The history of Latin America is filled with military coups, uprisings and revolutions, left and right dictatorships. One of the longest-running dictatorships, which is ambiguously assessed by followers of different ideologies, was the rule of General Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. This man, one of the most interesting Latin American politicians of the twentieth century, ruled Paraguay for almost thirty-five years - from 1954 to 1989. In the Soviet Union, the Stroessner regime was assessed extremely negatively - as a right-wing radical, pro-fascist, associated with the American special services and providing refuge to Hitler's neo-Nazis who had moved to the New World after the war. At the same time, a less skeptical point of view is the recognition of Stroessner's merits to Paraguay in terms of the country's economic development and the preservation of its political face.
The geographical position and historical features of the development of Paraguay largely determined its socio-economic backwardness in the twentieth century. Paraguay, landlocked, was doomed to economic backwardness and dependence on the larger neighboring states - Argentina and Brazil. Nevertheless, at the end of the 19th century, numerous emigrants from Europe, primarily Germans, began to settle in Paraguay. One of them was Hugo Strössner - a native of the Bavarian town of Hof, an accountant by profession. In the local way, his surname was pronounced Stroessner. In Paraguay, he married a girl from a local wealthy family named Eribert Mathiauda. In 1912, they had a son, Alfredo. Like many other people from the families of the Paraguayan middle class, Alfredo dreamed of a military career from a young age. In Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century, the path of a professional soldier promised a lot - both success with women, and respect for civilians, and a good salary, and most importantly, it opened up those career opportunities that were absent among civilians - with the exception of hereditary representatives of the elite. At the age of sixteen, young Alfredo Stroessner entered the national military school and graduated three years later with the rank of lieutenant. Further, the military career of a young and promising officer developed rapidly. This was facilitated by turbulent, by the standards of Paraguay, events.
In June 1932, the Chaco War began - an armed conflict between Paraguay and Bolivia, caused by Bolivia's territorial claims to Paraguay - the Bolivian leadership hoped to seize the northern part of the Gran Chaco region, where promising oil fields were discovered. The Paraguayan authorities, in turn, considered the preservation of the Gran Chaco region for Paraguay a matter of national prestige. In 1928, the first armed conflict took place on the Paraguay-Bolivian border. A squadron of Paraguayan cavalry attacked the Bolivian fort of Vanguardia, 6 soldiers were killed, and the Paraguayans destroyed the fortification itself. In response, Bolivian troops attacked Fort Boqueron, which belonged to Paraguay. With the mediation of the League of Nations, the conflict was settled. The Paraguayan side agreed to rebuild the Bolivian fort, and the Bolivian troops were withdrawn from the area of the Boqueron fort. However, tension in bilateral relations between neighboring states remained. In September 1931, new border clashes took place.
On June 15, 1932, Bolivian troops attacked the positions of the Paraguayan army in the area of the city of Pitiantuta, after which hostilities began. Bolivia initially had a stronger and well-armed army, but the position of Paraguay was saved by the more skillful leadership of its army, plus the participation in the war on the side of Paraguay of Russian émigrés - officers, military professionals of the highest class. The twenty-year-old lieutenant Alfredo Stroessner, who served in the artillery, also took part in the hostilities during the Chak War. The war between the two countries lasted three years and ended with the de facto victory of Paraguay. On June 12, 1935, an armistice was concluded.
Success in the war significantly strengthened the position of the army in Paraguay and further strengthened the position of the officer corps in the country's political elite. In February 1936, a military coup took place in Paraguay. Colonel Rafael de la Cruz Franco Ojeda (1896-1973), a professional military man, a hero of the Chaksky War, came to power in the country. Having begun his service as a junior artillery officer at one time, Rafael Franco, during the Chak war, rose to the rank of corps commander, received the rank of colonel and led a military coup. In his political views, Franco was a supporter of social democracy and, having come to power, established an 8-hour working day, a 48-hour working week in Paraguay, and introduced compulsory holidays. For a country like Paraguay at the time, it was a very big success. However, Franco's activities caused great discontent in the right circles, and on August 13, 1937, as a result of another military coup, the colonel was overthrown. The country was headed by "interim president" lawyer Felix Paiva, who remained at the head of state until 1939.
In 1939, General Jose Felix Estigarribia (1888-1940) became the new president of the country, who soon received the highest military rank of Marshal of Paraguay. Coming from a Basque family, General Estigarribia initially received an agronomic education, but then decided to connect his life with military service and entered a military school. For eighteen years he rose to the rank of chief of staff of the Paraguayan army, and during the Chak war he became commander of the Paraguayan troops. By the way, his chief of staff was a former general of the Russian service, Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, an experienced military officer who commanded an artillery brigade on the Caucasian front during the First World War, and then a former artillery inspector of the Volunteer Army.
Marshal Estigarribia was in power in the country for a short time - already in 1940 he died in a plane crash. In the same 1940, the young officer Alfredo Stroessner was promoted to major. By 1947 he was in command of an artillery battalion in Paraguari. He took an active part in the Paraguayan Civil War of 1947, ultimately supporting Federico Chávez, who became president of the country. In 1948, at the age of 36, Stroessner was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the youngest general in the Paraguayan army. The command appreciated Stroessner for his resourcefulness and diligence. In 1951, Federico Chávez appointed Brigadier General Alfredo Stroessner as Chief of Staff for the Paraguayan Army. At the time of his appointment to this high position, Stroessner was not yet 40 years old - a dizzying career for a military man from a relatively poor family. In 1954, 42-year-old Stroessner was promoted to the rank of divisional general. He received a new appointment - to the post of commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan army. In fact, in real terms, Stroessner turned out to be the second person in the country after the president. But this was not enough for an ambitious young general. On May 5, 1954, Divisional General Alfredo Stroessner led a military coup and, after suppressing a brief resistance from the president's supporters, seized power in the country.
In August 1954, the presidential elections were held under the control of the army, in which Stroessner won. Thus, he became the legitimate head of the Paraguayan state and remained in the post of president of the country until 1989. Stroessner managed to create a regime with the outward appearance of democratic governance - the general held presidential elections every five years and invariably won them. But no one could reproach Paraguay for abandoning the democratic principle of electing the head of state. In the context of the confrontation between the United States and the USSR in the Cold War, the Americans treated the staunch anti-communist Stroessner condescendingly and preferred to turn a blind eye to the numerous "vicissitudes" of the regime established by the general.
General Stroessner declared a state of emergency in the country immediately after the coup that brought him to power. Since it could only be legally declared for ninety days, Stroessner renewed the state of emergency every three months. This went on for more than thirty years - until 1987. Fearing the spread of opposition sentiments in Paraguay, especially communist sentiments, Stroessner maintained a one-party regime in the country until 1962. All power in the country was in the hands of one party - "Colorado", one of the oldest political organizations in the country. Created back in 1887, Colorado remained the ruling party of Paraguay in 1887-1946, in 1947-1962. was the only party allowed in the country. Ideologically and practically, the Colorado Party could be classified as a right-wing populist. Obviously, during the Stroessner years, the party borrowed many features from the Spanish Francoists and Italian fascists. In fact, only members of the Colorado party could feel themselves more or less full-fledged citizens of the country. The attitude towards the Paraguayans who did not take part in the party was initially biased. At least, they could not count on any government positions and even more or less serious work. So Stroessner sought to ensure the ideological and organizational unity of Paraguayan society.
From the very first days of the establishment of the Stroessner dictatorship, Paraguay was on the list of the main Latin American "friends of the United States." Washington gave Stroessner a huge loan, and American military specialists began training officers for the Paraguayan army. Paraguay was among the six countries implementing the policy of Operation Condor - the persecution and elimination of the communist and socialist opposition in Latin America. Besides Paraguay, the condors included Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Bolivia. American intelligence services provided comprehensive support and patronage to anti-communist regimes. The fight against the opposition in Latin American countries was viewed at that time in Washington not from the perspective of observing or violating human civil rights and freedoms, but as one of the most important components of countering Soviet and communist influence in Latin America. Therefore, Stroessner, Pinochet and many other dictators like them received de facto carte blanche to carry out large-scale repression against dissidents.
Paraguay, if you do not take Pinochet's Chile, became one of the record-holders of Latin America of the twentieth century for the brutality of repression. General Stroessner, who established a cult of his own personality in the country, did an excellent job of destroying the communist opposition. Torture, disappearances of opponents of the regime, brutal political killings - all this was common in Paraguay in the 1950s and 1980s. Most of the crimes committed by the Stroessner regime have not yet been solved. At the same time, being a fierce opponent of the opposition in his own country, Stroessner generously provided refuge for hiding war criminals and ousted dictators from around the world. During his reign, Paraguay became one of the main havens for former Nazi war criminals. Many of them continued to serve in the Paraguayan army and police in the 1950s and 1960s. Being himself a German by birth, Alfredo Stroessner did not hide his sympathy for the former Nazi military personnel, believing that the Germans could become the basis for the formation of the elite of Paraguayan society. Even the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele was hiding in Paraguay for a while, what can we say about the Nazis of lesser rank? In 1979, the ousted dictator of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, left for Paraguay. True, even in Paraguayan territory, he could not hide from the revenge of the revolutionaries - already in the next 1980, he was killed by Argentine left radicals acting on the instructions of the Nicaraguan SFNO.
The economic situation of Paraguay during the years of Stroessner's rule, no matter how the defenders of his regime tried to say the opposite, remained extremely difficult. Despite the fact that the United States provided colossal financial assistance to one of the key anti-communist regimes in Latin America, most of it either went to the needs of the security forces or settled in the pockets of corrupt ministers and generals.
Over 30% of the budget was spent on defense and security. Stroessner, ensuring the loyalty of various groups of the military elite, turned a blind eye to the numerous crimes committed by the military and to the total corruption in the power structures. For example, all the armed forces under his rule were integrated into smuggling. The criminal police controlled the drug trade, the security forces controlled the livestock trade, and the Horse Guards controlled the smuggling of alcohol and tobacco products. Stroessner himself did not see anything reprehensible in such a division of functions.
The vast majority of the Paraguayan population continued to live in dire poverty, even by Latin American standards. The country lacked a normal system of accessible education, medical services for the general population. The government did not consider it necessary to solve these problems. At the same time, Stroessner allocated land to landless peasants in previously unpopulated areas of eastern Paraguay, which slightly eased the general level of tension in Paraguayan society. At the same time, Stroessner pursued a policy of discrimination and suppression of the Indian population, which constituted the majority in Paraguay. He considered it necessary to destroy Indian identity and completely dissolve Indian tribes into a single Paraguayan nation. In practice, this turned into numerous killings of civilians, squeezing Indians out of their traditional habitat, removing children from families with the aim of their subsequent sale as farm laborers, etc.
