The 1989 Paraguayan coup d'état, also known as La Noche de la Candelaria, was a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
that took place on 2–3 February 1989 in
Asunción
Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay.
The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
led by General
Andrés Rodríguez Andrés Rodríguez may refer to:
* Andrés Rodríguez (politician) (1923–1997), president of Paraguay
* Andrés Rodríguez (basketball) (born 1981), basketball player from Puerto Rico
*Andres Rodriguez (show jumper)
Andres Rodríguez (11 May ...
against the regime of long-time leader
Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan army officer and politician who served as President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989.
Stroessner led a coup d'état on 4 May 1954 with the ...
. The bloody overthrow which saw numerous soldiers killed in street fighting was sparked by a power struggle in the highest echelons of the government. Rodríguez's takeover spelled the end of
El Stronato
The dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, colloquially known as El Stronismo or El Stronato, was the period of almost 35 years in the history of Paraguay in which army general Alfredo Stroessner ruled the country under a one-party authoritarian ...
, Stroessner's thirty-four year long rule, at the time the longest in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, and led to an array of reforms which abolished numerous draconian laws and led to the liberalization of
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
.
Background
Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan army officer and politician who served as President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989.
Stroessner led a coup d'état on 4 May 1954 with the ...
Chaco War
The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko Ñorairõ1954 coup d'état. As president he declared a "state of siege" and instituted a number of laws and security reforms which gave him the power to suspend civil liberties, including ''
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' and
freedom of assembly
Freedom of peaceful assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ide ...
. Between 1958 and 1988, Stroessner was reelected seven times by questionably high margins of victory (only in the 1968 election did an opposition candidate receive more than 20% of the vote). The
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
was one of President Stroessner's most ardent supporters, due to his fervent anti-communism and
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
was the recipient of large amounts of U.S. military assistance during the 1960s and 1970s. The "state of siege" imposed by Stroessner soon after assuming the presidency was officially lifted in 1987; however, this move was largely symbolic as most of the country's stringent security provisions remained in place.
In the late 1980s, political conflict broke out between two competing factions in the ruling Colorado Party. One faction, the "militants", vigorously supported Stroessner while the "traditionalists" sought a more open Paraguay and were less supportive of some of Stroessner's policies. Among the traditionalists was General
Andrés Rodríguez Andrés Rodríguez may refer to:
* Andrés Rodríguez (politician) (1923–1997), president of Paraguay
* Andrés Rodríguez (basketball) (born 1981), basketball player from Puerto Rico
*Andres Rodriguez (show jumper)
Andres Rodríguez (11 May ...
, a close confidante of Stroessner and commander of Paraguay's 1st Army Corps. A strong contender for succeeding the aging president, the militant wing of the party attempted to neuter his political power by giving him the option of taking the position of defense minister, a largely ceremonial position, or retiring. Fearing a rebellion, Stroessner had already removed high-ranking, experienced military commanders from their postings and replaced them with his supporters.
Coup
On the night of 2 February 1989, Rodríguez ordered units of his 1st Army Corps, including some 40 to 50 tanks, into the streets of
Asunción
Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay.
The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...
. The unit, the strongest and most well-equipped of Paraguay's armed forces, seized the capital city's center. Troops from the unit attempted to arrest Stroessner as he dined at his mistress' home, however bodyguards resisted fiercely and allowed the president to escape to the headquarters of the Presidential Guards Regiment. A battle broke out between Rodríguez's troops and the 700-strong presidential guard. Meanwhile, the rest of Paraguay's military districts pledged their allegiance to the rebels.
Artillery units and naval vessels in the city's harbor shelled the headquarters during the course of the battle and by 5:00pm on 3 February, the government under Stroessner surrendered. Rodríguez announced the surrender over the radio and said Stroessner was in custody and unharmed. The official death toll of the coup stood at 31 killed however other estimates put the actual toll between 150 and 250, the majority of them Stroessner's guards. The
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
station Radio Caritas said up to 200 people were killed in the fighting.
Stroessner was initially detained at the base of the 1st Army Corps but he was flown to exile aboard a
LAP
A lap is a surface (usually horizontal) created between the knee and hips of a biped when it is in a seated or lying down position. The lap of a parent or loved one is seen as a physically and psychologically comfortable place for a child to ...
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
on 6 February after being granted asylum. He left with his son, Gustavo, and daughter-in-law and lived in a lakeside home, previously his summer home, until his death in 2006.
For a relatively detailed description of the events leading up to the coup and the military and other activity during the coup as well as immediately afterwards, see Antonio Luis Sapienza's book, ''The 1989 Coup d'Etat in Paraguay: The End of a Long Dictatorship, 1954-1989'' (Helion, 2019). Per Sapienza: Stroessner's son, PAF Colonel Gustavo Stroessner, calls his father sometime after 5 PM on February 2 to tell his father the coup would take place that day. Stroessner, who is playing cards at Colonel Duarte's house, doesn't believe him. At 7 PM Stroessner goes to his mistres Legal's house with his escort. Stroessner accepts there is to be a coup sometime before 8:30 PM, when he leaves for his son Freddy's house, leaving half his escort at Legal's house. Stroessner meets at Freddy's house by 9 PM with Gustavo joining them. They move to the Presidential Escort Barracks. Then to the adjacent Armed Forces HQ complex, concrete with a helicopter pad for possible aerial departure. The coup plotters now move up their 3 AM start on February 3rd, and the orders go out, with light tanks and other forces moving out at 9:15 PM. After the attack commences and there is a brief negotiation between the coup plotters and HQ, eventually the Stroessners and others in the HQ (including the Minister of Defense, the Army Chief of Staff, the Military Training School commander, the Presidential Escort Regiment commander, the Chief of Military Intelligence, two other generals and five colonels) start filing out one-by-one at 12:40 AM. As for the casualties:
"Although official reports showed few casualties - 31 fatalities (two civilians, a Cavalry officer, 21 REP privates, two police officers and five police NCOs) and 58 wounded military and police personnel - the estimated number was actually around 170 lives lost, mostly in the Presidential Escort Regiment." (p. 58)
Aftermath
President
Andrés Rodríguez Andrés Rodríguez may refer to:
* Andrés Rodríguez (politician) (1923–1997), president of Paraguay
* Andrés Rodríguez (basketball) (born 1981), basketball player from Puerto Rico
*Andres Rodriguez (show jumper)
Andres Rodríguez (11 May ...
began his rule by reversing Stroessner's repressive measures, removing his loyalists from the military, and abolishing the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. He also abolished the legislature, removed the sweeping ban on political parties, and organized elections to take place in May 1989. Rodríguez was elected to the presidency in the 1989 elections and served in that capacity until 1993, the first Paraguayan leader in decades to leave at the end of his first term. He died of cancer in 1997.
See also
*
1989 Paraguayan general election
Early general elections were held in Paraguay on 1 May 1989 to elect the president and Chamber of Deputies. Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p425 They were the first held since longtime president A ...