Military Coup Topples Paraguay’s Stroessner : Incoming President Promises Democracy, Respect for Rights

Gen. Alfredo Stroessner was driven from power Friday in a fierce military coup led by his second-in-command, who vowed to bring democracy to Paraguay and to respect civil rights after nearly 35 years of dictatorship.

Gen. Andres Rodriguez, 64, took the oath of office as president and saluted the public from the balcony of the government palace a few hours after his forces routed Stroessner’s loyalist troops in combat that raged across the capital. Unconfirmed estimates of the death toll ranged from dozens to hundreds.

The fighting lasted more than six hours until just before dawn. Stroessner, 76 and in declining health, formally resigned the presidency at 7:30 a.m. He was arrested and held in custody at the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps, the nation’s most important military unit, which Rodriguez commanded.

Exile in Chile?

He was expected to leave the country within a day or two and go into exile, probably in Chile. The Chilean government of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, another veteran dictator, said it would grant asylum to Stroessner.

Hundreds of people gathered to rejoice in the tree-shaded Heroes Plaza in the center of Asuncion and in nearby streets, and horn-honking caravans of cars, many flying the banners of political parties outlawed by Stroessner, wove through a capital that was even more torpid than usual on a cool but humid national holiday.

The reign of the Western Hemisphere’s most durable dictator ended without advance warning, apparently prompted largely by his attempts to impose his son, air force Col. Gustavo Stroessner, as his successor. A number of recent military promotions had advanced Stroessner loyalists at the expense of Rodriguez’s supporters.

In addition, the president had recently closed down three of Rodriguez’s businesses. Senior military men in Paraguay traditionally have run businesses--currency exchange houses in Rodriguez’s case--as a lucrative sideline to their armed forces salaries.

While those factors made the coup look like an internal army affair, with one strongman replacing another, Rodriguez quickly made statements and appointments to his provisional government that encouraged the political opposition to see the coup as a genuine step toward multi-party democracy, something that Paraguay has never effectively enjoyed before.

“Human rights must be a reality, and not only a desire,” Rodriguez said in his address to the nation after being sworn in as president. “We must respect the right to express opinions, and to gather peacefully. This government makes a solemn vow to respect the laws and the constitution of the country.”

Rodriguez, wearing the red, white and blue presidential sash over his white dress uniform, made the requisite Latin American greeting from the balcony of the palace after his speech, gesturing as if embracing the people and waving regally.

But the applause from the crowd of perhaps 2,000 was muted. When the dignitaries emerged from the gray 19th-Century palace, some catcalls and chants were heard mixed in with the cheers.

Still, one banner proclaimed, “Beloved democracy and freedom have finally arrived.” Others also found reason for hope.

“Without his permission, we could do nothing, and civilians were powerless to change things,” said Nora Graciela Garcia, a 25-year-old mathematics teacher. “What happened is what we always wanted to happen, and it had to be the work of other soldiers. The people could do nothing. Now things can change,” she said.

In Washington, the White House withheld substantial comment.

“We’re watching very closely. . . . The press reports indicated statements by Mr. Rodriguez to the effect that he wanted to restore democracy in that country. We certainly hope he would move in that direction,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The news agency said Fitzwater refused to comment on reports widely published in the United States that Rodriguez has been involved in drug trafficking. The New Republic magazine last year named Rodriguez as a powerful patron of Asuncion heroin traffickers.

Reaction from Caracas, Venezuela, where Latin American leaders had gathered for Thursday’s inauguration of President Carlos Andres Perez, ranged from skepticism to cautious welcome, according to several American and British news agency reports.

“It’s not a popular action, it’s an action among the military and among family (members),” said Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, at a news conference. “Until it’s put to the test, it can’t be believed in. We have the example of Haiti, where the dictatorship of Duvalier left and the military remained, massacring the people.”

“It’s good for Paraguay that an alternative of participation and modernization be opened,” said President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo of Guatemala, according to Associated Press. “We hope . . . that things will be resolved peacefully; but I think Paraguayans have a right to a different alternative.”

Gen. Francisco Morales Bermudez, former president of Peru, said in a television interview he hoped the military coup would pave the way for an eventual return to democracy in Paraguay, as has occurred in other Latin American nations over the past two decades.

“Let’s hope the orientation Paraguay has is democratic, that it doesn’t go from one evil to another,” Bermudez said.

For nearly a decade, Stroessner had resisted the trend toward democratic rule that was taking hold in many other Latin American countries. Instead, he continued arresting and harassing those who opposed him and silencing critical media. He skirmished repeatedly with the Roman Catholic church, which criticized his government’s repression and corruption.

His success at dividing and muzzling his foes, and his control over his own Colorado Party, had made him seem impervious to any political change. The Colorado Party increasingly became a personal vehicle through which he maintained power.

In August 1987, the party formally split; the minority, which fervently supported him, were known as the Militants. They won control of the party. Those who had opposed the party’s increasing focus on a single personality were known as the Traditionalists. They were pushed to join other opposition parties in the political wilderness.

Stroessner, who took power in a coup in August, 1954, had undergone prostate surgery last August and cancelled a planned trip to Taiwan in October. He had appeared in public only rarely during the latter half of the year, and many critics blamed his close advisers, Militants such as Interior Minister Sabino Montanaro, for the tactics aimed at ensuring his and his son’s grasp on power.

One of Rodriguez’ first acts was to form a provisional government featuring a Cabinet made up of Traditionalists, while several pro-Stroessner Militants were detained.

The Colorado Party also reinstated as its chairman Juan Ramon Chavez, 87, who had been driven from the party leadership two years ago. Chavez was also named a minister without portfolio in the new Cabinet.

There was no clear indication how long Rodriguez intended to stay in office. Some analysts believe he would serve out Stroessner’s term until 1993, or turn over the office to a civilian in the Colorado Party. Stroessner was reelected to an eighth five-year term last February, claiming, as usual, to have won nearly 90% of the vote. Diplomats, clerics and the opposition accused the government of systematic election fraud.

Aldo Zucolillo, owner and publisher of ABC Color, Paraguay’s largest and most respected newspaper until Stroessner closed it down nearly five years ago, said he hoped to resume publishing in about a month. Umberto Rubin, who ran the anti-government Radio Nanduti until he was also forced to close, said he, too, hoped to be back on the air soon.

“There is a mixture of incredulity and optimism,” Zucolillo said. “It’s the sensation of optimism of a person who has had cancer for 10 years and one day goes to the doctor and is told, ‘It’s cured.’ ”

Zucolillo said that given the intensity and duration of the fighting during the coup, he estimated that hundreds of soldiers on both sides could have been killed.

STEPS TOWARD DEMOCRACY

With the fall of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguay apparently joins a list of South American countries that in the last decade either have thrown off military rule and embraced democratic forms of government, or at least opened the possibility of moving in that direction. The others:

1979--Ecuador: Jaime Roldos is inaugurated president, ending 7 years of military government.

1980--Peru: Fernando Belaunde Terry is elected president after 12 years of military rule.

1983--Argentina: Raul Alfonsin is elected president. The military had ruled for seven years.

1985--Uruguay: Julio Sanguinetti is elected president, ending 12 years of military-dominated government.

1985--Brazil: Vice President-elect Jose Sarney is installed as president after the death of President-elect Tancredo Neves, ending 21 years of military rule.

1985--Bolivia: Victor Paz Estenssoro is elected president, ending two years of military government. The country has seen more than 180 violent changes of government since 1825.

1988--Chile: Voters in a national referendum reject another eight-year term for the military regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, which took over after a 1973 coup d’etat , setting in motion a step-by-step process toward the promised restoration of democratic order.

PARAGUAY AT A GLANCE

Capital: Asuncion

Area: 157,047 square miles, slightly smaller than California

Population: 4.4 million

Official language: Spanish

Ethnic divisions: 95% mestizo (Spanish and Indian), 5% white and Indian

Type of government: republic under authoritarian rule

Religion: 90% Roman Catholic; Mennonite and other Protestant denominations

Natural resources: iron ore, manganese, limestone, hydropower, timber

Economy: mainly agricultural, with some light consumer industry

Sources: The World Fact Book, Information Please Almanac