Paraguay The Extinction of a Dinosaur

(2 of 2)

Still, most Paraguayans did not clamor for Stroessner's fall. In the 50 years preceding his ascent to power, the country endured civil wars, coups and more than 30 shaky presidencies. If curtailment of fundamental freedoms was the price for political and economic stability, most citizens were willing to buy into the Faustian bargain. During most of Stroessner's rule, Paraguay maintained a rate of economic growth unusual for Latin America.

* Paraguay's future course is far from certain. In the hours after the coup, citizens ventured into the streets, scarcely able to believe Stroessner's demise and encouraged by Rodriguez's rhetoric pledging "the initiation of democratization." But while Rodriguez is popular with his troops, his lengthy association with Stroessner casts doubt on his claims. His style of high living is attributed to heavy involvement in Paraguay's large-scale smuggling and drug trade. As a U.S. intelligence analyst put it, "He's been a 30-year intimate of the old man. He's not going to reinvent the wheel."

Stroessner, who provided asylum for some of the most reviled figures in modern times, such as Nazi death-camp doctor Josef Mengele and Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, is expected to live out his exile, possibly in Chile. There he would be the guest of Augusto Pinochet, now the very last of Latin America's old-style dictators, who himself faces political extinction following presidential elections scheduled for December.