Alfredo Stroessner
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Alfredo Stroessner | |
---|---|
42nd President of Paraguay | |
In office 15 August 1954 – 3 February 1989 | |
Vice President | Vacant[a] |
Preceded by | Tomás Romero Pereira |
Succeeded by | Andrés Rodríguez |
Personal details | |
Born | Encarnación, Paraguay | 3 November 1912
Died | 16 August 2006 Brasília, Brazil | (aged 93)
Political party | Colorado Party (1951–1989) |
Spouse | Eligia Mora Delgado[1] |
Children | 3 |
Parents |
|
Alma mater | Mariscal Francisco Solano López Military Academy |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Paraguay |
Branch/service | Paraguayan Army |
Years of service | 1929–1989 |
Rank |
|
Battles/wars | |
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (Spanish: [alˈfɾeðo esˈtɾosneɾ]; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan army officer, politician and statesman who served as President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989. Stroessner led a coup d'état on 4 May 1954 with the support of the army and the Colorado Party, with which he was affiliated. After a brief provisional government headed by Tomás Romero Pereira, he was the Colorado Party's presidential candidate for the 1954 general election, and was elected unopposed since all other parties were banned from 1947 to 1962.
Stroessner officially assumed the presidency on 15 August 1954, quickly suspended constitutional and civil rights, and began a period of
On 5 February 1989, two days after the coup, Stroessner was exiled to Brazil, where he spent the last 17 years of his life. He died in August 2006 at the Santa Luzia Hospital in Brasília after suffering from pneumonia. He was buried in the Campo da Esperança Cemetery.[3]
Early life
Stroessner's parents were Hugo Strößner, who emigrated from
In 1932, he fought against
Dictatorship (1954–1989)
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2023) |
Stroessner objected to President Federico Chávez's plans to arm the national police and threw him out of office in a coup on 4 May 1954. After a brief interim presidency by Tomás Romero, Stroessner was the only candidate in a special election on 11 July to complete Chávez's term. He was reelected seven times—in 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983 and 1988. He appeared alone on the ballot in 1958. In his other elections, he won by implausibly high margins; only once (1968) did he drop below 80 percent of the vote. That campaign was also the only time an opposition candidate got more than 20 percent of the vote. He served for 35 years, with only Fidel Castro having a longer tenure among 20th-century Latin American leaders; though Castro's tenure as president was shorter at 32 years (1976–2008).
Soon after taking office, Stroessner placed the entire country under a
The Stroessner regime's strong
As leader of the Colorado Party, Stroessner exercised nearly complete control over the nation's political scene. Although opposition parties were nominally permitted after 1962 (the Colorado Party had been the only legal party in the country since 1947), Paraguay remained for all intents and purposes a one-party state. Elections were so heavily rigged in favor of the Colorados that the opposition had no realistic chance of winning, and opposition figures were subjected to varying degrees of harassment. Furthermore, Stroessner's Paraguay became a haven for Nazi war criminals, including Josef Mengele,[18][19] and non-communist peaceful opposition was crushed. Given Stroessner's affinity for Nazism and harboring of Nazi war criminals, foreign press often referred to his government as the "poor man's Nazi regime".[12]
Stroessner's rule brought more stability than most of the country's living residents had previously known. From 1927 to 1954, the country had had 22 presidents, including six from 1948 to 1954 alone.
Press freedom was also limited, constitutional guarantees notwithstanding. Any outcry about government mistreatment or attacks toward the Colorado Party would result in destruction of the media outlets. Many media executives were sent to prison or tortured.[24] Because of this, political opponents were few and far between. Near the end of this presidency, he declared that he would remove the state of siege, but quickly recanted after students began protesting trolley fares.[25]
For the first 13 years of his rule, Stroessner ruled under a severely authoritarian constitution enacted in 1940. In the mid 1960s, in an attempt to placate growing international criticism, Stroessner began allowing some opposition parties to function, although these functioned as opposition in name only. Stroessner also fired the interior minister Ynsfrán in 1966, but his replacement, Sabino Augusto Montanaro (a member of the "Cuatrinomio de Oro", a group of politicians intimately connected to Stroessner) continued the same violent policies.[26] The 1940 constitution was replaced in 1967 with an equally repressive document. Like its predecessor, it gave the president broad powers to take exceptional actions for the good of the country, such as suspending civil liberties and intervening in the economy. It thus formed the legal basis for the state of virtual martial law under which Stroessner governed. While it limited the president to two five-year terms, it stipulated that only those terms completed after the 1968 election would count toward that limit. In 1977, faced with having to leave office for good the following year, Stroessner pushed through a constitutional amendment allowing him to run for an unlimited number of five-year terms.
Operation Condor
Operation Condor |
---|
Paraguay was a leading participant in
During Stroessner's rule, two special departments were organized under the Ministry of the Interior led by Edgar Ynsfrán: the Department of Investigations of the Metropolitan Police (Departamento de Investigaciones de la Policía de la Capital, DIPC) under the leadership of Pastor Coronel,[32] and the National Directorate of Technical Affairs (Dirección Nacional de Asuntos Técnicos, DNAT) directed by Antonio Campos Alum.[33] Both units specialized in political repression. Pastor Coronel became infamous for his brutality. He would interview people in a pileta, a bath of human vomit and excrement, or ram electric cattle prods up their rectums.[34][35][16] In 1975, the Secretary of the Paraguayan Communist Party, Miguel Ángel Soler [es], was dismembered alive with a chainsaw while Stroessner listened on the phone.[34][36][37][38] The screams of tortured dissidents were often recorded and played over the phone to family members, and sometimes the bloody garments of those killed were sent to their homes.[19]
Under Stroessner, egregious human rights violations were committed against the indigenous
Stroessner was careful not to show off or draw attention from jealous generals or foreign journalists. He avoided rallies and took simple holidays in Patagonia. He became more tolerant of opposition as the years passed, but there was no change in the regime's basic character.
During Stroessner's rule, no
It has been asserted that the
Stroessner gave a written television interview to Alan Whicker as part of a documentary called The Last Dictator (UK: 7 April 1970) for the television series Whicker's World. The programme was released in a Region 2 DVD box-set by the UK's Network imprint.
Economics
Stroessner dedicated large proportions of the Paraguayan national budget to the military and police apparatus, both fundamental to the maintenance of the regime. According to a 1963 article from Time magazine, Stroessner spent 33% of the 1962 annual budget on army and police, 15% for education, and just 2% for public works.[44] There was no income tax and public spending was the smallest percentage of GDP in Latin America.
Stroessner enacted several economic development projects, including the building of the Itaipu Dam, the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world at the time: although Paraguay received only 15% of the contracts, it was a major factor in the country having the highest rate of growth in Latin America for most of the 1970s.[45] The construction of the Itaipu Dam, as well as that of the subsequent Yacyretá Dam on the Paraguay–Argentina Border, displaced thousands of Paraguayans, often without any restitution.[citation needed] The Itaipu Dam displaced at least 80,000 Paraguayans, and the Yacyretá was estimated to have displaced at least as many by December 2008.[citation needed] 160 workers died building the Itaipu Dam.[46]
Stroessner also promoted projects that purportedly developed the country's infrastructure. Amongst these were the improvement of highways and the issuing of 15–20 hectare land grants to military personnel upon completion of their service, provided that the land would be used for farming purposes.[
Downfall
In April 1987, Stroessner lifted the state of siege as part of the run-up to elections the following spring. However, several draconian security laws remained in effect, meaning that the substance (if not the form) of the state of siege was still in place. As had been the case for over three decades, opposition leaders continued to be arbitrarily arrested and opposition meetings and demonstrations were broken up (often brutally). Stroessner was nominated by the Colorados once again, and was the only candidate who was allowed to campaign completely unmolested.[5] Under these circumstances, the February 1988 election was no different from past elections, with Stroessner officially registering 89 percent of the vote — a margin that his rivals contended could have been obtained only through massive fraud.[47]
On 3 February 1989, only six months after being sworn in for what would have been his eighth full term, Stroessner was ousted in a coup d'état led by General Andrés Rodríguez, his closest confidant for over three decades. One reason for the coup was that the generals feared one of Stroessner's offspring would succeed him. Of the two, Alfredo was a cocaine addict and Gustavo, a pilot, was loathed for being homosexual. A more outlandish rumour was that Lino Oviedo threatened Rodríguez with a grenade if he did not launch the coup. The two generals, Rodríguez and Oviedo, fought a brief artillery duel over Asunción.[48]
Later life and death
After the coup, Stroessner fled to Brazil, where he lived in exile for the next 17 years.
The eastern city of Puerto Flor de Lis, which had been renamed Puerto Presidente Stroessner in his honour, in 1989 was again renamed Ciudad del Este. Asunción's airport had been named after him during his regime, but was later renamed Silvio Pettirossi International Airport.
Stroessner died on 16 August 2006, in Brasília, at the age of 93. The immediate cause of death was a stroke. He had been suffering from pneumonia after undergoing a hernia operation.[49] The Paraguayan government preemptively dismissed any suggestions for honouring the late president within Paraguay.[50] He tried to return to Paraguay before his death, but he was rebuked and threatened with arrest by the government.
In part due to Stroessner's abuses, Paraguay's current constitution limits the president to a single five-year term with no possibility of reelection, even if nonsuccessive. The ban on any sort of reelection has become so entrenched in Paraguayan politics that in 2017, when the legislature debated an amendment that would have allowed then-president Horacio Cartes to run for reelection, massive protests forced the Colorados to abandon those plans.
Family
Marriage and children
Stroessner was married to Eligia Mora (26 December 1910 – 3 February 2006). They had three children. The couple were forcibly separated after his exile; she fled to the US, while he was given asylum in Brazil.[51] Although they stayed in touch by phone and occasionally met, they were unable to live together, and neither Stroessner nor his son were able to return to Paraguay to attend her funeral.[52]
Extramarital affairs and child abuse
Stroessner engaged in extramarital affairs before and during his presidency. According to many sources he also engaged in child abuse with girls as young as 8 years old. As a result of this he may have fathered over 30 illegitimate children. The affairs and child abuse were divulged after his downfall, further tarnishing his image.[53]
References
- ^ Gunson, Phil (17 August 2006). "General Alfredo Stroessner – Dictator who mastered the fixing of elections and made Paraguay a smugglers' paradise". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
- ^ "Ley Nº 358 / AMPLIA EL ESCALAFÓN MILITAR DE LAS FUERZAS ARMADAS DE LA NACIÓN CON EL GRADO DE GENERAL DE EJERCITO". bacn.gov.py (in Spanish). 23 September 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ "Así murió Stroessner hace 10 años". ultimahora.com (in Spanish). 16 August 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Security and Political Offenses Library of Congress Country Studies
- ^ LCCN 89600299.
- ^ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Richard S. Sacks. "The Stronato". In Hanratty, Dannin M. & Sandra W. Meditz. Paraguay: a country study. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 1988).
- ^ "Destierro, desplazamiento forzado y exilio político de paraguayos en la Argentina (1954—1983): La represión transnacional bajo el régimen de Stroessner". Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
- ISBN 978-0872897625.
- ^ Paraguay: A Country Study, "International Factors and the Economy". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved on August 21, 2014.
- ^ Obituary: "Alfredo Stroessner; Paraguayan Dictator". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on August 21, 2014.
- JSTOR 261125.
- ^ ISBN 978-0761840978.
- ISBN 0820329320. p. 169
- ISBN 9780919618886.
- ^ Paraguay: A Country Study, "The United States". Lcweb2.loc.gov (February 9, 1987). Retrieved on 2014-08-21.
- ^ a b General Alfredo Stroessner. The Telegraph, August 17, 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
- ^ "Paraguay-U.S. Post-Stroessner Relations". Council on Hemispheric Affairs. 25 September 2006. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^ a b Ex-Paraguayan dictator Stroessner dies at 93. NBC News. August 16, 2006.
- ^ ISBN 1435109376
- ^ Schemo, Diana Jean. Stroessner, Paraguay's Enduring Dictator, Dies. The New York Times, 2006-06-16.
- ^ "Stroessner, among South America's longest-serving dictators, dies" Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Servihoo.com. Retrieved on August 21, 2014.
- ^ Historical Context. cuchillodepalo.net
- ISBN 978-0199677917
- ^ "Alfredo Stroessner Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Alfredo Stroessner". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ "Alfredo Stroessner Biography - life, children, wife, school, mother, son, old, born, college - Newsmakers Cumulation". www.notablebiographies.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ "Paraguay: Sabino Montanaro debe responder a la Justicia". Amnesty International (in Spanish). 8 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ISBN 9780226306902
- ISBN 0300151314
- ISBN 978-0415664578.
- ISBN 978-0415686174.
- National Geographic. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
- ^ "Supuesta conspiración política y muerte de un cadete". Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ "Edgar L. Ynsfran, ex ministro del Interior paraguayo". El País. 4 September 1991. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ a b Gimlette, p. 12
- ^ Schemo, Diana Jean (1999). "Files in Paraguay Detail Atrocities of U.S. Allies". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- Alternet. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1438456638.
Stroessner reportedly listened on the phone as the secretary of the Paraguayan communist party was ripped apart with a chainsaw.
- ISBN 978-0702226519.
According to testimony submitted by Amnesty International to the Paraguayan Supreme Court in 1979, Miguel Angel Solar, Secretary of the Parguayan Communist Party, was methodically taken apart, dismembered alive by chainsaw.
- ISBN 978-0877220886. Archived from the originalon 2 October 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
- ^ Paraguay: A Country Study, "Foreign Relations". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved on August 21, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-8133-4904-6.
- ^ Paraguay: A Country Study, "Interest Groups: The Roman Catholic Church". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved on August 21, 2014.
- ^ New York Sun Obituaries: "Alfredo Stroessner, 93, Old-Style Military Dictator of Paraguay" Archived 9 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Nysun.com. Retrieved on August 21, 2014.
- ^ Dictator by Popular Request, Time, February 22, 1963
- ^ The Economist Obituary: Alfredo Stroessner. Economist.com (August 24, 2006). Retrieved on 2014-08-21.
- ^ Gimlette, p. 277
- ^ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Country profile: Paraguay. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (October 2005).
- ^ Gimlette, p. 29
- ^ nbcnews.com: "Ex-Paraguayan dictator Stroessner dies at 93". NBC News (August 16, 2006). Retrieved on 2014-08-21.
- ^ BBC: "Ex-Paraguayan ruler dies in exile". BBC News (August 16, 2006). Retrieved on 2014-08-21.
- ^ "Stroessner's family arrives in Miami". UPI. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ "Enterraron a la ex primera dama Eligia de Stroessner". ABC Color (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ "Stroessner: Las amantes y su otra familia oculta". Última Hora (in Spanish). 8 September 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
Notes
- ^ Prior to the 1992 Constitution, Paraguay did not have a Vice President as the President would just exercise power himself. Thus, if the president died, resigned, or became permanently disabled, a provisional president was to be chosen by Congress and the Council of State within 24 hours and where there will immediately be elections held and if the provisional president wins, then they will become the new president.
Bibliography
- Gimlette, John (2005). At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay. ISBN 978-1400078523.
- Santicaten (1973). Charlas con el general Stroessner. Editorial Internacional de Grandes Autores Latino-Americanos.
Further reading
- Lewis, Paul H. (1980). Paraguay Under Stroessner. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-1437-6.
- Miranda, Carlos R. (1990). Stroessner Era: Authoritarian Rule in Paraguay. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-0995-8.
- CIA: Stroessner's Paraguay
External links
- Obituary BBC News
- Paraguay's archive of terror
- The Presidential Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower Official letter to President Stroessner (1959)
- Paraguay seeks Stroessner return
- ObituaryThe Guardian
- Alfredo Stroessner, 93, Old-Style Military Dictator of Paraguay Archived 9 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- Obituary The Economist
- Stroessner, Paraguay's Enduring Dictator, Dies The New York Times
- Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, Colorful Dictator of Paraguay for 35 Years, Dies in Exile at 93