|
Paraguay The United States
Between World War II and the late 1970s, foreign relations
between Paraguay and the United States were largely conditioned by
a complementarity of security interests, the United States
interests in trade and investment, and Paraguay's desire for
development assistance. Stroessner, believing his government to be
threatened by subversive communist elements from inside and outside
Paraguay, was one of the staunchest supporters of United States
security policies in the hemisphere. On security issues that were
raised in the OAS and the UN, Paraguay voted with the United States
more consistently than did any other South American country.
In the late 1970s, however, the relationship began to falter as
a result of human rights abuses and the absence of political
reform. The United States concern with these issues became public
after President Jimmy Carter appointed Robert White as ambassador
to Asunción and persisted through the administration of Ronald
Reagan. Ambassador Arthur Davis (1982-85) often invited prominent
members of the National Accord to official embassy functions. He
also cancelled performances by a United States Army band and a
parachute team at the May 1984 Independence Day celebration as a
personal protest against the closing of ABC Color.
Concern over political developments in Paraguay continued to be
manifested during the tenure of United States ambassador Clyde
Taylor (1985-88). Taylor met frequently with members of the
opposition, protested the continued shutdown of ABC Color,
the harassment of Radio Ñandutí, and the exile of Domingo Laíno.
Taylor was criticized by Paraguayan officials, including Minister
of Interior Sabino Montanaro, and other members of the Colorado
Party. On February 9, 1987, Taylor was teargassed while attending
a reception in his honor sponsored by Women for Democracy, an antiStroessner group.
The United States strongly supported the evolution of a more
open political system with freedom of the press and expression and
the participation of all democratic parties. In June 1987,
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Elliott
Abrams, noted that there were some indications of an improving
political climate, which, if continued, could benefit relations
between the two countries. He urged the government of Paraguay to
institute democracy in order to avoid a rift with the United States
and unrest within Paraguay itself. Abrams also was criticized by
members of the Colorado Party. The Congress of the United States
actively supported the Reagan administration's position on human
rights and Paraguay's transition to democracy.
Foreign relations between the United States and Paraguay were
also adversely affected by the involvement of some members of
Stroessner's government in narcotics trafficking
(see Crime
, ch.
5). A 1986 report to the United States House of Representatives
stated that there was evidence of military collaboration and even
active participation in the operation of cocaine laboratories. In
1987 Taylor, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for
international narcotics matters, stated that the level of narcotics
trafficking in Paraguay could not have been reached without
official protection. In its 1988 annual narcotics report, the
United States Department of State also concluded that Paraguay was
" a significant money-laundering location for narcotics traffickers
due to lax government controls." An investigative story by Cox
Newspapers in October 1988 charged that Gustavo Stroessner
collected payoffs from all narcotics traffickers conducting
business in Paraguay.
In accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the
Reagan administration certified to Congress in 1988 that the
Paraguayan government was fully cooperating with United States drug
enforcement efforts. The administration based this certification,
however, on its own national interests rather than on specific
actions of the Paraguayan government. Three factors motivated the
administration to issue the certification. First, the
administration believed that it needed additional time to test the
sincerity of Stroessner's professed willingness to cooperate in
controlling drugs. In 1987 the United States provided Paraguay with
a US$200,000 grant to train and equip an antinarcotics unit. The
following year the United States Drug Enforcement Administration
reopened a station in Asunción after a seven-year absence. Second,
the administration feared that decertification could jeopardize the
Peace Corps' substantial presence in Paraguay. In 1987 US$2 million
was earmarked to support Peace Corps activities in Paraguay.
Finally, the administration contended that certification enhanced
the ability of the United States to encourage democratic reform in
Paraguay.
Economic relations between the United States and Paraguay were
minimal in the late 1980s. The United States invested only a small
amount in Paraguayan banking and agriculture and conducted little
trade
(see External Trade
, ch. 3). In January 1987, by an executive
order of President Reagan, Paraguay was suspended from receiving
benefits through its membership in the Generalized System of
Preferences. Although Paraguay still belonged to the system, it
could no longer take advantage of the preferential tariff treatment
for its exports to the United States. Despite the relatively low
level of its exports, observers regarded the suspension as
symbolically important. As of mid-1988, the suspension remained in
effect.
At the end of 1988, both continuity and change marked the
Paraguayan political system. The government continued to take a
strong stand against political dissidents, and PLRA leaders were
periodically detained to prevent them from staging rallies. The PDC
suspended its planned national convention after the minister of
interior refused to authorize it. Students belonging to the MDP
were arrested for putting up the movement's posters. Police
arrested five former priests from Western Europe, accused them of
belonging to an extremist organization, and deported them to
Argentina. At the same time, however, signs of political change
appeared. A silent protest march sponsored by the Roman Catholic
Church attracted an estimated 50,000 participants, making it the
largest opposition event of the Stroessner era. When Chilean voters
rejected the bid by Augusto Pinochet Ugarte to extend military rule
well into the 1990s, the prospect of a civilian president in Chile
by 1990 only served to further isolate Stroessner from the
democratic trend sweeping South America. Finally, the seventy-six-
year-old general's cancellation of public appearances in September
because of health problems caused many to speak openly of a postStroessner Paraguay.
* * *
There is little available literature in English on politics in
contemporary Paraguay. The best recent book is Paul H. Lewis's
Paraguay Under Stroessner, which covers the period up to the
late 1970s. Somewhat more information is available in chapter or
article form. The chapter, "Paraguay," in Adrian J. English's
Armed Forces of Latin America is a good overview of this
topic with some political background. R. Andrew Nickson's "Tyranny
and Longevity: Stroessner's Paraguay" is the best recent overview
of the political situation, and Thomas G. Sanders's Prospects
for Political Change in Paraguay is equally good but slightly
dated. More dated is Riordan Roett and Amparo Menéndez-Carrión's
"Authoritarian Paraguay: The Personalist Tradition." Also very
useful are the articles published periodically by John Hoyt
Williams in Current History and by Williams and J. Eliseo da
Rosa in The Latin America and Caribbean Contemporary Record.
(For further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1988
|
