Stroessner, Alfredo, << STREHS nuhr, ahl FRAY thoh >> (1912-2006), served as president of Paraguay from 1954 until 1989. He led a military overthrow of the government in 1954 and was elected president without opposition. He was reelected seven times between 1958 and 1988 in government-controlled elections. He was removed from office in 1989 by a military revolt.
Stroessner allowed little opposition to his rule. Many Paraguayans who criticized him were imprisoned, and others fled the country. Stroessner’s authoritarian rule achieved some political stability, but at the expense of a free and open society. Economic progress for some came from loans from international agencies to improve the road and water supply systems, to increase the production of electric power, and to build schools.
Stroessner was born on Nov. 3, 1912, in Encarnación and graduated from the Military College in Asunción. He served as commander in chief of Paraguay’s armed forces from 1951 until he became president. Stroessner died on Aug. 16, 2006 in Brasília, Brazil, where he had lived in exile since his 1989 overthrow.
