38 Facts About Alfredo Stroessner

Alfredo Stroessner quickly suspended constitutional and civil rights upon taking office on 15 August 1954.

Alfredo Stroessner's trusted confidant Lieutenant General Andres Rodriguez Pedotti seized power in the 1989 coup d'etat of 2 and 3 February.

Alfredo Stroessner was exiled to Brazil on 5 February, where he died on 16 August 2006 and was buried.

Alfredo Stroessner's legacy continues in Paraguay, where his Colorado Party has retained power and continues to rule through clientelistic practices.

Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda was born in Encarnacion on 3 November 1912.

Alfredo Stroessner's father, a German Paraguayan, was an accountant from Hof, Bavaria, Germany, who immigrated to Paraguay in the last five years of the 1890s.

Alfredo Stroessner's mother was of Guarani and Spanish criollo descent.

Alfredo Stroessner joined the Paraguayan army at the age of 16.

Alfredo Stroessner objected to President Federico Chavez's plans to arm the national police and threw him out of office in a coup on 4 May 1954.

Alfredo Stroessner served for 35 years, with only Fidel Castro having a longer tenure among 20th-century Latin American leaders; though Castro's tenure as president was shorter at 32 years.

Apart from one 24-hour period on election days, Alfredo Stroessner ruled under what amounted to martial law for nearly all of his tenure.

Alfredo Stroessner maintained virtually unlimited power by giving a free hand to the military and to Minister of Interior Edgar Ynsfran, who began to harass, terrorize, and occasionally murder family members of the regime's opponents.

Alfredo Stroessner heavily relied on various Colorado Party militias, subordinated to his control, to crush any dissent within the country.

Furthermore, Alfredo Stroessner's Paraguay became a haven for Nazi war criminals, including Josef Mengele, and non-communist peaceful opposition was crushed.

Alfredo Stroessner's rule brought more stability than most of the country's living residents had previously known.

Alfredo Stroessner fired the interior minister Ynsfran in 1966, but his replacement, Sabino Augusto Montanaro continued the same violent policies.

In 1977, faced with having to leave office for good the following year, Alfredo Stroessner pushed through a constitutional amendment allowing him to run for an unlimited number of five-year terms.

In 1975, the Secretary of the Paraguayan Communist Party, Miguel Angel Soler, was dismembered alive by chainsaw while Alfredo Stroessner listened on the phone.

Alfredo Stroessner was careful not to show off or draw attention from jealous generals or foreign journalists.

Alfredo Stroessner avoided rallies and took simple holidays in Patagonia.

Alfredo Stroessner became more tolerant of opposition as the years passed, but there was no change in the regime's basic character.

Alfredo Stroessner made many state visits, including to Japan, the United States, and France, as well as to South Africa, a country which Paraguay developed close bilateral ties with in the 1970s.

Alfredo Stroessner made several visits to West Germany, although over the years his relations with that country deteriorated.

Alfredo Stroessner gave a written television interview to Alan Whicker as part of a documentary called The Last Dictator for the television series Whicker's World.

Alfredo Stroessner dedicated large proportions of the Paraguayan national budget to the military and police apparatus, both fundamental to the maintenance of the regime.

Alfredo Stroessner was nominated by the Colorados , and was the only candidate who was allowed to campaign completely unmolested.

On 3 February 1989, only six months after being sworn in for what would have been his eighth full term, Alfredo Stroessner was ousted in a coup d'etat led by General Andres Rodriguez, his closest confidant for over three decades.

On July 16,2006, Alfredo Stroessner was admitted to Santa Lucia Hospital in Brasilia for surgery for two inguinal hernias.

Alfredo Stroessner died on 16 August 2006 at the age of 93.

Alfredo Stroessner's remains were expected to be transferred to Paraguay in a few months, but the government, led by Colorado candidate Nicanor Duarte Frutos, announced that it would not receive Stroessner's body with honors.

Alfredo Stroessner tried to return to Paraguay before his death, but he was rebuked and threatened with arrest by the government.

Alfredo Stroessner was married to Eligia Mora Delgado.

Alfredo Stroessner engaged in extramarital affairs before and during his presidency.

Alfredo Stroessner was the second-longest serving leader of a Latin American country.

The social scientist Antonio Soljancic has argued that this is because, although Alfredo Stroessner was removed from power, "he left a legacy that no one has tried to bury".

Abdo Benitez has opined that Alfredo Stroessner "did much for the country", but voiced his disapproval of Alfredo Stroessner's human rights violations.

Alfredo Stroessner's supporters are known as "Stronistas", and they refer to him as "El Unico Lider".

Alfredo Stroessner's supporters have asserted that "another Stroessner" is needed to govern modern Paraguay, and that his was a time of security and stability.