• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Lino Oviedo's UNACE Party

The National Union of Ethical Citizens [Union Nacional de Ciudadanos Eticos UNACE] arose in 2002 when convicted coup plotter Lino Oviedo and a majority of his backers bolted from the Colorado Party. UNACE was characterized by one person, strongman leadership with most of its support found in rural and remote regions in Paraguay where the “strong caudillo” model is still popular. That style worked to UNACE’s advantage, compared to the factionalism of ANR and PLRA, because the senators and deputies vote with party discipline according to their leader’s instructions. Using that advantage, Oviedo negotiated with President Lugo to obtain key administrative positions in Congress, including the presidency of the Senate (a position of less practical importance but of elevated value in the political culture in Paraguay)

UNACE did remarkably well in the 2003 elections considering that its leader, Oviedo, was barred from running for office and the party equivocated for months whether to ally with the PLRA in the presidential contest or field its own candidate. It elected seven senators and ten deputies to the national Congress, but two of its senators and two of its deputies have since returned to the Colorado fold, including the former leader of UNACE's Senate bench. UNACE competed with the Colorado Party for votes in the countryside, and its deputies hailed from seven of the country's 17 interior departments. Despite his history of “golpista,” Oviedo’s party ran third behind the ANR and the APC (growing from 13.5 percent of the total votes in the 2003 elections to 22 percent in 2008). It had reasonably strong representation in Congress that elevates its negotiation power within congress.

Lino Oviedo was born September 23, 1943. His hometown, Juan de Mena, is approximately three hours northeast of Asuncion in the Cordillera department. Oviedo's father fought in the Chaco War (1932-1935) and the 1947 Civil War, but later bought and sold cattle for a living. His mother was a school teacher. Lino Oviedo was the fourth of his parents' five children (he has two brothers and two sisters). Oviedo's mother died away in 1993; his father was reportedly in ill health in 1995. Oviedo was married to Argentine Raquel Marin and has six children.

As a colonel in 1989, Oviedo was tasked with taking prisoner none other than Alfredo Stroessner, the feared dictator who had ruled Paraguay since 1954. The coup sent Stroessner into Brazilian exile, but did little to diminish the hold on Paraguayan politics that the Colorado Party had cemented. Oviedo's role in the ouster was rewarded with a meteoric rise through the ranks of the army. Oviedo was promoted to brigadier general three months after capturing Stroessner. By 1992, he had become a division general, and then President Juan Carlos Wasmosy named him army chief.

While Oviedo claimed that his only accumulated wealth relates to a few small factories his father left him, observers did not believe his statements. He was reputed to have a fortune which "remains intact." There were many allegations that much of his wealth was accumulated during his time as President Rodriguez' Chief of Staff - when Rodriguez served as protector for narcotics traffickers who used Paraguay as a base of international operations. Oviedo publicly purported to despise wealth, even campaigning in small towns with his pants pockets turned inside out.

In April 1996, a short-lived coup in which Oviedo participated and other maneuverings led to his firing and forced retirement. Oviedo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for trying to topple the government of then President Juan Carlos Wasmosy. Oviedo spent several years in exile in Argentina and Brazil before returning to Paraguay in 2004, when he was arrested.

A review of reporting since the early 1990's reveals a fairly consistent description of General Lino Oviedo's dominant personality traits: a strong, messianic leader with great ambition and perhaps some mental instability, undemocratic and violent tendencies, and a knack for deception and manipulation. A pragmatist who views relations with the United States as a necessary evil, Oviedo had both assumed anti-American positions and cravingly sought U.S. blessings. A populist, Oviedo's sympathies lay more with the authoritarian right than with the left.

When then-President Wasmosy passed a 1994 law proscribing political activity by police/military officials, Oviedo said "a person capable of... (silencing the military) has yet to be born in Paraguay. They want us to shut up and put our tails between our legs... Whether they like it or not, (the Paraguayan military) is the most firm and iron-willed defender of this democracy." Congress voted to condemn Oviedo's statements.

His advisors complained that he cannot be "handled" and that he frequently gets carried away and strays from his talking points, surprising his own team. Oviedo began giving a toast at a 1993 birthday party and ended his speech nearly called for a revolution.

Oviedo has taken several anti-U.S. stands in the past. In 1993, he publicly stated that only Japan and Germany provided substantial assistance to Paraguay, and that if the United States really wanted to help, it should provide low-interest loans on concessionary terms.

Oviedo strongly believed himself to be a representative of and "man of the people." He has called himself the "chief bulwark of democracy" and its primary defender. Not only does call Oviedo "undemocratic," but it described him in 1991 as the major threat to democracy. Oviedo said in 1995 that without him, President Wasmosy "would fall within 90 days". Oviedo is also known for having a "messianic" complex, believing that he alone can solve Paraguay's problems.

Oviedo has been described as crazy, delusional, and emotional. Several military officials called him "crazy" in 1993, which is echoed throughout reporting by civilians who came into contact with him. Oviedo used to throw elaborate theme parties and forced guests to come in costume (one such party was "set" in first century Rome). There were also reports that Oviedo obligated his officers to release their wives from their vows of chastity in order to "wife swap." Oviedo is also known for his tendency to be emotional, even tearful at times. Oviedo has also been described as being immensely vain, allegedly having plastic surgery (including hair plugs) prior to launching his 2008 presidential campaign.

Oviedo is known for his violent tendencies, such as his role in the Argana assassination and several coup attempts, and for using a combination of charm and threats to get what he wants. He frequently engaged in physical intimidation of his opponents and the press. An example: A pro-President Wasmosy daily newspaper did a spoof story on Paraguay's April Fools' Day equivalent in 1994. The story said Wasmosy had ordered Oviedo into retirement and that Oviedo had commenced a hunger strike. Shortly after the newspapers hit the streets, someone fired 13 bullets through the newspaper's front window. While no one was injured, the incident demonstrated Oviedo's violent streak (and lack of sense of humor).

Oviedo called the press an "instrument for confusion" and threatened press moguls with exposure of their financial and sexual sins if they sullied his reputation in 1991. He used similar tactics with his own campaign staff, reportedly yelling at them and calling them names in order to motivate them to work harder. Oviedo's methods are, in fact, effective: His people respond.

Although many observers asserted that by 2006 UNACE's membership was on the decline, the party's leaders claimed that it is on the rise, and they interpret the results of recent polls to suggest that as many as one-third of the other parties' registered members would vote for Oviedo if he were permitted to run for President in 2008.

Since his return to Paraguay from self-imposed exile in June 2004, Oviedo was serving a ten-year sentence for his role in a 1996 coup attempt. He faced additional charges related to the March 1999 assassination of Vice President Luis Maria Argana and the subsequent deaths of several student protesters. Separately, while Commander of the Armed Forces during the Presidency of Juan Carlos Wasmosy, Oviedo was long rumored to be involved in drug smuggling and other illicit activities. Despite the legal proceedings against him, Oviedo placed first (with 17 percent), ahead of Duarte (with only 4.9 percent), in an opinion poll about potential presidential candidates. There was no close third-place contender.

Oviedo was charismatic, and a tireless campaigner who spread his ill-gotten wealth around the countryside. He had "down home" appeal and an innate ability to rally support, effectively using his native command of Guarani, the first language of much of Paraguay's population in the interior. Much of the party rank and file exhibited fierce loyalty to him. If he were released from jail, he would mount a serious challenge to Duarte and the Colorados.

By 2006 Senator Enrique Gonzalez Quintana served as UNACE party president. In public, Gonzalez toed the party line, but the former leader of UNACE's Senate bench, Senator Alejandro Velazquez, intimated that Gonzalez was not completely loyal to Oviedo. Nonetheless, securing Oviedo's release from jail and defeating the remaining charges against him remained the party's singular focus. UNACE is generally pro-US, and many of the party's members profess loyalty to the United States. However, the party's flirtations with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela suggested that Oviedo's desire to align his party with the U.S. may be more a matter of political expediency (i.e., he recognized that he would need U.S. support to be successful) than close ideological affinity.

As history demonstrates, nothing is impossible in Paraguay. But politics can turn on a dime. Witness Nicanor's masterful 2007 orchestration of Oviedo's release from military prison -- and the clearing of all charges -- just hours before the 2008 electoral campaign registration deadline. Oviedo has been freed on parole from a military prison after serving more than half of a 10-year sentence for rebellion. Oviedo greeted a crowd of supporters as he left the Vinas Cue prison on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay's capital. The former general's release came on speculation that he may seek political office next year.

While Oviedo purported to be a populist, his sympathies lie more with the authoritarian right than with the revolutionary left. In an 01 November 2008 interview with leading daily ABC Color, Oviedo was asked who he would model his government after. He responded "neither the right nor the left nor the center, but progress. Neither Chavez nor Evo Morales like some say, but a government that put the Paraguayan people first, and that responds to their needs." Since that time, his public discourse and campaign ads clearly set him at sharp odds with the current leaders of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. Oviedo used a seemingly endless supply of energy to campaign for Paraguay's poor masses, visiting as many small towns in his campaign for civilian president as he visited remote military bases as a general. He convinces the poor, in their own Guarani, that he will fight for them as president. And they believed him.

Opposition candidate Fernando Lugo won Paraguay's presidential election on 21 April 2008, ending 61 years of rule by the Colorado Party. Lugo defeated ruling party rival Blanca Ovelar, who conceded defeat, ending her bid to become the South American nation's first woman president. Lugo told supporters that they have decided to be a free Paraguay, and pledged to help the nation's poor. Election officials declared Lugo the winner with 41 percent of the vote, compared to 31 percent for Ovelar . A third candidate, former army chief Lino Oviedo, had 22 percent.

The 8-12 May 2009 holding of a South American leftist, anti-imperialist youth convention at a Paraguayan military facility continues to cost the Lugo government scarce political capital. President Lugo publicly denied authorizing the use of the military facility to hold the political event -- an act prohibited under Paraguayan law -- and ordered an investigation.

National Union of Ethical Citizens (UNACE) Party leader (and retired General) Lino Oviedo, already hot to impeach Lugo, told the press 15 May 2009 that he would initiate impeachment proceedings against Lugo if he failed to dismiss those responsible for authorizing the event. Although former coup plotter and presidential aspirant Oviedo does not hold office and cannot directly initiate impeachment proceedings against Lugo, his UNACE foot-soldiers in the Paraguayan Congress could move to impeach Lugo.

Lino Oviedo was returning from a political rally in northern Paraguay 03 February 2013 night with his bodyguard when the helicopter in which he was flying crashed en route to the capital, Asuncion. Both men and the pilot died. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but authorities said weather was bad at the time the helicopter went down.

The 69-year-old Oviedo was running in April's elections as leader of Paraguay's third-largest opposition party, the National Union of Ethical Citizens. His death came exactly 24 years after longtime dictator Alfredo Stroessner surrendered in a military coup. It is said that Oviedo, a former general, is the one who took custody of Stroessner in a bunker.

Lino Cesar Oviedo Sanchez, UNACE Party candidate for President of the Republic, is considered the "heir" of his late namesake uncle. Regarding his heritage, Oviedo Sanchez said that did not possess large tracts of land, but had a small farm in Mbocayaty, two houses, a truck, a car and that his income came from his salary as a senator and administrator of a social club.