A confirmed anti-Communist, Stroessner nullified all subversive attempts in Paraguay, supported U. In , following his third reelection, he formally visited Washington—the second Paraguayan president to have been officially invited to the United States. Under Stroessner's rule, there was no free press. Newspaper presses and radio transmitters were routinely destroyed by police aligned with the Colorado Party. The Progressive magazine noted three examples: Aldo Zuccolillo, publisher of ABC Color, Paraguay's largest newspaper, was jailed, and his paper shut down for five years.
Radio Nanduti was off the air for two years after its transmitter was demolished. According to Newsweek, "Party membership [in the Colorado Party] was a prerequisite for getting most jobs in government service, the military, or even in nursing or teaching. Stroessner's tools were violence and fear. Neighbors said they rarely saw him leave his house along the shores of Lake Paranoa in Brasilia. Human rights activists say Stroessner's government was a key part of "Operation Condor," a network of right-wing military governments, secretly supported by U.
Paraguay had for years sought to question Stroessner about the abduction and disappearance of dissidents during his rule, but his asylum status made extradition impossible.
Now his death has brought an end to lawsuits by his many victims, some 1, of whom were given compensation by the Duarte government for injuries suffered under the dictatorship. Stroessner rigged his re-election every five years after he seized power, and while human rights violations increased, his name became synonymous with stability and progress in the landlocked country, which had been noted for stagnation and political turmoil. Inescapable presence His influence was everywhere in Paraguay.
While he was in power, a huge neon sign in a central plaza of the capital blinked the message: "Stroessner: Peace, Work and Well-being. By Stroessner's third decade in office, most Paraguayans had passed their entire lives under his watchful eyes, which stared from portraits on the walls of offices, shops and living rooms. He had complete control over the press, as newspaper and radio transmitters were destroyed by police aligned with the Colorado Party and journalists were jailed and tortured.
In , while the dictator was recovering from prostate cancer, Rodriguez tried and failed to arrest him at his mistress' home, but finally had him captured at the presidential palace after fighting that killed soldiers.
Stroessner was allowed to leave for exile with a respectful, ceremonious goodbye at the Asuncion airport. He lived in Brazil the rest of his life, at a gated lakeside house in Brasilia and a ranch outside Belo Horizonte. Paraguay elected democratic leadership in , and in , a Paraguyan judge issued an arrest warrant charging Stroessner with homicide, but Brazil refused to extradite him.
Stroessner died on August 16, , in Hospital Santa Luzia in Brasilia, of a stroke after a hernia operation. His wife, Eligia Mora, had died earlier in the year. He is survived by two daughters and a son, according to the Times of London, although the Washington Post noted that he also reportedly fathered 15 illegitimate children with several mistresses.
Los Angeles Times , August 17, , p. B8; New York Times , August 17, , p. A25; Times London , August 17, , p. Toggle navigation. Sources: Los Angeles Times , August 17, , p. User Contributions:. Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: Name:. E-mail: Show my email publicly. Hundreds of files discovered after Stroessner's departure, known as the "archives of terror", revealed the extensive role Paraguay played in Operation Condor, the repression of left-wing activists across the Southern Cone.
His political skills were honed in the chaotic years of intrigue, coups and counter-coups from until which saw him usually on the winning side. However, on one occasion in he guessed wrongly and had to suffer the humiliation of escaping to the Brazilian embassy in the boot of a car. Contrary to popular wisdom, Stroessner himself waited until late in the day of 4 May to see which way the wind was blowing before throwing his weight behind the coup against Federico Chaves.
In the years that followed he adroitly set off different factions of the Colorado party, and then used the army to suppress the popular forces behind the general strike of August Thereafter, he was always quick to boast that he had brought peace and progress to Paraguay after years of chaos, a view nostalgic Stronistas echo to this day. His proudest achievement was to build several hundred kilometres of roads - apparently, he always knew the exact figure in his head.
Public works - including an airport and a city - were named after him, and his photo was displayed in every self-protecting home or office. But unlike Somoza, he never made the error of creating too ostentatious a family dynasty. Neither of his two legitimate sons was ever seriously groomed to follow him. While undoubtedly very rich, he always allowed others to join in the pickings. Paraguay was a smuggler state: a staging post for whisky and cigarettes to Brazil and Argentina, a recipient of thousands of stolen cars from Brazil, and at times a major conduit for narcotics and a source for the illegal trade in rare birds and animal skins.
Smuggling was, in Stroessner's words, "the price of peace".
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