ASUNCIóN, PARAGUAY - The day after the July 5 grand event at Club Olimpia Stadium in Asunción, the major Paraguayan newspapers carried detailed reports of the six-hour program.
ABC’s story entitled “Thousands of Voices Sound Out for Peace” carried five full-color photos of the events on stage. It showed the packed stadium and the closure of the major street in front of the stadium, Avenida Mariscal López, to handle the overflow crowd. It referred to speakers on the stage, including Julio Maria Sanguinetti, former president of Uruguay; Paraguayan soccer star José Luis Chilavert; and the Global Peace Festival international chair, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon.
An additional story in ABC focused on the performers, including an interview with the “star of the evening,” Argentine pop idol Alejandro Lerner. He described Paraguay as a brother country to Argentina. He said he was happy to visit Asunción, since his own country was going through difficult moments and participate in a festival that supports a good cause.
ABC quoted Lerner as saying this would “lead to recovering ideals and not special interests. That is what I want to take back to my country.” Furthermore, he said, “Music in general has been a very good element for transmitting ideals and feelings, and that is how the mission (of participating in this festival) found me….One has to think more about what one can give than what one can receive.”
Other performers were interviewed, including Nejo and Fernando Mangual Vázquez from Puerto Rico (known as Dálmata), who said this was their first time to participate in a festival for peace and they were proud to do so. “I hope it won’t be the last,” added Nejo.
A front-page story in La Nación on Sunday featured Alejandro Lerner and a folk dance by the Lilian Doldán Ballet in which performers danced with as many as 13 bottles stacked one on top of the other on their heads. Ultima Hora also covered the event in its Sunday paper, featuring the performers and fireworks. “To recover ideals is good, and for this reason I came, because borders shouldn’t be important,” the paper quoted Lerner.