Rodriguez, Andres

Born in the family of a blacksmith, activist of the Liberal Party . Andrés Rodriguez’s father was of Spanish descent, his mother was from Italian immigrants .

In 1946, Andres Rodriguez graduated from the Military College. He served in the ground forces . In 1947 he participated in the civil war on the side of the right-wing forces and the government of Morinigo ^[2] .

Since 1964, Andres Rodriguez is a colonel, since 1970 - a general of the Paraguayan army. Since 1981, he commanded the 1st Army Corps - the most equipped military unit in Paraguay ^[3] .

On May 5, 1954 , a military coup took place in Paraguay, and General Alfredo Stroessner came to power. Captain Rodriguez strongly supported the new regime and was close to President Stroessner.

Andres Rodriguez belonged to the top of the stronistic regime, was among its main pillars and beneficiaries ^[4] . In some periods, he was seen as the second person of the state and a potential successor to Stroessner. He was in the leadership of the ruling party of Colorado . He was a confidant of Stroessner, the main conductor of his politics in the army command. His daughter Marta was married to the son of dictator Alfredo Stroessner, Jr. ^[5] . On the eve of the 1978 elections, a meeting of the stronist leadership considered the option of honorably resigning the dictator and nominating Andres Rodriguez as president. However, Stroessner considered this premature ^[6] .

General Rodriguez was also a major entrepreneur, one of Paraguay's richest people. He owned all the currency exchange offices in the country. He also owned a brewery and passenger transport enterprises. There is evidence of the active participation of Rodriguez in the smuggling of whiskey and tobacco products ^[7] . The American media accused Rodriguez of involvement in the drug business ^[8] .

At the same time, despite being close to the dictator, Andres Rodriguez did not have a direct and immediate relationship with punitive bodies and political repressions. This distinguished his image from other leaders of the stronistic regime.

By the end of the 1980s, dissatisfaction with Stroessner’s rule sharply increased in the country as a whole and in the ruling elite. The modernization potential of stronism has been largely exhausted. Anti-communist politics lost relevance against the background of Soviet Perestroika . The US administration of Ronald Reagan expressed dissatisfaction with the dictatorial nature of the regime. The Catholic Church of Paraguay took an active opposition position. The “wave of global democratization” that began in the world placed dictatorship in conditions of international isolation.

The relations inside the stronistic elite sharply escalated. In a tough confrontation, the army commanded the Cuatrinomio de oro ( Golden Square ), a clique of Stroessner’s closest associates from the government and personal chancellery. This conflict took such forms that it could only be resolved by a forceful collision ^[9] . The irritation of the generals and functionaries of the “traditionalist faction” of Colorado provoked the activity of right-wing radicals and party militias oriented toward the Golden Square and punitive services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The military and the "traditionalists" categorically rejected the plan to transfer the presidential power by inheritance to the son of dictator Gustavo Stressner. They considered it appropriate to completely remove from power the stressner clan and a certain liberalization of the political system - in the spirit of the global trend of that time.

General Rodriguez fully shared these sentiments. Through his daughter Martha and her husband Alfredo Stroessner, Jr., he tried to convince the president to voluntarily resign. But these attempts have failed ^[10] .

A military conspiracy against Stroessner began to take shape in 1987 . The conspirators were led by generals Andres Rodriguez, Lino Oviedo , Colonels Felix Balmori , Lorenzo Carrillo Mello , Marino Gonzalez , Jose Segovia Boltes . The former Minister of the Interior Edgar Insfran ^[11] , an ultra-right activist in his youth, then an organizer of repressions and punitive operations, fanatically devoted to Stroessner, but after his resignation, strongly evolved in a democratic direction, was the ideological inspiration. Almost all the conspirators, like Rodriguez, were close associates of Stroessner ^[4] .

In early 1989, President Stroessner, for reasons of financial stabilization, ordered all exchange points closed. This meant a blow to the core business of General Rodriguez. The anti-stress riot became inevitable ^[12] .

On the night of February 3, 1989, infantry and armored units under the command of Rodriguez surrounded and attacked key administrative buildings and military facilities in Asuncion . An attempt to immediately arrest Stroessner failed: the president’s guards entered the fray ^[13] , Stroessner managed to hide in the barracks of his personal guard. In the night shootings, 31 people were killed on both sides, 58 were injured.

It is interesting that Stroessner called on his comrade-in-arms: “Save Rodriguez!” He did not immediately believe when his son Gustavo revealed who was at the head of the rebellion. Negotiations on the surrender of the stressner side, Rodriguez personally conducted with General Fretes Davalos ^[14] . Toward morning, seeing the overwhelming superiority of the rebels, Alfredo Stroessner surrendered and signed a letter of resignation with the transfer of power to the command of the armed forces. For several days he was in prison, after which he was deported to Brazil .

On the morning of February 3, Andres Rodriguez addressed the nation as interim president. He announced the removal of Stroessner, promised democratic reforms, respect for human rights, protection of the Romanesque and Catholic traditions of Paraguay. Special mention was made of complete freedom of expression, the rejection of the political privileges of the party of Colorado and respectful cooperation with the Catholic Church ^[10] .

For his part, on February 6, Archbishop Ismael Rolon Silverau celebrated Mass to commemorate those who died during the overthrow of Stroessner. The leadership of the Colorado party was assumed by the leader of the "traditionalists" Luis Maria Argana (new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay), who expressed gratitude to the armed forces and personally to General Rodriguez for the establishment of peace and freedom in Paraguay. (At the same time, the party statement said that following the traditions of the Colorado militias Py Nandi and Guión Rojo ). A 50,000-strong demonstration was held in Asuncion in support of the new authorities.

President Rodriguez formed a new government, abolished the state of siege and the death penalty. Political prisoners of the stressner regime were released. Arrested members of the "Golden Square", a number of secret police officers, known for particular cruelty. The radical supporters of the ousted dictator, such as Ramon Aquino, were withdrawn from the party leadership. At different times, large stronism functionaries were brought to justice for corruption and torture - for example, ministers Sabino Montanaro , Eugenio Hake , ranks of the secret police Pastor Coronel , Alberto Buenaventura (at the same time, Rodriguez left at least some odious security officials free and even in the service from the police and state security - Ramona Duarte Veru , Antonio Campos Alum ).

Many expected General Rodriguez to establish his own dictatorship of the Stressner type. These fears did not materialize. The May 1, 1989 elections were held in compliance with legal democratic norms. The opposition received broad organizational and propaganda opportunities, with the only exception of the Communist Party ^[7] . Rodriguez was elected President; Colorado won the majority of the seats in Parliament. Elections were recognized in the world as legitimate and democratic. On August 15, 1989, Andres Rodriguez took office as President of Paraguay . At the same time, he remained in military service and for the first time in the military history of Paraguay wore the rank of army general ^[2] .

In general, over the years of the presidency of Andres Rodriguez, the norms of representative democracy have been established in Paraguay. On June 22, 1992, Rodriguez signed into law a new constitution that would guarantee civil rights and political freedoms, limiting presidential rule to one five-year term.

In economics, Rodriguez’s course was neoliberal . The liberal technocrat Eladio Loisaga , who served as the chief of staff of the government, acted as strategist and coordinator of economic policy. Structures that had the status of state-owned companies under Stressner were privatized. The results were twofold. On the one hand, Paraguay has seen significant economic growth, and on the other, a serious financial crisis.

Rodriguez’s international politics was based on participation in Mercosur . The new government departed from Stroessner's unilateral orientation toward Brazil, and developed relations with Argentina , Uruguay , and Bolivia . Democratic transit made it possible to resolve relations with the United States that became aggravated in the last period of the stronistic regime.

The flip side of this period was the state “drug policy” ^[15] , which, according to a number of estimates, has received even greater proportions than under Stressner. There was no official confirmation, but media investigators qualified Rodriguez as the head of a powerful system of transnational drug trafficking ^[16] .

The presidential term of Andres Rodriguez ended on August 15, 1993 (Rodriguez's successor was the Minister of his Government, Juan Carlos Wasmosi ). Having left the army on the same day, he became a lifelong senator ^[17] . Rodriguez's popularity by the end of his reign was very high.

Andres Rodriguez died of a serious illness in a New York hospital at the age of 73 years.

According to colleagues, Andres Rodriguez possessed a vivid charisma, enjoyed high authority and universal respect in the army. His command style was characterized as "fatherly." It is believed that no one else could lead the coup, because only on the orders of Rodriguez troops agreed to rebel against Stroessner ^[9] .

Andres Rodriguez was married, had three daughters ^[18] .