Their tenacity and bloodshed eventually forced the President to flee in exile. It began with an assassination. Months earlier President Cubas had cut short the prison term of General Lino Oviedo, the convicted leader of a 1996 coup attempted. The general's release set off a firestorm of public anger and the moves toward impeachment. Reaction was swift.
Democracy is fragile property in Paraguay.
Americas' longest running dictatorship was brought to an end only after a military rebellion. In the decade since Paraguayans have guarded their delicate democracy with great care. With their Vice President murdered on the eve of the impeachment vote, Paraguayans knew what was at stake, with that knowledge falling hardest on the young. We grew up with the idea of liberty. Paraguay's young people dropped everything else they were doing and went to the Plaza to defend democracy.