Paraguay

{{countrybox|Paraguay
|flag =Flag of Paraguay.svg
|pop =6,109,644
|GDP =47,398
|GDPPC =18,593
|life =73.84
|dev =0.728
|dem =5.92
|cor =24
|edu =0.638
|rel =92
}}

'''Paraguay''' is a country in [[South America]]. Like the rest of the continent, it has had a problem with dictators.

==Dictators==

===Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia===

Jose Rodriguez de Francia became the first dictator (of many) of Paraguay in 1814. He established Paraguay's first secret police force (of many) to round up as many people as possible to use for cheap prison labor. He was also fond of executions, and he had lots of dissidents hanged from an orange tree outside his mansion.<ref>Nigel Cawthorne, ''Empress of South America''</ref>

One of Francia's first decrees as president was to ban <i>non</i>-interracial marriage for Europeans. Only interracial marriages were allowed so that the population could homogenize (no more Europeans or indigenous, only mixed-race "mestizos"). European Hispanic people had to marry either a Native American or an escaped slave from Brazil's slave plantations. <ref>https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2016/1213/Did-Paraguay-blaze-a-trail-in-racial-equality-nearly-two-centuries-ago</ref> He also abolished higher education so more people would join his army.

===Francisco Solano López===

{{wpl|Francisco Solano López}} was the eldest son of Juana Pabla Carrillo and Carlos Antonio López, a former president of Paraguay (and surprisingly not a dictator). When Francisco himself became dictator, his mother revealed to him that he had been born before his parents married, and so Francisco had technically been born a bastard. Solano López had his mother whipped in public for this. 
In the 1860s, Solano López unwisely tried to steal some land from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in a war that became known as {{wpl|Paraguayan War||.}} Amazingly, López's Paraguay actually managed to put up a fair fight, and only gave up when López got killed after six years of fighting. While huge, the war's death toll is unknown, with estimates ranging from 7 percent of Paraguay's population in the period to almost 70 percent.<ref>{{wpa|Paraguayan War casualties}}</ref> U.S. [[POTUS|president]] [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] presided over a treaty that ended the war, and he was rewarded with having a city and province named after him as well as his own holiday despite being largely forgotten in the U.S.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29186525 Paraguay celebrates Rutherford B. Hayes], Jorge Saenz, ''NBC News'' 14 February 2009</ref>

===Alfredo Stroessner===

General Alfredo Stroessner became military dictator of Paraguay following a coup in 1954. He made Paraguay a notable hideout for [[Nazism|Nazis]] and played a prominent role in Operation Condor from 1975 until the mid-80s. Also, his whole dictatorship was run by pedophiles.<ref>Youkee, Mat, [http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/paraguays-darkest-secrets "How Paraguay Is Finally Reckoning With Its Dark Past"], ''Americas Quarterly'' 18 October 2016.</ref> In 1989, he was overthrown in a military coup. What goes around comes around.

===Andres Rodriguez===

He was the military dictator who overthrew Stroessner. Interestingly, his daughter was married to Stroessner's son.

==Non-Dictators==

Surprisingly, there have been some. 

===Fernando Lugo===

Fernando Lugo was the first Paraguayan head of state since 1948 not to be a member of the all-powerful Colorado Party. A former [[Catholic]] bishop with left-leaning sympathies, he admitted to having several relationships with women, some of them when he was still bishop, and fathered a number of illegitimate children.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6087099.ece ''The Times'']</ref> He was impeached in 2012 on flimsy pretexts. 

==Trivia==

Paraguay is unique among [[Latin America]]n countries in that the majority (90%) of its population, including people of mostly European descent, speaks an indigenous pre-colonial language, Guaraní.<ref>{{wpa|Languages of Paraguay}}</ref>

Paraguay's flag is unique in that it has two different emblems on its obverse side (front, as pictured above) and reverse (back) side,<ref>{{wpa|Flag of Paraguay}}</ref> a trait only shared by a few municipal flags, including the modern flag of [[Oregon]].

A 2017 poll found out that the Paraguayan people was the happiest in the world.<ref>[https://www.livescience.com/59633-2017-report-on-world-happiness.html This Country, Once Again, Is the Happiest Nation in the World]</ref>

==References==
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{{stub|geography}}
[[Category:South American countries]]

Categories: South American countries