Alfredo Stroessner (redirected from Strossner)

Stroessner, Alfredo 

Born Nov. 3, 1912, in Encarnación. Paraguayan state figure.

Born of a well-to-do German settlers” family, Stroessner took up a military career. In 1948 he became a brigadier general, and in 1952 commander in chief of the armed forces of Paraguay. In 1954 he overthrew President F. Chavez in a military coup and, with the support of the army, had himself elected president. Upon taking power, Stroessner established a military and police dictatorship, which defended the interests of the reactionary local latifundistas and of the comprador bourgeoisie, as well as the interests of foreign, chiefly North American, companies. In foreign policy, Stroessner has maintained a course of rapprochement with the most reactionary regimes in Latin America and elsewhere. He was “reelected” president for the fifth time in 1973.