Paraguay
Paraguay, 1811 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country located in the central region of South America. Paraguay overthrew the local Spanish administration on 14 May 1811. After independence, Paraguay was ruled by a series of authoritarian governments, a period that ended with the disastrous Triple Alliance War (1864–1870), during which the country lost half its prewar population and around 25–33% of its territory. Paraguay subsequently came under a succession of military dictators, culminating in the 35-year regime of Alfredo Stroessner.
Seat of power: Asunción
Rulers
Carlos Antonio López
President of Paraguay, 1844–1862
Under his presidency, he undertook a process of economic and political modernization for Paraguay, and ended the isolationist policies of Paraguay dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia. In 1844, he exiled Roque and assumed dictatorial powers. The constitution vested López with powers almost as sweeping as those Francia had held for most of his 26-year rule, effectively codifying the dictatorial powers he had seized just months earlier.
Portrait of Carlos Antonio López: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
.jpg){kind=link}
Francisco Solano López
President of Paraguay, 1862–1870
Francisco Solano López served as President of Paraguay from 1862 to 1870, of which he served mostly during the Paraguayan War (1864–1870). He is the only Paraguayan president to have been killed in action. At least 50% of Paraguayans died during the war, numbers which made the country's recovery take decades.
Portrait of Francisco Solano López: Domenico Parodi, Public domain, file
Bernardino Caballero
President of Paraguay, 1881–1886
Caballero commanded troops during the Paraguayan War. He was term limited from serving another consecutive term, so he guaranteed that he would be succeeded by his close friend Patricio Escobar. He was the founder of the Colorado Party in September 1887, the largest political party in Paraguay currently, along with the Liberal Party in second position.
Portrait of Bernardino Caballero: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Patricio Escobar
President of Paraguay, 1886–1890
Escobar assumed the presidency on November 25, 1886. General Escobar was a hero in the War of Paraguay against the Triple Alliance. He started his government with three military men and two civilians.
Portrait of Patricio Escobar: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Juan Gualberto González
President of Paraguay, 1890–1894
González was the President of Paraguay and served from 1890 until his forced resignation in 1894. During his government the banking crisis that the previous administration declared became bigger. The Office of Direct Contribution (Real Estate Taxes) was created and also the Municipality of Asunción.
Portrait of Juan Gualberto González: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Juan Bautista Egusquiza
President of Paraguay, 1894–1898
Egusquiza was a Paraguayan military officer and politician who served as the 13th president of Paraguay from 1894 to 1898.
Portrait of Juan Bautista Egusquiza: Desconocido., Public domain, file
.jpg){kind=link}
Emilio Aceval
President of Paraguay, 1898–1902
Aceval was President of Paraguay from 1898 to 1902. He was a member of the Colorado Party.
Portrait of Emilio Aceval: Pablo A. Segovia, Public domain, file
Eligio Ayala
President of Paraguay, 1923–1928
Ayala was President of Paraguay from 12 April 1923 to 17 March 1924 and again from 15 August 1924 until 15 August 1928. He was a member of the Liberal Party.
Portrait of Eligio Ayala: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Higinio Morínigo
President of Paraguay, 1940–1948
Due to the new constitution enacted by Estigarribia shortly before his death, which gave immense power to the president, Morínigo was able to establish a military dictatorship. In 1943, after three years serving as acting president, Morínigo was unopposed for a full term, as all political parties were banned. He was overthrown and was forced to resign in 1948 due to suspicions that he wanted to perpetuate himself in power, despite Juan Natalicio González being chosen as his successor, he was replaced by then President of the Supreme Court of Justice Juan Manuel Frutos as Provisional President.
Portrait of Higinio Morínigo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
_2.jpg){kind=link}
Federico Chávez
President of Paraguay, 1949–1954
Chaves served as President of Paraguay from 10 September 1949 to 4 May 1954. He was elected for a three-year term in 1950 and later reelected in 1953. When Chaves tried to strengthen his regime by arming the national police in 1954, a coup d'état led by General Alfredo Stroessner on May 4 ended his administration.
Portrait of Federico Chávez: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Alfredo Stroessner
President of Paraguay, 1954–1989
Stroessner rose to power after leading the 1954 coup d'état on 4 May, with backing from the Colorado Party, and the Paraguayan Army. With the army and military police, who acted as a secret police, he instituted a period of authoritarian rule and violent political repression (especially of opponents, whose parties were nominally legalized in 1962). From the 1958 through the 1988 elections, Stroessner maintained power by electoral fraud.
Portrait of Alfredo Stroessner: Frank Scherschel, Public domain, file
.jpg){kind=link}
Nicanor Duarte
President of Paraguay, 2003–2008
Duarte's administration was marked by a rejection of the path his country and party had taken in the past decade, turning away from neoliberalism to instead embrace the pink tide and 21st century socialism. Overall, the Paraguayan economy grew during his tenure, mostly as part of a recovery from the crisis of the 1990s. Inaugurated at 46, Duarte was one of Paraguay's youngest presidents, as well as its first non-Catholic, being a Protestant convert.
Portrait of Nicanor Duarte: Ministerio de la Presidencia. Gobierno de España (Pool Moncloa), Attribution, file
.jpg){kind=link}
Horacio Cartes
President of Paraguay, 2013–2018
Cartes served as president of Paraguay from 2013 to 2018 and has been president of the Colorado Party since 2023. Cartes owned about two dozen businesses in his Grupo Cartes conglomerate until he left the conglomerate in 2023, including tobacco, soft drinks, meat production, and banking. Between 2022 and 2023, he was classified as "significantly corrupt" and as a result subsequently subjected to economic sanctions by the United States, which accuses him of involvement in transnational crime and terrorist organizations.
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
Mario Abdo Benítez
President of Paraguay, 2018–2023
Abdo Benítez served as the 51st president of Paraguay from 2018 to 2023. In April 2018, Abdo Benítez won the 2018 elections by defeating Efraín Alegre, with 46.46% of the votes to Alegre's 42.73%. Abdo Benítez has faced criticism for his relationship with the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, as his father was Stroessner's private secretary.
Portrait of Mario Abdo Benítez: Palácio do Planalto from Brasilia, Brasil, CC BY 2.0, file
Santiago Peña Palacios
President of Paraguay, 2023 to today
Peña has served as the 52nd president of Paraguay since 2023. Peña is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay, and former minister of Finance of Paraguay. He later won the party's nomination for president in the 2023 general election, in which he ultimately won.
Portrait of Santiago Peña Palacios: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, Public domain, file
Culture
- Alfredo Stroessner was overthrown in 1989 by an internal military coup, marking the beginning of Paraguay's current democratic era.
- Paraguay's first dictator was José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who ruled Paraguay from 1814 until his death in 1840 with very little outside contact or influence.
- Paraguay prevailed in another major conflict in the twentieth century, the Chaco War with Bolivia (1932-1935).
- The majority of Paraguay's 6 million people are mestizo, and Guarani culture remains widely influential; more than 90% of the population speak various dialects of the Guarani language alongside Spanish, the highest rate of fluency in an indigenous language in Latin America.
Picture
The National Pantheon of the Heroes is a building and landmark of Asunción, Paraguay, and a national monument of Paraguay.
Image: Felipe Antonio, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.