Juan Carlos Wasmosy
Encyclopedia
Juan Carlos Wasmosy Monti (born December 15, 1938) was the President of Paraguay
President of Paraguay
The President of Paraguay is according to the Paraguayan Constitution the Chief of the Executive branch of the Government of Paraguay...

 from 1993 until 1998. He was a member of the Colorado Party
Colorado Party (Paraguay)
The National Republican Association – Colorado Party is a political party in Paraguay, founded in 1887 by Bernardino Caballero. It is usually known as the Colorado Party...

, and the country's first civilian president in 39 years.

Born in Asunción, Paraguay, Wasmosy trained as a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

 and became head of the Paraguayan consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....

 working on the Itaipu Dam. During this project, he amassed a large amount of wealth. He served as minister of integration under President Andrés Rodríguez
Andrés Rodríguez
Andrés Rodríguez Pedotti was the President of Paraguay from February 3, 1989 to August 15, 1993. He assumed the presidency in a coup d'état against Alfredo Stroessner.-1989 Coup d'état:...

.

His ancestors (Dániel Vámosy and József Vámosy – who changed his name into Wamosy) immigrated to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 from Debrecen
Debrecen
Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 in 1828. at that time, the surname of the family was Vámosy. His relative, Alceu Wamosy (1895-1923), a famous Brazilian writer, is also from this ancestry. Juan Carlos Wasmosy went to see the home town of his ancestors in 1995 during his official visit to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

.

Rodríguez endorsed Wasmosy as his successor in the 1993 elections. He won with approximately 40 percent of the vote in what is generally acknowledged to be the first honest election in the country's history (the country had gained independence in 1811), with Domingo Laino
Domingo Laino
Domingo Isabelino Laino Figueredo is a Paraguayan politician, economist, and activist. The leader of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, a Senator, and a former Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Laino first became known for his opposition to the Stroessner dictatorship: in 1956, he was arrested...

 finishing a close second. Although there were confirmed cases of fraud, a team of international observers led by Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 concluded that Wasmosy's margin of victory was large enough to offset any wrongdoing. Carter also noted that opposition candidates took 60 percent of the vote between them—a remarkable figure in a country where opposition had been barely tolerated for most of its history up to that point.

However, he became very unpopular when he appointed many of longtime dictator Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda, whose name is also spelled Strössner or Strößner , was a Paraguayan military officer and dictator from 1954 to 1989...

's supporters to government posts. He also failed to continue the limited reforms of Rodríguez.

Lino Oviedo
Lino Oviedo
Lino César Oviedo Silva is a Paraguayan politician and former army general.-Life and work:Oviedo was born in poverty in the town of Juan de Mena on September 23, 1943. He chose a military career, studied in Germany and eventually became a close aide to General Andrés Rodríguez. He was named chief...

, head of the Paraguayan army
Paraguayan army
The Paraguayan Army is an institution of the State of Paraguay, organized into three divisions and 9, and several commands and directions, went to war on two occasions, in the War of the Triple Alliance v Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and Chaco War v Bolivia.- Mission :* Maintaining the sanctity...

, allegedly attempted a coup in April 1996. Wasmosy countered by offering Oviedo a ministerial position, but soon imprisoned him. In 1998, Raúl Cubas stood for the Colorado Party presidential nomination, his main policy being freeing Oviedo, and won.

In 2002, Wasmosy was convicted of defrauding the Paraguayan state and was himself sentenced to four years in prison. The sentence was later appealed.

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