Today’s Independent reports the death of former Praguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, Stroesner ruled Paraguay for 35 years,. He died in exile yesterday aged 93. Stroessner died of a stroke in Brazil's capital, where he lived in near isolation for the 17 years after he was deposed.
Stroessner siezed power in a 1954 coup and governed Paraguay through fraud and repression. He was finally driven from power by his own generals in 1989. The son of a Bavarian immigrant and a Paraguayan mother, he epitomised a generation of authoritarian leaders in Latin America, putting his name on public buildings and describing opponents as Marxist subversives.
Under his rule, Paraguay became haven for Nazi war criminals , including Josef Mengele, who lived openly in Paraguay's German community before moving to Brazil. He also sheltered other right-wing dictators, such as Nicaragua's Anastasio Somoza. Many Paraguayans still revile Mr Stroessner. Current President Nicanor Duarte has stated that there are no plans to honour him.
In my view, South America is the richer for the passing of this old bastard. Like Pinochet, Galtieri, Videla et al Stroessner was an old style South American Caudillo – the sort of dictator who I hope has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Love or hate the likes of Chavez (I do have some big reservations about Chavez myself) or Morales they were democratically elected and will be democratically deposed if their electorate sees fit.
Wikipedia provides a good biography of Stroessner.
Stroessner
Paraguay
dictator
3 comments:
jams, No matter how much the family begs, my funeral entertainment troupe will NOT be performing at his burial. We retain the highest of standards, you know.
Adios, Senor Stroessner, may you meet your maker and the judgement be swift upon your head.
Okay, he's small beer compared to Stalin, Mao et al but it is good to see his passing. His sort was a blight on South America.
I must admit when I think of brutal dictators of any political hue, the idea of Judgement Day and an ultra vengeful God becomes attractive!
Obrador (...) democratically elected...
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Obrador lost miserably, getting only 35.34% of the vote. His conservative opponent won with a mere 36.38%. But the real looser was the Mexican election system that apparently never heard of run-off elections (which would have cleared the this whole mess very easily)...
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