The history of the Paraguayan people has been a constant struggle against foreign imperialism. The Comuneros Revolution (1721-35) marked the very first stirrings in the whole continent against the Spaniards by the national bourgeoisie. Following its independence in 1811, Dr. Francia was forced to isolate Paraguay completely for thirty years in the face of aggression from Buenos Aires, with plans to turn Paraguay into a province of Argentina. During the Presidency of Carlos Antonio Lopez (1844-62), Yankee warships were sent 1,000 miles up the River Paraguay and threatened to bombard Asuncion if indemnity was not granted to a US company thrown out of Paraguay. Under Carlos Antonio Lopez, Paraguay pursued an independent development policy, A state control on the export of primary products ensured the ability to hire British technical assistance without the need to launch foreign loans and the introduction of foreign capital. The first rail and telegraph systems on the continent were built. Paraguay had its own iron foundry and shipbuilding yards.
This independent policy posed the only real obstacle to the expansion of British imperialism on the continent. The famous Treaty of the Triple Alliance was signed in 1865 in London pledging them to the complete destruction of Paraguay with the backing of British finance. By 1870 Paraguay lay desolate. The male population was reduced to 28,000 from 200,000. Territory was ceded to Brazil and Argentina and the huge state farms were sold off to British capitalists at ridiculously low prices. Laissez-faire governments, the puppets of British and Argentinian interests, remained in power for the next seventy years.
In 1932 Paraguay was again at war over disputed oil lands of the Chaco. Standard Oil which backed Bolivia fought Royal Dutch Shell Standard Oil by Paraguay's corrupt negotiators at the US engineered Peace Conference. Thirty thousand Paraguayans and twice as many Bolivians had lost their lives in the interests of foreign imperialism.
Since 1954 Stroessner has ruled Paraguay with an iron fist. A hundred and fifty long-term political prisoners rot in the police stations of Asuncion. None of them have ever been tried, and three of them- Antonio Maidana, Julio Rojas and Alfredo Alcorta, all members of the Central Committee of the Paraguayan Communist Party-have been in a cell measuring 4 x 4 metres for thirteen years. With a population of 2,400,000 inside the country, Paraguay also has another 800,000 living in exile. Rural liberation movements are suppressed by a half-crazy General called Patricio Colman who shows visitors jars containing the genitals of captured guerrillas which he preserves in formalin. Colman has the reputation of never taking prisoners alive and is the most feared man in Paraguay. In 1960-61 he ordered captured guerrillas to be thrown out of aeroplanes near Villarrica, to be hung by the throat on meat-hooks in Tava-i and to be drowned in the River and left to float downstream into Argentinian territory. Arbitrary arrest and torture is a daily occurrence in Paraguay. The system of internal repression is controlled by Dr. Antonio Campos Alum, a US-trained police officer who operates from the "Departmento Tecnico" of the Ministry of the Interior in the city centre. The most common torture used in Paraguay is called "la pileta" and consists of repeated submersion in water filled with excrement and vomit Paraguay is strategically situated in relation to the US imperialist policy of containment of the struggle for Latin American liberation. Santiago, Buenos Aires, La Paz, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo are all almost equidistant from Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. In April 1970 a huge US-financed 11,000 foot runway was completed at "President Stroessner" Airport near Asuncion. On 13th May this year a Lockheed Galaxy C5 troop-carrier, the largest plane in the world, touched down there after a 10½ hour direct demonstration flight from Altis airbase in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, far away in the Paraguayan Chaco another giant runway is being built under US supervision. Over 1000 military personnel from Paraguay have been trained in US and Canal Zone military schools Stroessner has signed the "Selden Resolution" which authorises the unilateral military intervention of US troops on Paraguayan soil in the event of US interests being endangered "in the general conflict between the Free World and Communism". US Air Force teams have finished mapping the whole country in minute detail.
Stroessner is the US's best friend in South aned ine en to At entina, Brazil and Uruguay, Paraguayan troops to Vietnam and was the first America. He has publicly offered to send person to send support troops for the US invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1964. He considers the US Ambassador to be "another member of my cabinet". However there has recently taken place the first disagreement with the US since Stroessner came to power.
For ever since Stroessner came to power, Paraguay has become a world centre for contrabard trade. The business is in the hands of top Army generals like Andres Rodriquez, who use planes originally donated by the US government to the Paraguayan Airforce to fly whisky and cigarettes over the border to Brazil and Argentina. In 1968 Paraguay replaced Hong Kong and Kuwait as the largest market for the export of US cigarettes. In the past few years, however, a similar trade has grown up in heroin smuggling-this time coming from France with the USA as the final destination. In October of last year five Paraguayans were arrested in Miami airport with 42 kilos of heroin valued at over 10 million dollars-the second largest drugs haul in US history at the time. Although placed in a Federal jail, within two months two of the five were back in Paraguay on a farm belonging to General Patricio Colman. Following pressure on Stroessner from the FBI, on 23rd March 1971 Auguste Ricord, the Mafia's top agent in Paraguay and a Frenchman, was arrested. A request for extradition by the US has so far been refused by Stroessner who fears that Ricord will reveal the complicity of the ruling military clique in the drugs smuggling. In retaliation the US cut Paraguay's sugar quota. For the first time since 1954 anti-American feeling was publicly expressed with the mild approval of the dictator.
The standard of living of the mass of the population is among the lowest in South A merica. Even government publications admit that the income per head in the agricultural sector fell 81 dollars per capita in 1970. Medical attention remains virtually non-existent outside the capital. Even today 2.6% of all landowners own 75% of the land surface. There is still no income tax in Paraguay. Unemployment and prostitution are rife.
The contradictions in Stroessner's Batistalie Paraguay are becoming more and more evident as opposition within the exploited majority grows. Grass-roots organisations called campesinos as food prices rise and the price they receive from traditional crops falls. The relations between the Church and Stroessner are at their worst ever following the prolonged torturing of a Uruguayan priest called Padre Monzon, who was accused by Stroessner of being a "Tupamaro" but was really a pawn in his constant harassment of hte Church's support of the "Ligas Agrarias".
With Presidential elections due in 1973, Stroessner has already been proposed as a candidate for the Colorado Party which he has converted into a political tool for the ruling military clique. But elections remain a farce in a Paraguay ruled by Stroessner and US imperialism.
Draft Resistance In Israel The following document, written by Israeli draft resisters, was sent to use from Jerusalem with the request to give it all publicity and support possible. The Israeli Revolutionary Action Committee Abroad (ISRACA) produced the following translation and is organising a campaign in uspport of Reuven Lassman, who has been arrested.
Tel-Aviv, August 2nd 1971 The Minister of Defence, Mr. M. Dayan, Ministry of Defence, hakiryan.
Tel-Aviv.
Sir, We are a group of young people on the eve of being drafted into the army. After prolonged deliberations we came to the conclusion that we cannot serve in this army ung people are dying in this country because of internal politics and not for noble values (as a recent research by Dr. Shlomo Aronson and Mr. D. Horowitz shows). An Israeli journalist who served during the last Inree israel wars stated: ror each soldier who dies in Suez, there is someone who becomes rich in Tel-Aviv."
We refuse to serve in an army of occupation. It has been demonstrated in history that occupation means ROOPS begets oppression; oppression begets terror and counter terror. WE WERE NOT BORN FREE IN ORDER TO BECOME OPPRESSORS. Oppression is not a good reason to die for. The cynical attitude of this government towards the lives of young people strengthened our refusal to become candidates for death notices. We do not want to be commemorated in some literary memorial volume. We have no intent to hurt the government but we do not want the government to put us in a state wherein nothing can hurt us any more.
We are determined to refuse to take part in the oppression of another people. WE REFUSE TO INFLICT UPON ANOTHER PEOPLE WHAT HAS BEEN INFLICTED UPON OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS We are fully aware that all mass-media in Israel are under government control and we are only four people who refuse to take orders from a regime that means notning to them We herewith enclose our drafting orders: NAME No. of identity Drafting Card cate Reuven Lassman 5173790 15. 8.1971 Dov Gal 6452580 15. 8.1971 Giyora Neumann 6494474 Irith Ya'acobi (Miss) 5173715 S1.11797 Copies: Israeli Chief of Staff; Chief of Manpower, Israeli Army; State Ombudsman; Mr. A. Zichroni, Barrister; UN representatives in Israel. Members of the Nesset, tne dratting orrices, Mr. H. sadok, chairman of Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset; Foreign and Israeli press.
Tremendous pressures were exerted on the four draftresisters. The Israeli weekly "Ha'olam Hazeh", like the rest of the Israeli press, denounced them as cowards and traitors.
As a result of this pressure all four had to run away from their homes. Dov Gal broke down and agreed to be drafted on the condition that he will be allowed to plead insanity in the army, Reuven Lassman was arrested, secretly, on 5.9.71 and taken to the notorious military prison no. 6 near Atlit. After a trial and prison sentence he will be drafted by force and imprisoned by the army.
Anyone who feels strongly about these issues or wants further information should contact: ISRACA, 219 Putney Bridge Road, London S.W.15.
Dear Editor,
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AUTOPIDAD CAMPESINOPE T JUSTICA
which backed Paraguay. Although Paraguay won the war and annexed the oil lands at the foothills of the Andes, they were returned to Bolivia and
Irish Solidarity Demo in Melbourne Australia ¡ RELEASE SRITLPOLITICA ST