he does so thoroughly, not "vaivaí."(in a bad way)

Paraguayan and love

The best recommendation for a husband is to be a worker, because he gets to sustain the family. His pride is that their children are well looked after and an elegant wife. He is praised because of his "hembireko poti" (lit. clean wife)

In this cultural context love is almost functional. There is almost no place for romance and affection. These connotations of love are almost reduced to times of courtship. On the other hand, the Paraguayan man is extremely sensitive to affection. But the roles often deviate and consume time that would be devoted to the emotional expressions.

Besides, too much demonstration overwhelms both male and female Paraguayans.

When the woman is too sticky, the man is annoyed. He can stand up to a certain extent, and passing that measure, he feels upset. He is neither very supportive to demonstrations of love in public. Love belongs to the world of privacy. The Paraguayans are little demonstrative of their feelings of grief or joy, love or hatred, almost always reduced to very measured gestures and actions. They spare no words.

The Paraguayan is noble. A feature of nobility is his inability to take revenge.