Paraguay: Election victory of Fernando Lugo - timeline
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Timeline
September 2007. Gen. (retd) Lino César Oviedo, Paraguay's former army chief, is released early from his sentence for leading a coup. February 2007. The leaders of several opposition parties, social movements, and other politically active groups, sign an agreement forming a "National Coalition" to contest the presidential elections due to be held in 2008. December 2006. Former President Luis González Macchi is convicted of illegal enrichment and of providing false testimony, and sentenced him to eight years in prison. June 2006. Macchi is sentenced to six years in prison for embezzling US$16 million of public funds arising from the sale of two state-owned banks that had collapsed between 1994 and 1998. March 2006. The Supreme Court rules by a margin of five votes to four that President Nicanor Duarte Frutos could simultaneously act as President of Paraguay and president of the Colorado Party (PC). January 2006. Capt. (retd) Napoleon Ortigoza Gomez, 73, described as Latin America's longest serving political prisoner, dies of heart failure at a hospital in Asunción (the capital). February 2005. Interior Minister Nelson Mora is dismissed after the body of Cecilia Cubas, the 32-year-old daughter of former President Raúl Cubas Grau, was discovered on the outskirts of Asunción. January 2005. Charges against Gen. (retd.) Oviedo, the former Paraguayan army chief, relating to a 1999 plot to destabilise the government of former President Luis González Macchi, are dismissed. August 2004. President Duarte Frutos declares three days of national mourning after a fire sweeps through a bustling supermarket at the Ycua Bolanos shopping centre in a suburb of Asuncion. The death toll is estimated at 464, with 409 people injured. June 2004. Gen. (retd.) Oviedo returns to Paraguay from exile and is arrested on charges of attempted murder and leading an attempted coup. October 2003. President Duarte Frutos unexpectedly orders the release and reinstatement of some 54 members of the armed forces and some civilians who had participated in the attempted military coup of May 2000. April 2003. Duarte Frutos, the presidential candidate of the ruling Colorado Party (PC) and Luis Castiglioni, his vice presidential running mate, secure a comfortable victory in the presidential election. February 2003. The Senate approves impeachment charges against President Macchi. September 2002. Civic protest groups organise a national day of protest ("day of shame") after publication of a report in which Paraguay is listed as the most corrupt country in Latin America and the third most corrupt in the world. July 2002. Macchi declares a state of emergency following the deaths of at least two demonstrators in clashes with the police in the city of Ciudad del Este. June 2002. Macchi orders the "indefinite" suspension of the planned privatisation of Copaco, the state owned telecommunications company. April 2002. Macchi is formally charged following his alleged role in the illegal diversion of US$16 million of public funds into high-interest bank accounts in the USA. March 2002. A faction within the PC splits from the party in order to establish the Unión Nacional de Ciudadanos Eticos (UNACE), a vehicle to support the proposed candidacy of the exiled Gen. (retd.) Oviedo. February 2002. Former president Raúl Cubas Grau, who had resigned and gone into exile in Brazil following the assassination of Vice President Luis Maria Argaña Ferraro in 1999, voluntarily returns to Paraguay in order to face trial on charges relating to the deaths of four demonstrators. September 2001. An attempt by the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) to impeach President Macchi on corruption charges fails when a vote on initiating impeachment proceedings does not secure the required two-thirds majority of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house). May 2000. The armed forces quash an attempt to overthrow Macchi's government by alleged supporters of Gen. (retd.) Oviedo. March 1999. Vice President Luis María Argaña Ferraro is shot dead in Asunción, when three men in military uniform open fire on his car. August 1998. Cubas assumes the presidency of Paraguay, beating Domingo Laíno of the opposition party Democratic Alliance. May 1993. Paraguay's first fully democratic elections are held, in the presence of 200 international observers; Juan Carlos Wasmosy, candidate of the ruling ANR-PC, receives 40.9 per cent of the vote. June 1992. President Andrés Rodríguez swears allegiance to a new constitution which imposes a ban on presidents standing for re-election. February 1989. After 34 years of uninterrupted dictatorial rule, President Alfredo Stroessner, 76, is overthrown following a violent coup. February 1988. Stroessner is re-elected as President the eighth consecutive time since 1954. July 1986. US-Paraguayan relations deteriorate when Robert Gelbard, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs raises concerns over human rights abuses and the lack of freedom of speech during an official visit to Paraguay. February 1983. Stroessner is re-elected for his seventh consecutive five-year term of office. February 1978. Stroessner is confirmed in office as president of Paraguay for a sixth successive five-year term. June 1977. Stroessner presides over the third congress of the Latin American Anti-Communist Confederation, which is hosted in Asunción. February 1973. Stroessner is re-elected for a fifth five-year term at president. February 1968. Stroessner is re-elected to the Presidency for a further five-year term. July 1965. Stroessner sends troops to support the US Marines in the Dominican Republic. February 1963. Stroessner is re-elected as President of Paraguay. February 1958. Stroessner is re-elected for a further five-year term. July 1954. Stroessner, official nominee of the PC, is elected President of Paraguay in an election at which he is the only candidate. 1887. The PC is founded by Bernardino Caballero. May 17, 1811. Paraguayan colonists declare their independence from Spain. Aug. 15, 1537. Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (present-day Asunción) is founded.
