Partido Revolucionario Febrerista

(PRF)

   / February Revolutionary Party

   A social-democratic political party in Paraguay. Beginning in 1964, it formed part of the loyal opposition to the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989.

   The Febreristas were founded by Colonel Rafael Franco after he came to power in the 1936 February Revolution, in which he overthrew a government controlled by the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party). A heterogeneous mix of anti-Liberals from across the political spectrum, including socialists and nationalists, the Febreristas managed to bring about a few social reforms before being ousted in a counterrevolution in August 1937. In the 1940s the Febreristas built support among students and trade unionists, hoping to rival the two dominant political parties in Paraguay—the Partido Liberal and the Partido Colorado (Red Party). Indeed, in 1946 a coalition government, formed by the dictator Higinio Morínigo, consisted of Colorados and Febreristas. The coalition, however, dissolved a year later after the two parties quarreled over cabinet seats, and the Colorados forced the Febreristas into exile. In March 1947 the Febreristas joined forces with two other exiled parties—the Partido Liberal and the Partido Comunista Paraguayo (PCP, Paraguayan Communist Party)—in a rebellion against Morínigo and the Colorados, but by August the Colorados had crushed the rebellion, and the Febreristas returned to exile.

   When Stroessner came to power, supported by the Colorados and the military, he repressed all opposition, and the Febreristas went into exile once again. In the late 1950s, young exiles from the opposition parties tried to overthrow Stroessner through armed insurrection, forming guerrilla groups that attacked Paraguayan outposts from across the border with Argentina and Brazil. Febrerista guerrillas formed the Vanguardia Febrerista, which, like its counterparts from the other parties, was quickly crushed by the military. By the early 1960s, the guerrilla option having failed miserably, the Febreristas and the Liberals reached an agreement with Stroessner—they would be allowed to return home and participate in elections as the loyal opposition. Together, the opposition parties would be allotted one-third of the seats in Congress, each party’s number depending on the received vote. The ruling party, the Colorados, would be allotted two-thirds. The Febreristas returned in 1964, but after so many years in exile, they lacked a strong political base and did poorly in elections. Weakened by infighting, the party fell under the control of student radicals, who ousted the older, less-extreme socialists. In 1973 the party stopped participating in elections against Stroessner.