ICTJ Activity
Paraguay
has struggled to overcome the legacy of a police state that inflicted torture,
exile, and forced disappearances on its people. In May 2003 the president of
the Senate Committee on Human Rights and the Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos del Paraguay (CODEHUPY), a
local network of human rights NGOs, requested the ICTJ's assistance. Networks
and Capacity Building Director Louis Bickford
and a consultant traveled to Asunción to consider the establishment of a Truth
and Justice Commission (CVJ), discuss the draft law setting it up, provide
assistance to government officials and civil society organizations, and gain a
better understanding of the country's broad transitional justice challenges.
In September 2003 Parliament passed a law to establish the Commission, integrating
many of the Center's comments. In October 2003 a former ICTJ senior associate
conducted a two-day workshop for NGO and victims' group representatives that
covered several aspects of the launch of the CVJ. It was formally established in
June 2004 with a mandate to provide a historical record of the Stroessner
dictatorship and contribute to prosecutorial efforts. The Center helped the
Commission address operational start-up issues by facilitating contact with
leaders of other truth-seeking initiatives.
Since its initial engagement the ICTJ has increasingly relied on another mechanism
to help strengthen the process in Paraguay: the Managing Truth
Commissions (MTC) affinity group, composed of current and former truth
commission professionals and convened by the ICTJ. Jorge Rolon, a member of the
Paraguayan Commission, has participated in MTC meetings, and MTC members,
including the former executive secretary of the Peruvian truth commission, Javier Ciurlizza, have made trips to Paraguay
to meet with commissioners and consult on various topics.
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Background
Beginning in 1954 the 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner
was marked by severe curtailment of political freedoms and systematic
harassment and persecution of regime opponents. Stroessner routinely employed
torture, murder, political purges, and rigged elections to maintain his hold on
power. In 1989 General Andrés Rodríguez overthrew Stroessner in a military coup
and began implementing democratic reforms, culminating in 1992 with the
adoption of a new constitution that included improved protections for
fundamental rights.
In a comprehensive effort to confront past human rights abuses committed during
the Stroessner period, a variety of human rights organizations, victims'
groups, and government offices in Paraguay are pursuing accountability,
justice, memory, and economic reparations.
In October 2003 the Paraguayan Congress created the CVJ to investigate human
rights violations committed from 1954 to 2003, with much of the focus on
violations committed under Stroessner. The Commission aims to identify
perpetrators and officially determine the number of disappeared persons.
Subsequently Parliament halved the Commission's budget, raising questions about
its ability to function effectively.
The Paraguayan government has also initiated a reparations program,
administered by the National Human Rights Commission, to compensate former
political prisoners and other victims of the Stroessner dictatorship. A total
of about 400 people will receive compensation.
President Stroessner died in exile in Brazil in August 2006. He had
wanted to travel to Paraguay,
but his attempts were forestalled and he was threatened if he returned with
arrest for his alleged involvement in Operation Condor, the joint initiative by
South American military governments to eliminate opponents. Coincidentally, the
day after his death the Dirección Nacional de Asuntos Técnicos (better known as
"la Técnica"), a former torture center, was reopened and dedicated as the
national Museo de la Memoria.
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(Updated June 2008)
