It was hardly a dignified scene for a former head of state. But for most Paraguayans, Cubas’s exile was a cause for celebration. In Asuncion, the capital, 70,000 demonstrators waved flags and danced, happy that a new government would be given the chance to reform a notoriously corrupt country. Shouts of “¡Viva la democracia!” echoed in the broad square in front of the Congress building. Luis Gonzalez Macchi, the Senate president, was sworn in as president, and he patched together a coalition government. He ordered the arrest of several allies of Cubas, including his closest cohort, Gen. Lino Oviedo, the former Army chief and coup plotter. Oviedo seems safe, however: He has been granted asylum by Argentina.
It was hard to imagine, but 24 hours before the celebration Asuncion’s central square had been a battleground. Snipers fired from building tops, and rival blocs of protesters hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at each other. Five people were killed and hundreds injured.
Cubas was an unpopular leader. His fall was the climax of a tumultuous seven-month struggle for control of the government, which for the better part of this century has been the tool of the monolithic Colorado Party. Since 1989, when Gen. Alfredo Stroessner was toppled after a 35-year rule, Paraguay has experienced a rough brand of democracy. But a war has raged within the Colorado Party. On one side stood Cubas and his khaki-clad political patron, Oviedo. On the other were allies of Vice President Luis Maria Argana, a Stroessner protege, who controlled the majority.
In recent years, whenever political trouble flared, Oviedo was always near. The general played a key role in overthrowing Stroessner and tried to do the same to elected President Juan Carlos Wasmosy, in 1996. After that coup attempt, the Supreme Court sentenced Oviedo to 10 years in jail–but Cubas pardoned him three days after taking office. That infuriated the opposition, led by Argana, and fueled a drive to impeach Cubas for defying the high court. Tensions exploded on March 23, after Argana was cut down by machine-gun fire while driving to work. In late March, Congress voted to impeach Cubas for alleged abuse of power, and the Senate put him on trial. On Sunday, March 28, after intense negotiations with foreign diplomats and the papal nuncio, Cubas resigned and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy.
The streets of Asuncion are now calm. But as always, there are political questions. An electoral tribunal ruled last week that general elections must be held by November. But Gonzalez Macchi has announced his intention to stay in office until 2003, completing Cubas’s original term. A labor lawyer who’s had an unremarkable career, Gonzalez Macchi knows he needs broad support to bury differences with the Colorado Party and to mend the frayed Paraguayan society. With Cubas and Oviedo gone, that might be possible. But stability is elusive in Paraguay. In the last half century, only one elected president has ever finished his term. Cubas might have been the second. Instead he is a disgraced Brazilian tourist.
