This Friday, August 16, marks 20 years since the death of General Alfredo Stroessner, the dictator who ruled Paraguay for 35 years. He died in 2006 at age 93 at Santa Luzia Hospital in Brasília, where he had lived in exile since being toppled by the coup d'état of February 2-3, 1989.
Stroessner, known as "El Rubio," came to power in 1954 after a series of political and military maneuvers. His career had included participation in the Battle of Boquerón during the Chaco War and his rise to command of the Armed Forces in 1951. According to academic Andrew Nickson, author of "Nueva Historia de Paraguay," his regime was sustained on three pillars: the Government, the military, and the Colorado Party, using a democratic facade, effective repression, institutionalized corruption, nationalist ideology, and support from the United States.
The end of his dictatorship came through a coup led by his then right-hand man and father-in-law, General Andrés Rodríguez. After his death, there was discussion about the fate of his remains. The then Paraguayan president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, made it clear he would not receive the former dictator with state honors. Stroessner was buried the same day in Brasília. Among those who carried the coffin was a young Mario Abdo Benítez, son of the dictator's former private secretary, who decades later would become president of Paraguay (2018-2023).
The date continues to divide the country's memory. While sympathizers of so-called Stronismo still celebrate November 3, the date of his rise to power, relatives of the disappeared and activists mark his fall annually, keeping the memory of the period alive to, they say, prevent a similar government from repeating.