- Andrés Rodríguez
Infobox_President|name=Andrés Rodríguez
nationality=Paraguayan
order= 47th President of Paraguay
term_start=February 3 ,1989
term_end=August 15 ,1993
predecessor=Alfredo Stroessner
successor=Juan Carlos Wasmosy
birth_date= birth date|1923|6|19|mf=y
birth_place=
death_date = death date and age|1997|4|21|1923|6|19|mf=y
death_place =
spouse=
party=
vicepresident=Andrés Rodríguez Pedotti (
June 19 ,1923 -April 21 ,1997 ) was the President ofParaguay fromFebruary 3 ,1989 toAugust 15 ,1993 . He assumed the presidency in acoup d'état againstAlfredo Stroessner .Background
Rodríguez had been closely linked to Stroessner, amassing a great deal of money from smuggling under that regime. He was also banned from the
United States on suspicion of profiting fromheroin trafficking.1989 Coup d'état
On
February 2 ,1989 , to the surprise of many, Rodríguez launched a coup, with the backing of much of theRoman Catholic Church and of the United States, who no longer valued Stroessner as an ally against international Communism. With this support, the coup quickly succeeded, with Stroessner fleeing the country within days.In order to satisfy his backers, Rodríguez abolished the
death penalty , withdrewmartial law and tried and imprisoned some leading members of the Stroessner government. He also instituted multi-party elections, the first of which he won, representing the Colorado Party.Resignation and death
Suffering from
cancer , he stood down in 1993 and was succeeded byJuan Carlos Wasmosy .He died from cancer at the age of 73 in 1997.
External links
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/north06.pdf]
John Kerry 's 1988 committee on foreign relations report (about the drug trade).
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