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<text id=89TT0431>
<title>
Feb. 13, 1989: Paraguay:The Extinction Of A Dinosaur
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
Feb. 13, 1989 James Baker:The Velvet Hammer
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
WORLD, Page 48
PARAGUAY
The Extinction of a Dinosaur
</hdr><body>
<p>A surprise coup topples Stroessner after a 34-year rule
</p>
<p> Residents of sleepy Asuncion were startled when the crack of
gunfire shattered a muggy summer night. Two dozen armored tanks
rumbled down a residential street from the First Army Corps
headquarters. For eight hours, the sounds of battle transformed
several normally tranquil neighborhoods into war zones. As
mutinous soldiers traded rounds with loyal government troops,
bullets ricocheted wildly, felling more than 100 soldiers,
pockmarking buildings and flattening tires of parked cars.
</p>
<p> Shortly before dawn, the rebellion achieved its goal: the
ouster of General Alfredo Stroessner, 76. As Stroessner was held
unharmed under house arrest at an army residence, his longtime
second-in-command and chief of the First Corps, General Andres
Rodriguez, made a radio address. "I communicate to you that
General Stroessner has surrendered and finds himself in perfect
health, deprived of liberty." Rodriguez soon took the oath as
provisional President.
</p>
<p> The revolt abruptly ended the 34-year rule of Stroessner, an
autocrat who had shown every promise of realizing the dream of
all dictators: to die in bed, holding power to the end. There
had been only the slightest intimations that Stroessner's days
were numbered. Despite close personal ties between the two
generals (Rodriguez's daughter is married to Stroessner's son),
Rodriguez had quietly sided with a faction within the ruling
Colorado Party that favors limited democratic reforms. As a
result, Stroessner reportedly was on the verge of moving
Rodriguez to a purely ceremonial position. Rodriguez, who has
headed the largest of Paraguay's three army corps since 1961,
did not give him the opportunity. Stroessner's health and a
brewing struggle over his successor may also have triggered the
coup: the seemingly indestructible dictator underwent prostate
surgery five months ago and has since shown signs of
deterioration.
</p>
<p> Washington officials responded to the news of Stroessner's
political demise with little optimism. Despite some appealing
rhetoric, few believe Rodriguez will institute democratic
reform. "Most likely, it's going to be more of the same," said a
senior military analyst. The anti-Communist Stroessner has long
been one of Washington's staunchest backers. But his dismal
record on human rights compelled successive U.S.
Administrations to denounce Stroessner as a dictator.
</p>
<p> A dinosaur among despots, Stroessner ruled with absolute
authority longer than any other leader in the Western hemisphere
and was second only to North Korea's Kim Il Sung as the world's
most durable dictator. After sweeping to power in a military
coup in 1954, Stroessner nominated himself President, then
engineered his pro forma re-election seven times. Despite
sporadic challenges to his rule, the patriarch faced no serious
opposition. Unlike many countries in the Americas, landlocked
Paraguay has no tradition of democracy.
</p>
<p> Over the past decade, as military dictatorships toppled
throughout Latin America, Stroessner kept the army's loyalty by
cutting it in on contraband, kickbacks and theft. A state of
siege, regularly renewed and lifted only two years ago,
empowered police to arrest thousands of opponents. Early in
Stroessner's regime, critics were routinely branded as
Communist subversives, often tortured and killed; in later
years, foes were jailed or exiled.
</p>
<p> Still, most Paraguayans did not clamor for Stroessner's
fall. In the 50 years preceding his ascent to power, the
country endured civil wars, coups and more than 30 shaky
presidencies. If curtailment of fundamental freedoms was the
price for political and economic stability, most citizens were
willing to buy into the Faustian bargain. During most of
Stroessner's rule, Paraguay maintained a rate of economic growth
unusual for Latin America.
</p>
<p> Paraguay's future course is far from certain. In the hours
after the coup, citizens ventured into the streets, scarcely
able to believe Stroessner's demise and encouraged by
Rodriguez's rhetoric pledging "the initiation of
democratization." But while Rodriguez is popular with his
troops, his lengthy association with Stroessner casts doubt on
his claims. His style of high living is attributed to heavy
involvement in Paraguay's large-scale smuggling and drug trade.
As a U.S. intelligence analyst put it, "He's been a 30-year
intimate of the old man. He's not going to reinvent the wheel."
</p>
<p> Stroessner, who provided asylum for some of the most reviled
figures in modern times, such as Nazi death-camp doctor Josef
Mengele and Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, is
expected to live out his exile, possibly in Chile. There he
would be the guest of Augusto Pinochet, now the very last of
Latin America's old-style dictators, who himself faces political
extinction following presidential elections scheduled for
December.
</p>
</body></article>
</text>