Partido Liberal

   / Liberal Party

   One of the two dominant political parties of Paraguay—the other is the Partido Colorado (Red Party). Beginning in the 1960s, the Partido Liberal formed part of the loyal opposition to the dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989.

   The party was founded in 1887 as the Centro Democrático (Democratic Center), though it would adopt the name Partido Liberal in 1893—liberal in the sense of laissez faire. Its roots, however, go back to the period following the War of the Triple Alliance (1865–1870), in which Paraguay, led by the dictator Francisco Solano López, fought the allied armies of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Solano López died in battle, Paraguay was soundly defeated, and political clubs emerged to compete in a new political environment. The forerunner of the Partido Liberal—the Gran Club (Great Club), also known as the Azules (Blues)—was founded by Paraguayan exiles who had been living in Argentina during the dictatorship and who had fought alongside the allies. Their rival, the Club del Pueblo (People’s Club), would evolve into the Partido Colorado. The parties differed largely in their attitude toward Solano López—the Liberals considered him a tyrant; the Colorados considered him a hero. Beyond that, little separated them. Both were conservative, and membership in a party or party faction was based not so much on ideology as on loyalty to a strongman, or caudillo, who would maneuver himself or his friends into power.

   Liberal administrations dominated the immediate postwar period, but the Colorados took control in 1878. The Liberals made a political comeback in 1904, coming to power in a revolution. Their downfall would be the Chaco Wars (1928–1930, 1932–1935) with Bolivia. Although Paraguay was victorious, the Liberals were criticized for their handling of the war, and discontent grew rampant within the military. When General Higinio Morínigo became president in 1940, he removed the Liberals from his government and sent their leaders into exile. In 1947, after the Colorados had eased themselves into the Morínigo administration, the Liberals joined two other exiled parties—the Partido Revolucionario Febrerista (PRF, February Revolutionary Party) and the Partido Comunista Paraguayo (PCP, Paraguayan Communist Party)—in a rebellion against Morínigo. The Colorados helped him crush the rebels and then took power for themselves, power they would retain until 2008, when Fernando Lugo, neither a Colorado nor a Liberal, was elected president.

   When Alfredo Stroessner established his dictatorship in 1954, supported by the Colorados and the military, the Liberals, like other Colorado opponents, were imprisoned or exiled. By the late 1950s, young militant exiles had formed guerrilla organizations, initiating armed struggle against Stroessner along the border with Argentina and Brazil. Liberals, for example, had formed the Movimiento 14 de Mayo para la Libertad Paraguaya (M-14, 14th of May Movement for Paraguayan Liberty). But the M-14 and their counterparts from other parties were quickly eliminated by the military, and by the early 1960s, some groups of exiles sought accommodation with Stroessner. In 1963 the Renovationists, a Liberal splinter group led by Carlos and Fernando Levi Ruffinelli, were allowed to return and to participate in elections as a loyal opposition. They were rewarded with seats in Congress and with sole ownership of the name Partido Liberal. They even provided a token presidential candidate, Ernesto Gavilán, to run against Stroessner. After losing, Gavilán was named ambassador to England.

   Although the Renovationists were regarded as traitors, other exiled groups joined the loyal opposition as well. The Febreristas were legalized in 1964. The traditional Liberals followed in 1967, legalized as the Partido Liberal Radical (PLR, Radical Liberal Party). In February 1977 left-wing PLR members formed the Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico (PLRA, Authentic Radical Liberal Party), which, unlike the PLR, fell outside the loyal opposition. In 1979 the PLRA and three other parties formed the Acuerdo Nacional (National Accord), calling for democratic rule. The leader of the PLRA, Domingo Laíno, lived in forced exile from 1982 to 1987. During that period, he made five unsuccessful attempts to reenter the country; each time he was violently turned away. On his fifth attempt, on 24 June 1986, he was accompanied by Robert White, the ambassador to Paraguay during the administration of President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), and by Roberto Asianin, a Uruguayan legislator. Police beat all three with truncheons.