Under the Flags, the Sun

For 35 years, Gen. Don Alfredo Stroessner led the land-locked Latin American nation of Paraguay, heading up one of the planet’s longest-lasting authoritarian dictatorships, holding power from 1954 until his ouster by a supposedly trusted political colleague in 1989. Like many comparable autocrats of his day, he built and oversaw a carefully crafted cult of personality characterized by unrelenting right-wing policies and ideology and backed by a solid core of staunch religionist, anti-Communist, anti-trade union followers in his all-powerful Colorado Party (the dominant political organization s…