Higinio Nicolás Morínigo Martínez (11 January 1897 – 27 January 1983) was a Paraguayan military officer and politician who served as the 35th
president of Paraguay
The president of Paraguay (), officially known as the president of the Republic of Paraguay (), is the head of the executive branch of the government of Paraguay, serving as both head of state and head of government according to the Constitu ...
mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
family, Morínigo pursued a military career, serving as a prominent officer of the
Paraguayan Army
The Paraguayan Army () is the ground force branch of the Armed Forces of Paraguay. It is organized into three corps and nine divisions, and several commands and direction. It has gone to war on many occasions, notably in the War of the Triple A ...
during the
Chaco War
The Chaco War (, liberal President Félix Paiva. In May 1940, Morínigo was appointed Minister of War by President José Félix Estigarribia. After Estigarribia's death on 7 September, Morínigo succeeded him as
acting president
An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or visiting abroad) or when the post is vacant (such as for death
Death is the en ...
.
Due to the new constitution enacted by Estigarribia shortly before his death, which gave immense power to the president, Morínigo was able to establish a military dictatorship. In 1943, after three years serving as acting president, Morínigo was elected to a full term, having run unopposed as all political parties were banned.
He was overthrown and was forced to resign in 1948 due to suspicions that he wanted to perpetuate himself in power, despite Juan Natalicio González being chosen as his successor, he was replaced by then President of the Supreme Court of JusticeJuan Manuel Frutos as Provisional President.
Early life and military career
Higinio Nicolás Morínigo Martínez was born on 11 January 1897 in
Paraguarí
Paraguarí (; ) is a city, '' distrito'' and capital of Paraguarí Department in Paraguay, located 66 km from the country's capital, Asunción. At the 2002 census it had a population of 22,154.
,
Paraguarí Department
Paraguarí (; Guaraní: Paraguari) is a '' departamento'' in Paraguay. At the 2002 census it had a population of 221,932.mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
family of merchants. He grew up speaking both
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
and Guarani.
He attended military college and entered the
Paraguayan Army
The Paraguayan Army () is the ground force branch of the Armed Forces of Paraguay. It is organized into three corps and nine divisions, and several commands and direction. It has gone to war on many occasions, notably in the War of the Triple A ...
Francisco Solano López
Francisco Solano López Carrillo (24 July 1827 or 1826 – 1 March 1870) was a Paraguay, Paraguayan statesman, Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician who served as President of Paraguay between 1862 and 1870, of which he serve ...
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world.
The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
, promoted Morínigo to general and appointed him as Minister of War on May 2, 1940.
After Estigarribia's unexpected death in an airplane crash on September 7, Morínigo was chosen by the army and Liberal ministers as interim President for the two-month period leading to new Presidential elections.
Dictatorship (1940-1948)
On September 30, 1940, after growing disagreements with the President, the Liberal ministers resigned from the government. On October 16 Morínigo announced that the presidential election would be postponed for two years. Soon afterward he announced a policy of "discipline, hierarchy and order" ''(disciplina, jerarquia, y orden)'' and stated that persons who spread subversive ideas would be "subject to confinement".
On November 30, Morínigo banned all political parties and imposed a state of siege, which gave him the right to suspend civil liberties and arrest and detain people without trial. In a midday radio address announcing these measures, Morínigo declared, "The people and the Army from this moment will be under a single command." In his
self-coup
A self-coup, also called an autocoup () or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters. The le ...
and subsequent rule, he was greatly assisted by the 1940 Constitution, a severely authoritarian document written by Estigarribia a few months earlier that gave the president sweeping executive powers.
To strengthen his authority, on February 4, 1941, Morínigo removed the influential Colonel Peredes from the post of
interior minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
. On April 17, 1941, he suppressed a ''febrerista'' uprising by supporters of the
February Revolution
The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...
.
On April 25, 1942, he banned the Liberal Party, accusing them of conspiring with the
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
ns and exiled Party's leaders. Morínigo's only remaining supporters were radicals from the Colorado Party and the Army. During his dictatorship he faced widespread resistance, including
general strike
A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...
s and military revolts, but he survived by maintaining the loyalty of the Paraguayan Army, which received 45% of the country's budget.
Morínigo relied on the right-wing Colorado faction '' Guión Rojo'' (the "Red Banner"), led by Juan Natalico Gonzalez, as a paramilitary police force to intimidate ''febreristas'' and Liberals. Opposition newspapers were shut down and publishers exiled.
Morínigo finally held presidential elections on February 15, 1943; he was the sole candidate.
Pro-fascist sympathies
Just as in other South American countries, pro-
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
and pro-
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
sympathies at this time were quite strong in the society and among military officers. After it entered
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in 1941, the United States tried to exert some pressure on Morínigo to limit the influence of
Axis
An axis (: axes) may refer to:
Mathematics
*A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular:
** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system
*** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...
supporters. He kept Paraguay neutral for most of the war. He only officially declared war against the Axis in February 1945, without sending any soldiers to fight.
A surge of German influence in the region and Argentina's pro-Axis leanings alarmed the United States, which sought to wean Paraguay away from German and Argentine influence. At the same time, the United States sought to enhance its presence in the region and pursued close cooperation with Brazil, Argentina's traditional rival. To this end, the United States provided to Paraguay sizable amounts of funds and supplies under the
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft)
* 28 naval vessels:
** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign)
* ...
Agreement, provided loans for public works, and gave technical assistance in agriculture and health care. The
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...
approved of closer ties between Brazil and Paraguay and especially supported Brazil's offer to finance a road project designed to reduce Paraguay's dependence on Argentina.
United States protests over German and Argentine activities in Paraguay fell on deaf ears. While the United States defined its interests in terms of resisting the fascist threat, Paraguayan officials believed their best interests lay in economic expediency and were reluctant to antagonize Germany until the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt. Many Paraguayans believed Germany was no more of a threat to Paraguay's
sovereignty
Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
than the United States.
Much to the displeasure of the United States and Britain, Morínigo refused to act against German economic and diplomatic interests until the very end of the war. German agents had successfully converted many Paraguayans to the Axis cause. South America's first
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
branch had been founded in Paraguay in 1931. German immigrant schools, churches, hospitals, farmers' cooperatives, youth groups, and charitable societies became active Axis backers. All of those organizations prominently displayed
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
s and portraits of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
.
Morínigo's regime was pro-Axis. Large numbers of Paraguayan military officers and government officials were openly sympathetic to the Axis. Among these officials was the national police chief, who named his son Adolfo Hirohito after the best-known Axis leaders. By 1941, the official newspaper ''El País'' had adopted an overtly pro-German stance. At the same time, the government strictly controlled pro- Allied labor unions. Police cadets wore swastikas and Italian insignia on their uniforms.
The December 1941 Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...
and Germany's declaration of war against the United States gave the United States the leverage it needed, however, to force Morínigo to commit himself publicly to the Allied cause. Morínigo officially severed diplomatic relations with the Axis countries in 1942, although he did not declare war against Germany until February 1945. Nonetheless, Morínigo continued to maintain close relations with the heavily German-influenced Argentine military throughout the war and provided a haven for Axis spies and agents.
The outbreak of World War II eased Morínigo's task of ruling Paraguay while keeping the army happy, because it stimulated demand for Paraguayan export products, such as meat, hides, and cotton, and boosted the country's export earnings. More important, United States policy toward Latin America at this time made Paraguay eligible for major economic assistance. Paraguay received American financial help which was used for improving roads and other infrastructure projects.
Postwar liberalization
Pressure from the US for democratization swept South America after the war. On June 9, 1946, Morínigo dismissed Colonel Benitez Vera, the right-wing head of the army, and crushed a short uprising by Vera's supporters. He then created a civilian coalition government formed by Colorado Party members and leftist ''febreristas'', followers of former dictator Rafael Franco and allowed some political freedoms, going so far as legalizing the Paraguayan Communist Party. Despite all this, in September 1946 he ordered suppression of opposition groups and used the Red Banner paramilitary group to attack the office of the Liberal newspaper ''El País''.
Civil war of 1947
Feeling that Morínigo was favouring the right-wing Colorados, the ''febreristas'' made common cause with the Liberal Party and the Communist Party in the Civil War of 1947.
The relaxation of the dictatorship was used by political parties to assert their influence in state institutions. In January 1947 officers loyal to the Colorado Party gained control of the army, and on January 11 ''febreristas'' quit the government and called on the army to overthrow Morínigo, who responded by declaring a state of siege and arresting ''febreristas'', Liberals and Communists.
On March 7 a bloody civil war started. Despite the fact that 80% of soldiers and 90% of officers were against him, Morínigo had the backing of Colorado party militias and Argentinian President Juan Peron; he managed to win a conflict that caused many thousand deaths and up to 300,000 people to flee as refugees. The future dictator
Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan politician, army general and Military dictatorship, military dictator who ruled as the 42nd president of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 until his overthrow in 19 ...
was one of the few officers who remained loyal to Morínigo during the civil war. For the next 15 years, the Colorados were the only legal party in Paraguay.
Removal from power
On February 15, 1948, Morínigo organized presidential elections which were won by the only candidate allowed to run, Juan Natalicio González —leader of the Colorado Party's Red Banner faction In return for his support of Gonzalez for president, Morínigo would have continued as commander-in-chief once he relinquished the presidency. Suspecting that Morínigo intended to use this as a means to retain power, on June 3 some Colorado Party loyalists under Felipe Molas López revolted and sent him into exile in Argentina. Supreme Court Chief Justice Juan Manuel Frutos was sworn in as interim president, serving the last two months of Morínigo's term until González was officially inaugurated on August 15, 1948."Paraguay President Deposed by Army," ''El Paso Herald-Post'', June 3, 1948, p. 1
Honors and awards
* : Collar of the
Order of the Liberator General San Martín
The Order of the Liberator General San Martín () is the highest decoration in Argentina. It is awarded to foreign politicians or military, deemed worthy of the highest recognition from Argentina. It is granted by the sitting President of Argenti ...
* : Grand Collar of the
Order of the Condor of the Andes
The Order of the Condor of the Andes () is a state decoration of the Plurinational State of Bolivia instituted on 12 April 1925. The Order is awarded for exceptional merit, either civil or military, shown by Bolivians or foreign nationals. The ...
* :
** Grand Cross of the
Order of the Southern Cross
The National Order of the Southern Cross () is a Brazilian Orders, decorations, and medals of Brazil, order of chivalry founded by List of monarchs of Brazil, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, Pedro I on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate ...
Valparaíso
Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
Order of the Aztec Eagle
The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle () forms part of the Mexican Honors System and is the highest Mexican order awarded to foreigners.
History
It was created by decree on December 29, 1933, by President Abelardo L. Rodríguez as a reward to ...