It's sad to learn this has happened. Stroessner has been known to be responsible for genocide for many years, with
material support from the U.S. continually, except for Jimmy Carter's step away from him.
A brief look at this grotesquerie:
Stroessner objected to President Federico Chávez' plans to arm the national police and threw him out of office in a coup d'état on May 4, 1954. After a brief interim presidency by Tomás Romero, Stroessner was the only candidate in a special election on July 11 to complete Chávez' 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; the opposition was lucky to get over 20 percent of the vote. He served for 35 years, with only Fidel Castro having a longer tenure among 20th century Latin American leaders.
Soon after taking office, Stroessner declared a state of siege, which allowed him to suspend civil liberties and rule by decree. It was renewed every 90 days until 1987. Although the state of siege was technically restricted to the capital after 1970, the courts ruled that anyone charged with security offenses could be brought to the capital and indicted under the state-of-siege provisions. Thus, for all intents and purposes, Stroessner ruled under what amounted to martial law for virtually his entire tenure. A devoted anti-communist, he justified this action as a necessary tool to protect the country.
~snip~
Under Stroessner, egregious human rights violations were committed against the Ache Indian population of Paraguay's east-coast. The Ache Indians resided on land that was coveted by foreign multinationals and had resisted relocation attempts by the Paraguayan army. The government retaliated with massacres and forced many Ache into slavery. In 1974 the UN accused Paraguay of slavery and genocide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Stroessner
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The news we saw in 2008 at D.U., when Lugo was elected:
Six decades of one-party rule ended in Paraguay
Former Catholic bishop wins with mandate to help the poor and indigenous
updated 4/21/2008 2:12:01 PM ET
ASUNCION, Paraguay — The world’s longest-ruling political party lost its six-decade grasp on power in Paraguay with the presidential victory of a former Roman Catholic bishop.
Political newcomer Fernando Lugo, a charismatic 56-year-old who resigned from the church to run for president, put an end to the Colorado Party’s 61-year reign in Sunday’s election, rallying voters against political corruption and economic disarray.
Emerging from a 1947 civil war, the Colorado Party was marked by the right-wing dictatorship of the late Gen. Alfredo Stroessner until his ouster in 1989.
More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24232165/ns/world_news-americas/t/six-decades-one-party-rule-ended-paraguay/
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A look at the "Golden era" of Paraguay's rule of one party, the Colorado Party, from a timeline:
~snip~
Stroessner regime
1955: Stroessner declares state of siege and removes various civil rights from the people.
1959: Achne tribe enslaved and wiped out by order of Stroessner
1965-66: Assists USA in the invasion of the Dominican Republic
1972: University of Asunción is destroyed by police. The Archbishop of Paraguay, Ismael Rolón Silvero, excommunicates chief of police and minister of the interior
1974: Human rights abuses in Paraguay come to notice internationally, and Stroessner is accused of Slavery, Genocide (of tribes), corruption, torture and kidnapping, as well as supposedly protecting ex-Nazis living in Paraguay
1988: Pope John-Paul II visits Paraguay, increasing anti-Stroessner morale
1989: General Andrés Rodríguez starts an uprising against Stroessner, and succeeds after an artillery duel over Asunción, after which Stroessner flees to Brazil. Rodriguez appointed president after 35 years of oppression
Modern Period
1992: Rodriguez makes reforms including abolishing the death penalty, releasing many political prisoners and slaves and prosecutes and imprisons the main perpetrators of Stroessner's regime.
1993: Juan Carlos Wasmosy is elected president. However, he frees several of Stroessner's associates from prison, and re-posts them to their former government positions.
1996: Field marshal Lino Oviedo attempts coup against Wasmosy, but is imprisoned, much to the distress of the Paraguayan public
1998: Raúl Cubas Grau elected under promise that Oviedo would be released, but does not perpetrate action. After his vice president Luis María Argaña is murdered with Cubas himself implicated, mass protests erupt in Asunción, with seven people killed by riot police
1999: Cubas resigns, Oviedo flees to Argentina Luis Ángel González Macchi elected president
2003: Nicanor Duarte is elected president
2004: Fire breaks out in the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket. 400 people killed and 500 injured
2008: Fernando Lugo is elected president. After a 66 year era of Colorado rule, the Liberal Party has returned to power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_history_of_Paraguay
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