The German Dictator in Paraguay - from the Records of the Foreign Office (May 2020)
In 1954, General Alfredo Stroessner had taken power in Paraguay. The first in the long line of South American dictators. His father had inmigrated from the Bavarian town Hof, and Alfredo admired the German art of warfare. During the following 35 years his regime tortured tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands fled. This could happen because the Federal Security Council - a Cabinet committee that meets in secret - approved requests for export of military weapons made in Germany.
When the Nazis capitulated unconditionally in 1945, the Allies wanted to prevent German militarism from resurging and disbanded the armaments companies. The constitution of the young state of Bonn speaks a clear language. Article 26 of the Basic Law is valid until today. “Acts tending to and undertaken with intent to disturb the peaceful relations between nations shall be unconstitutional. They shall be criminalized.“
That was in 1949. But in 1955, the German army, the Bundeswehr, was founded and the Federal Republic became a NATO member. Arms exports started again, initially to Israel, followed by other NATO countries. And even bloody dictatorships were supplied with weapons of war. Paraguay for example.