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Paraguay

Landlocked country in South America, bounded northeast by Brazil, south by Argentina, and northwest by Bolivia.

Government

The 1992 constitution provides for a president, who is head of state and government, and a two-chamber legislature, the National Congress, consisting of a senate and chamber of deputies, both elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term. The president, elected for a non-renewable five-year term, appoints and leads the cabinet, which is called the Council of Ministers.

The Senate has 45 members and the Chamber 80, and the party winning the largest number of votes in the congressional elections is allocated two-thirds of the seats in each chamber.

History

The Guaraní Indians had a settled agricultural civilization before the arrival of Europeans: Sebastian Cabot 1526-30, followed by Spanish colonists, who founded the city of Asunción in 1537. From about 1600 until 1767, when they were expelled, Jesuit missionaries administered much of the country. It became a province subordinate to the Spanish viceroyalty of Peru, then from 1776 part of the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires.

Independence

In 1811 Paraguay declared its independence. The first president was J G R Francia (ruled 1816-40), a despot; he was followed by his nephew C A López and in 1862 by his son F S López, who involved Paraguay in a war with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Paraguay was invaded and López killed at Aquidabán in 1870. When the war was finally over, the population consisted mainly of women and children. Recovery was slow, with many revolutions. Continuing disputes with Bolivia over the frontier in the torrid Chaco zone of the north flared up into war 1932-35; arbitration by the USA and five South American republics reached a peace settlement in 1938.

Military governments

Since 1940 Paraguay has been mostly under the control of military governments led by strong, autocratic leaders. Gen Morínigo was president 1940-48 and Gen Alfredo Stroessner 1954-89. During the US presidency of Jimmy Carter the Stroessner regime came under strong criticism for its violation of human rights, resulting in a tempering of the general's iron rule. He maintained his supremacy by ensuring that the armed forces and business community shared in the spoils of office and by preventing opposition groups from coalescing into a credible challenge. In the 1983 Congress elections the Asociación Nacional Republicana/Partido Colorado (ANR; National Republican Alliance/Red Party), led by Stroessner, with the largest number of votes, automatically secured 20 Senate and 40 Chamber seats. The Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico (PLRA; Authentic Radical Liberal Party) was placed second, with six Senate and 13 Chamber seats.

Democratic elections

Stroessner sought and won an eighth consecutive term only to be ousted, in February 1989, by Gen Andrés Rodríguez who, in May 1989, was elected president. The ANR was successful in the congressional elections. During 1989-90, Rodríguez made progress on economic growth and political democracy. A new constitution came into force in 1992. The ANR won the first multiparty elections in May 1993, and in August 1993 Juan Carlos Wasmosy became the country's first freely elected president. Alleging official corruption and demanding direct talks with the government, the two national trade union federations called a one-day strike in May 1994, the first in 35 years.

In May 1998 the ruling ANR presidential candidate, Raul Cubas, was elected. Opposition parties claimed the election was fraudulent. In March 1999 vice-president Luis Argana was murdered and opposition MPs blamed Cubas for the unrest that lead to the killing. Riots broke out as President Cubas faced impeachment for abuse of power. In April, Cubas resigned and the leader of the Senate, Luis Gonzalez Macchi, took over the presidency.

Oviedo on charges of assassination

In September 1999 Paraguay withdrew its ambassador to Argentina and its foreign minister resigned, after the Argentine government refused to extradite Lino Oviedo, who was charged with ordering the murder of the Paraguayan vice-president, Luis Argana, in March 1999. Argentina's opposition alliance, which led opinion polls for the presidential election scheduled to be held October, criticized the decision. Amid fears of a military coup at a time of increasing government unpopularity, 14 army officers, followers of the ex-general, Lino Oviedo, were arrested, in November 1999. In June 2000 Oviedo was arrested in Brazil, near the border with Paraguay, and again faced a decision to be made by the Brazilian government whether to extradite him to Paraguay to face the charges against him.

Attempted coup 2000

In May 2000, Paraguay's government announced measures to be taken against some military officers who had taken part in an attempted military coup, in which armoured cars fired at the Congress building. The coup failed after the USA and Brazil put pressure on the commanders of the armed forces. There have been almost 50 coups or attempted coups in Paraguay in the past 100 years.

In August Julio César Franco of the Authentic Liberal Radical Party was elected vice-president. It was the first national defeat for the ANR, in power since the 1940s, and left an oppostion vice-president sharing power with a ruling party president. In November 2000, Congress approved the start of a programme of privatizations, including rail, water, and telecommunications.

In March 2002 a faction within the ANR broke away to form the Unión Nacional de Ciudadanos Eticos (UNACE; National Union of Eticos Citizens) to support the candidacy of Lino Oviedo in the 2003 presidential elections.

Alto Paraguay Asunción Concepción (north-central Paraguay) Cordillera (department of Paraguay) Formosa (city)

Gran Chaco Itaipu Dam Mato Grosso do Sul Paraná (river) Pilcomayo