Alfredo Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda ( also Strössner or Strößner ; November 3 , 1912 – August 16 , 2006 ) , was a Paraguayan military officer who served as President of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989 . He ascended to the position after leading an army coup in 1954 . His 35 - year long rule , marked by an uninterrupted period of repression in his country , was the longest unbroken rule by one individual in the history of South America . His rule is ranked 14th - longest among other non - royal national leaders since 1870 , and made him one of the world ' s longest - serving non - Communist heads of state . General Stroessner was born in Encarnación , Paraguay . He entered the national military school at the age of 16 and received his commission in 1932 . By 1940 , he had risen to the rank of major and joined the general staff in 1946 . When civil war broke out in 1947 , he initially remained loyal to President Higinio Moríñigo , then backed Felipe Molas López in a successful coup against Morínago . He then backed Federico Chávez against Lopez and by 1951 he was army chief of staff . In 1954 , he ousted Chávez , becoming president after winning an election in which he was the sole candidate . An arch anti - communist , Stroessner had the backing of the United States . His supporters packed the legislature and ran the courts , and he ruthlessly suppressed all political opposition . He kept his country in what he called a constant " state of siege " that overruled his democratic constitution , enforced a cult of personality , and used torture against political opposition . Membership in his Colorado Party was a prerequisite for job promotion , free medical care and other services . The constitution had to be modified in 1967 and 1977 to legitimize his six consecutive elections to the presidency . In 1988 , he won an unprecedented eighth term on a majority , according to official figures , of between 90 and 98 percent of the registered vote . During Stroessner ' s rule , Paraguay became a sanctuary for smugglers in arms , drugs and everyday goods such as whisky and car parts . Stroessner provided refuge for French - born international heroin dealer Auguste Ricord ; strongmen such as Argentina ' s Juan Perón and Nicaragua ' s Anastasio Somoza Debayle ( later assassinated in Paraguay ) ; and war criminals , including Dr . Josef Mengele , the Nazi doctor known as the " Angel of Death " who performed genetic experiments on children . Stroessner was forced from power in 1989 in a military coup led by strongman General Andrés Rodríguez . Stroessner was forced into exile in Brazil , where he spent the last 17 years of his life . Following a bout of pneumonia , he tried to return to his homeland to die , but was rejected by the government . He died in Brasília on 16 August 2006 of complications from a hernia operation . Early life . Stroessner ' s parents were Hugo Strößner , who emigrated from Hof , Bavaria , Germany , and worked as an accountant for a brewery , and Heriberta Matiauda , who grew up in a wealthy Paraguayan family of Criollo Spanish descent . He joined the Paraguayan army in 1929 , becoming a lieutenant in 1931 . During the Chaco War against Bolivia ( 1932 – 1935 ) he enlisted as an artillery cadet and fought in the Battle of Boquerón . After the war he rose steadily in rank . In the Paraguayan Civil War he commanded the artillery division at Paraguarí that ensured President Moríñigo won by staying loyal and destroying a working - class rebel area of Asunción . He eventually became a brigadier and the youngest general officer in South America in 1948 . Presidency . Stroessner objected to President Federico Chávez ' s plans to arm the national police and threw him out of office in a coup d ' état on May 4 , 1954 . After a brief interim presidency by Tomás Romero , Stroessner was the only candidate in a special election on July 11 to complete Chávez ' term . He was reelected seven times — in 1958 , 1963 , 1968 , 1973 , 1978 , 1983 , and 1988 . He appeared alone on the ballot in 1958 . In his other elections , he won by implausibly high margins ; the opposition was lucky to get over 20 percent of the vote . He served for 35 years , with only Fidel Castro having a longer tenure among 20th - century Latin American leaders . Soon after taking office , Stroessner declared a state of siege , which allowed him to suspend civil liberties and rule by decree . It was renewed every 90 days until 1987 . Although the state of siege was technically restricted to the capital after 1970 , the courts ruled that anyone charged with security offenses could be brought to the capital and indicted under the state - of - siege provisions . Thus , for all intents and purposes , Stroessner ruled under what amounted to martial law for virtually his entire tenure . A devoted anti - communist , he justified this action as a necessary tool to protect the country . Paraguay enjoyed close military and economic ties with the United States and supported the US invasion of Dominican Republic . The Stroessner regime even offered to send troops to Vietnam alongside the Americans . Between 1962 and 1975 the United States provided $ 146 million to Paraguay ' s military government and Paraguayan officers were trained at the US Army School of the Americas . Although the military and security forces under Stroessner received less material support from the United States than other South American countries , strong inter - military connections existed through military advisors and military training . Between 1962 and 1966 , nearly 400 Paraguayan military personnel were trained by the United States in the Panama Canal Zone and on US soil . Strong Paraguayan - U . S . relations continued until the Carter Administration emphasized a foreign policy that recognized human rights abuses . The Reagan Administration boycotted the country as well . As leader of the Colorado Party , Stroessner exercised nearly complete control over the nation ' s political scene . Although opposition parties were nominally permitted after 1962 ( the Colorado Party had been the only legal party in the country since 1947 ) , Paraguay remained for all intents and purposes a one - party state . Elections were so heavily rigged in favor of the Colorados that the opposition had no realistic chance of winning , and opposition figures were subjected to varying degrees of harassment . While Stroessner ' s rule saw more stability than any living Paraguayan had known , it came at a high cost ; corruption was rampant ( Stroessner himself did not dispute charges of corruption at some levels in his government ) and the Stroessner government ' s human rights record was considered one of the poorest in South America . During Stroessner ' s regime , an estimated 3 , 000 to 4 , 000 people were murdered , and 400 to 500 more were " disappeared . " Operation Condor . Paraguay was a leading participant in Operation Condor , a campaign of state - terror and security operations officially implemented in 1975 which were jointly conducted by the right - wing military governments of six Latin American countries ( Chile , Argentina , Bolivia , Paraguay , Uruguay and Brazil ) . Human rights violations characteristic of those in other Latin American countries such as kidnapping , torture , forced disappearance and extrajudicial killing , were routine and systematic during the Stroessner regime . Following executions , many of the bodies of those killed by the regime were dumped in the Chaco or the Rio Paraguay . The discovery of the " Archives of Terror " in 1992 in the Lambaré suburb of Asunción , confirmed allegations of widespread human rights violations . Pastor Coronel was the chief of the pyragüés ( hairy - footed in Guaraní ) or secret police . He would interview people in a " pileta " , a bath of human excrement or ram electric cattle prods up their rectums . The Secretary of the Paraguayan Communist Party was dismembered alive with a chainsaw while Stroessner listened on the phone . Under Stroessner , egregious human rights violations were committed against the Aché Indian population of Paraguay ' s eastern districts . The Aché Indians resided on land that was coveted and had resisted relocation attempts by the Paraguayan army . The government retaliated with massacres and forced many Aché into slavery . In 1974 the UN accused Paraguay of slavery and genocide . Stroessner was careful not to show off or draw attention from jealous generals or foreign journalists . He avoided rallies and took simple holidays in Patagonia . He did become more tolerant of opposition as the years passed , but there was no change in the regime ' s basic character . During Stroessner ' s rule , no Communist nation s had embassies in Paraguay , with the sole exception of non - aligned Yugoslavia . Stroessner made many state visits , including to Emperor Hirohito of Japan , President Lyndon Johnson of the United States , President Charles de Gaulle of France , to South Africa ] and several visits to West Germany , although over the years his relations with West Germany deteriorated . Since he had always been known as pro - German , this worsening of relations , combined with his feeling that the U . S . had abandoned him , were regarded as personal blows to Stroessner . It is assumed that the Roman Catholic Church is the only reason Stroessner did not have absolute control over the country . After the destruction of Asunción University in 1972 by police , the Archbishop of Paraguay Ismael Rolón Silvero excommunicated the minister of the interior and the chief of police , and proscribed the celebration of Holy Mass in a sign of protest against the Stroessner regime . When Pope John Paul II visited Paraguay in 1988 , his visit bolstered what was already a robust anti - Stroessner movement within the country . Stroessner gave a written television interview to Alan Whicker as part of a documentary " The Last Dictator " ( UK : 7 April 1970 ) for the television series " Whicker ' s World " . The programme was released in a Region 2 DVD boxset by the UK ' s Network imprint . Economics . Stroessner was known for several positive economic policies , including the building of the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world in Itaipu Dam , developing Paraguay ' s economy : although Paraguay received only 15 % of the contracts , it was a major factor allowing the country to have the highest rate of growth in Latin America for most of the 1970s . Stroessner also dedicated large proportions of the Paraguayan national budget to the military and police apparatus , both fundamental to the maintenance of the regime . According to a 1963 article from " Time magazine " magazine , Stroessner spent 33 % of the 1962 annual budget on army and police , 15 % for education , and 2 % for public works . There was no income tax and public spending was the smallest percentage of GDP in Latin America . Furthermore the construction of the Itaipu Dam , as well as the subsequently built Yacyretá Dam on the Paraguay - Argentina Border , displaced thousands of Paraguayans , pushing them from their homes , often without any restitution . The Itaipu Dam displaced at least 80 , 000 Paraguayans , and the Yacyretá will have displaced at least that many by December 2008 . 160 workers died building the Itaipu Dam . Stroessner was also known for many projects that improved the country ' s infrastructure . Amongst these were the improvement of highways and the issuing of 15 - 20 hectare land grants to military personnel upon completion of their service , provided that the land would be used for farming purposes . Over 10 , 000 soldiers took up this offer . Most impressive was that by the end of the " Stronato " , the second biggest city was Puerto Flor de Lis ( renamed " Puerto Presidente Stroessner , " then " Ciudad del Este " ) , founded just 32 years before . Downfall . In April 1987 , Stroessner lifted the state of siege as part of the run - up to elections the following spring . However , several draconian security laws remained in effect , meaning that the substance ( if not the form ) of the state of siege was still in place . As had been the case for over three decades , opposition leaders continued to be arbitrarily arrested and opposition meetings and demonstrations were broken up ( often brutally ) . Stroessner was nominated by the Colorados once again , and was the only candidate who was allowed to campaign completely unmolested . Under these circumstances , the February 1988 election was no different from past elections , with Stroessner officially registering 89 percent of the vote — a margin that his rivals contended could only have been obtained through massive fraud . On February 3 , 1989 , only six months after being sworn in for his eighth full term , Stroessner was ousted in a bloody coup d ' état led by General Andrés Rodríguez . One reason for the coup was that the generals feared one of Stroessner ' s offspring would succeed him . Of the two , Freddie was a cocaine addict and Gustavo , a pilot , was loathed for being homosexual . A more outlandish rumour was that Lino Oviedo threatened Rodríguez with a grenade if he did not launch the coup . The two generals , Rodríguez and Oviedo , fought a brief artillery duel over Asunción . After the coup , Stroessner fled to Brazil , where he lived in exile for the next seventeen and a half years . The eastern city Puerto Flor de Lis , which had been renamed Puerto Presidente Stroessner in his honor , in 1989 was again renamed Ciudad del Este . Asunción ' s airport had been named after him during his regime , but was later renamed Silvio Pettirossi International Airport . Stroessner died on August 16 , 2006 , in Brasília , at the age of 93 . The immediate cause of death was a stroke . He had been suffering from pneumonia after undergoing a hernia operation . The Paraguayan government preemptively dismissed any suggestions for honoring the late president within Paraguay . He tried to return to Paraguay before his death , to die in his homeland , but he was rebuked and threatened with arrest by the government . Family . Stroessner was married to Eligia Mora . They had three children : Gustavo , Alfredo and Graciela . Alfredo Domínguez Stroessner , son of Graciela , is senator .