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wealthy from corruption the Paraguayan people and contraband operations, went to the urns only to forhad any say in Stroessner's malise it. reselection. The mass of . The campaign for the 1983 extended rule for ON SUNDAY 6th Paraguayans went to the polls to: 're-elect' General Alfredo Stroessner for his seventh consecutive term of office. Already the longestsurviving dictator in Latin America, by 1988 Stroessner will have ruled Paraguay for a remarkable 34 years.

Only top army Generals and leading politicians of the ruling Colorado Party, many of them immensely From our correspondent Stroessner: dictator for 34 years elections repeated the pattern of of previous years. Opposition party activists were arrested, tortured and exiled.

Only a tiny fraction of the Liberal Party, long-rumoured to recieve funds from Stroessner, participated in the elections to ensure a democratic facade. The four main opposition parties, the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, the Christian Democrats, the Febreristas and MOPOCO, who three years ago formed the National Accord, have called for abstention.

On December 17 Domingò Laino, one of the bravest critics of the dictatorship, was • expelled from the country for the publication of his new book 'The Merchant General' , about the life of Stroessner's former friend and political ally, Anastasio Somosa. Somoza fled to Paraguay after the victory of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and was assassinated in Asuncion in September 1980.

Liano's book is reported to have been an account of Somoza's business dealings in Asuncion which may have embarrassed leading Paraguayans. All copies ON JANUARY 22, 80 Palestinian political prisoners at the Nafha jail in were confiscated by the police.

Predictably, pressures on Stroessner to liberalise the regime were reduced with the arrival of Reagan's Presidency. At the end of 1981, US military aid was renewed after its temporary suspension under Carter, and in 1982 General Johni W Vessey, second in command of US Army Staff, travelled to Asuncion to promise an increase in military aid.

Catholic

Paraguay has long been a central member of the World Anti-Communist League, and has always enjoyed close relationships with South Africa and Nationalist China. In a rare interview with a French magazine, Stroessner recently explained that: ... Paraguayans are Catholics and traditionalists; they love and defend their freedom. We in the Colorado Party and the Army interpret those feelings, and with political conviction and a humane sensitivity we fight against Communism.' But there is routine use of torture for all detainees, including even traffic offenders. Amnesty International reports the case of Margita Baez, an activist in the Peasant Leagues, who was said to have been tortured for 80 successive days. This left her suffering from severe psychological disorders.

When her defence lawyer requested a medical examination, he was beaten and kicked by Pastor Coronel, the Chief of Investigations, reportedly in anger at the suggestion that Margarita had been tortured'?

More evidence that nothing has changed in Paraguay is given by the tragic cases of ex-Secretary General of the Paraguayan Communist Party, Antonio Maidana, and the continued detention of Napoleon Ortigoza and Guillermo Ovando.

Maidana was released after 19 years in prison in 1977, only to be re-arrested in Buenos Aires in August 1980. Despite rumours that Maidana had been transferred to Paraguay, it is now thought that he may be another addition to the list of disappeared in Argentina.

Militant

Twenty years ago, Captain Ortigoza and : Sergeant Ovando were charged with the murder of a cadet, when, according to the London-based Paraguay Committee for Human Rights, all the evidence points to the two being framed.

Ovando completec _= sentence fou 13s tes while Orara suicidal. subier: io constant beating and abandoned by his wife and family.

One ray of hope is the possible emergence of a more militant sector within the labour movement. E 'ver since 1958 when the G teneral Strike was crushed by the arrest of 300 un Lion leaders, the Paragua yan Workers' Federation, the CTP, has been • under the close control of the Co lorado Party, with inter mal elections constantly fixer d in favour of pro-goverm ient candidates.

After the last of these ≥ in April 1981, the Internati ional Confederation of F ree Trade Unions pulled ou t of Paraguay in protest agai inst the lack of politcal indep sendence of the CTP and the undemocratic conduct of the elections.

However, in Septembe r of last year, the local C Cola company attempter d to sack leaders of SITRAPAR, one of the the moe active and inder sendent unions. Sevent een other unions formed a cr 0mbined campaign against the sacking by organising strikers A QUARTER of a millior textile workers in Bomba have been on strike for ove a year now. • This huge struggle i demanding 50% wagı rise and other concessions but its main aim is to breal the grip of the RMMS - I union* controlled by thi ruling Congress (I) Party -and win recognition for i more militant union, thi MGKU.

Mill committees and strike centres have been se up, creating a real rank and file leadership for the strike. Many of the textil workers have strong root: in the countryside. As the strike has dragged on more than 70% of then have gone home. This i common practice in India.

But this time the worker: who have gone back to thi villages have becomı propagandists. They havi formed support committee: and sent material aid bac to the 70,000 workers an‹ their families who havı stayed in Bombay.

In addition, they havi spread the spirit of militan struggle into the rural area by participating in ant organising struggles of agricultural workers fo higher wages and agains corruption in the Mahar ashtra state government' Employment Guaranter Scheme:

Big solidarity action have also been organised i Bombay. On October 11-1: one and a half millio workers all over Mahar ashtra state struck for thre days. In May, a march il Bombay drew 500,000; i mid-March, and on Octobe

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dictator Stroessner recently

another fi years. A. describes the