Rodriguez Pedotti, Andres

▪ 1998

      Paraguayan politician (b. June 19, 1923, Borja, Paraguay—d. April 21, 1997, New York, N.Y.), served (1989-93) as president of Paraguay after leading the coup that overthrew the nearly 35-year-old dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner. He succeeded in establishing a democracy and restoring civil liberties and conducted the first truly free elections in Paraguay's history as an independent nation. Rodríguez's army career began (1942) with his entrance into the country's military academy, from which he graduated four years later. A captain when Stroessner became president in 1954, Rodríguez began rising in the ranks with his promotion (1961) to colonel and assumption of command of the important 1st Cavalry Division. He became brigadier general in 1967 and general in 1970, by then second in command only to Stroessner himself. He became wealthy in this post through the ownership of a number of businesses, and it was rumoured, though never proved, that he was also involved in drug smuggling. Nonetheless, despite his powerful position, in 1989 Rodríguez, who had become commander of the 1st Army Corps, staged a bloody coup, declared himself acting president, and three months later was elected to a four-year term. In 1993 he kept his promise to give up power to the civilian winner of a democratic election and turned the office over to Juan Carlos Wasmosy. Rodríguez then retired from the army and was named a senator for life.

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