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Paraguay FOREIGN RELATIONS
Since gaining independence, Paraguay's fortunes have been
largely determined by its relationships with its immediate
neighbors. Like Uruguay to the south, it is a buffer state
separating Brazil and Argentina--the two largest countries in South
America--and, like Bolivia to the west, it is landlocked. The
circumstance of being landlocked has historically led the country
alternately into isolationism and expansionism; its buffer status
has underwritten its sovereignty. Paraguay's foreign policy has
traditionally aimed at striking a balance between the influence of
its two large neighbors.
Foreign policy under Stroessner was based on two major
principles: nonintervention in the affairs of other countries and
no relations with countries under Marxist governments. The only
exception to the second principle was Yugoslavia. Paraguay
maintained relations with Taiwan and did not recognize China. It
had relations with South Africa but not with Angola or Mozambique.
Paraguay broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1959 after the
Castro government provided support to Paraguayan radicals. It
terminated relations with Nicaragua in 1980 after the assassination
in Asunción of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the deposed Nicaraguan
dictator. It was a member of the United Nations (UN), the
Organization of American States (OAS), and the Latin American
Integration Association, and a signatory of the 1947 Inter-American
Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty).
Data as of December 1988
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