Yearbook 2011
Paraguay. According to Countryaah official site, the Paraguayans went to the polls on October 9 in a referendum on a proposal by the government to allow expatriate citizens to vote and to stand in national elections. The turnout was very low, only 12.5%, but the proposal was approved. Three-quarters of a million Paraguayans live abroad, most in Argentina and Spain, and the potential electoral corps thus grew by almost 25%. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of PRY that stands for the country of Paraguay.
However, President Fernando Lugo himself will not be able to stand for re-election in 2013. On June 26, Congress voted against a proposal by Lugo’s Frente Guasú party to consult citizens in a referendum on a constitutional change with that meaning. Congress’s rejection of the proposal was not so much due to opposition to the constitutional amendment itself, but to the referendum instrument, which Lugo said he wanted to use to increase democracy in the country but which Congress sees as populism.
President Lugo intensified efforts to pacify northern Paraguay where a guerrilla group, Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP), has carried out armed actions in recent years. Among other things, two police officers were murdered at a police station on September 21. On October 10, a 60-day emergency was introduced in the provinces of Concepción and San Pedro for police and military to carry out clean-up operations in the area.
The greatest danger to Paraguay’s economy during the year was an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock in San Pedro, where the first cases were reported in mid-September. Paraguay is the world’s fourth largest meat exporter and with a value of about $ 881 million per year, meat exports have been behind most of the country’s very strong economic growth in recent years. The outbreak of illness was estimated to cost the country’s economy a total of $ 300-400 million before the danger is over.
History. – The peace treaty of 21 July 1938 attributed most of the disputed territory to Paraguay. In the same year, after 2 years of voluntary exile, the gen. José Felix Estigarribia, hero of the Chaco war, immediately appointed minister in Washington, while elections were held in September; In the meantime, the Congress extended the provisional presidency of Paiva, which on January 2, 1939 extended, to include fascism, the decree banning the teaching of anti-democratic doctrines, originally aimed against communism. Finally, on April 30, 1939, the Estigarribia was elected president, which endeavored to improve the economic conditions of the country, through a loan of 5 million dollars with the Export-and Import Bank of the USA and the competition of North American technicians. Furthermore, in order to remove traffic from the communication routes monopolized by Argentina, the construction of a railway towards the port of Santos was studied and a road between Asunción and Villarrica (220 km.) Was started; also concluding trade treaties with Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay. But at the beginning of 1940 the unrest began again; the Estigarribia assumed full powers, appointing together a commission to elaborate the project of a new constitution, then approved by the plebiscite of 4 August. Estigarribia then called the elections for November; but on 7 September he died in a plane crash.
The Cabinet appointed the Minister of War, gen. Higinio Morínigo, who immediately postponed the elections to 1943 and put aside various reforms studied by the Estigarribia, preparing to establish a dictatorial government and quelling two attempts at revolt.
Paraguay in 1941 participated in the Conference of the countries of Rio de la Plata, in June it concluded a trade treaty with Brazil, on December 10 it proclaimed itself fully in solidarity with the US in the face of Japanese aggression, therefore, after the Rio de Janeiro, broke off relations with the Tripartite countries.
But internally the repressive measures were barely enough to curb the discontent, which began to manifest itself with vivacity in 1942, was contained the following year thanks to the technical and financial help of the US, to the new commercial treaties with Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil (and exchange of visits between presidents Vargas and Morínigo) so that the plebiscite of February 15 extended the dictatorship for 5 years, suppressing the political parties; but, despite the announcement made by Morínigo of a five-year plan, it broke out in revolutionary attempts from the first months of 1944. Agreements with Brazil for the railroad were being pushed forward, while an extraordinary lean of the Paraguay river paralyzed communications and commerce. But the Morínigo, also abandoned by some friends, supported itself with police and repressive measures, while trying to be democratic, to keep the sympathies of the US, by supporting the UN, to adhere to the Bretton Woods accords and to conclude a trade treaty. Indeed in June 1946 he removed the quasi-fascist army commander col. Benítez, and suppressed the revolt that ensued; in July he re-established press freedom, formed a ministry mainly of civilians, with members of the Colorado and Febrerista (or “Francoist”, by R. Franco) parties, in August it recognized the legality of the Communist Party, in September it called elections to a ‘Constituent Assembly, for December. But in the same September he reorganized an entirely military cabinet. The political unrest became more intense and there was talk of communist plots, when in January 1947 the Morínigo,
But on 7 March the revolution broke out in Asunción and Concepción, led by R. Franco and A. Galleano (freed from prison). In Asunción the rebellion was soon quelled; but in Concepción it was maintained, thus giving rise to a real civil war, which reached the capital again in April and then in August when the rebels, already entered, caught between the defenders and a rescue column of the government, had to give up. A few days later, on August 25, the Morínigo granted an amnesty and promised elections. These took place on February 15, 1948, presenting himself as the only candidate, for the colorado party (the liberal and the febrerista had been suppressed after the revolt) the Minister of Finance, Natalicio González, designated by Morínigo himself. On 11 and 20 April the discovery of terrorist and communist plots was announced; but on June 3 a fraction (guión rojo “red guidone”) of the Colorado party and military groups carried out a bloodless coup that overthrew the Morínigo. The day after the Congress elected the President of the Supreme Court, M. Frutos, as provisional president, until the inauguration of González (August 15), which was overthrown on January 30, 1949 by a coup organized by the Minister of Molus López education. On 2 September 1948, with the appointment of a minister in Madrid, diplomatic relations with Spain were restored to normal.