Former Paraguay dictator dies in exile, aged 93

ALFREDO Stroessner, the anti-communist general who ruled Paraguay with a mix of force, guile and patronage for 35 years before his ousting in 1989, died in exile yesterday aged 93.

The former dictator got pneumonia after a hernia operation in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, where he had lived in near total isolation during the 17 years since he was forced from power.

Stoessner died of a stroke as his family gathered around him in the Hospital Santa Luzia, said Alfredo Dominguez Stroessner, a grandson of the former dictator, in a radio interview.

He said his grandfather left no instructions on his funeral but the family was considering a burial in Encarnacion, the Paraguayan city where Stroessner was born.

Stroessner seized power in a 1954 coup and governed Paraguay through fraud and repression until February 3, 1989, longer than any other contemporary head of state in the Western hemisphere at the time. He was finally driven from power by his own generals.

In Paraguay today, many consider him a hated figure, and President Nicanor Duarte told reporters yesterday there were no plans to honour the former leader.

But some of his fiercest critics predicted Stroessner would be remembered for modernising Paraguay.

Following his ousting, Stroessner was granted political asylum and lived as a recluse in Brazil.

Neighbours reported they rarely saw him leave his house along the shores of Lake Paranoa in Brasilia.