Editing History of Paraguay (section)

==Stroessner dictatorship, 1954–89==
{{main|El Stronato}}
As one of the few officers who had remained loyal to Moríñigo, Stroessner became a formidable player once he entered the higher echelons of the armed forces. On 4 May 1954, [[Alfredo Stroessner]] enacted a [[coup d'état]] against then-President [[Federico Chaves]]. Fierce resistance by police left almost fifty dead.

Brazil's financing of the US$19&nbsp;billion [[Itaipú Dam]] on the [[Paraná River]] between Paraguay and Brazil had far-reaching consequences for Paraguay; it had no means of contributing financially to the construction, but its cooperation, including controversial [[Concession (politics)|concession]]s regarding ownership of the construction site and the rates for which Paraguay agreed to sell its share of the electricity, was essential. Itaipú gave Paraguay's economy a new source of wealth. The construction produced a tremendous economic boom, as thousands of Paraguayans who had never before held a regular job went to work on the enormous dam. From 1973 (when construction began) until 1982 (when it ended), [[gross domestic product]] grew more than 8% annually, double the rate for the previous decade and higher than growth rates in most other Latin American countries. [[Foreign exchange reserves|Foreign exchange]] earnings from electricity sales to Brazil soared, and the newly employed Paraguayan workforce stimulated domestic demand, bringing about a rapid expansion in the agricultural sector.<ref name=locstronato>{{citation-attribution|1=Richard S. Sacks. "The Stronato". In Hanratty, Dannin M. & Sandra W. Meditz. [http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/pytoc.html ''Paraguay: a country study'']. [[Library of Congress]] [[Federal Research Division]] (December 1988). }}</ref>

Beyond the financial support he received from the United States – which supported his anti-communist struggle –, Stroessner's dictatorship was characterized by corruption and the distribution of favors among what was known as "the trilogy": the government, the Colorado Party and the armed forces. Smuggling – geographically favoured by Paraguay's location between Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia – became one of the main sources of income, from alcohol and drugs to cars and exotic animals. Some estimate that the volume of smuggling was three times the official export figure, and Stroessner used some of that money, as well as slices of major infrastructure works and the delivery of land, to buy the loyalty of his officers, many of whom amassed huge fortunes and large estates.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-47098176|title = Cómo el régimen de Alfredo Stroessner convirtió a Paraguay en uno de los países más desiguales del mundo|newspaper = BBC News Mundo}}</ref>

The concentration of wealth and land in the hands of a few made Paraguay the most unequal country on the planet. Humanitarian organizations such as Oxfam and Amnesty International have denounced that it continues to have one of the highest rates of land concentration in Latin America. According to Oxfam, 1.6% of the population owns 80% of the land. And, according to Oxfam, stronism is directly responsible: between 1954 and 1989 some 8 million hectares were distributed irregularly among friends of power, he says. That's a third of arable land.<ref name=":0" />

On 3 February 1989, Stroessner was overthrown in a [[Coup d'état|counter-coup]] headed by his close associate General [[Andrés Rodríguez (politician)|Andrés Rodríguez]]. He went into exile in Brazil, where he died in 2006. At the time of his death, Stroessner was the defendant in several human rights cases in Paraguay. President Rodríguez instituted political, legal, and economic reforms and initiated a [[rapprochement]] with the international community. In the municipal elections of 1991, opposition candidates won several major [[List of cities in Paraguay|urban center]]s, including Asunción.