Alfredo Stroessner (born 1912) became president of Paraguay in 1954, and ruled as a dictator until he was overthrown and forced into exile in 1989.

Alfredo Stroessner was born on Nov. 3, 1912, at the southeastern Paraguayan border city of Encarnación. His father, Hugo Stroessner, was a German immigrant who became a mechanic and ironworker. His mother, Heriberta Matiauda, was the daughter of a prominent Encarnación family whose roots stemmed from Paraguay's independence era. His wife, Eligia Mora Delgado, was likewise a descendant of an old Paraguayan family. The Stroessners had two sons and a daughter.

A dedicated professional soldier with an unswerving sense of patriotism, Stroessner began his military career at the outbreak of the Chaco War with Bolivia. First serving at the siege of Paraguay's Boquerón outpost in September 1932 as a military college cadet commanding an infantry platoon, he was subsequently commissioned in the field...