Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/paraguay-disappeared-churches-committee-dictatorship-stroessner-e05ea3172d4611887d083d62bad9106e
Throughout Latin America, disappearances are quite frequent. While countries like Chile and Argentina have more missing numbers, other countries such as Paraguay still suffer tremendously. The possible root of these disappearances is the political body running the country. While Paraguay’s old dictator Gen. Alfredo Stroessner was ousted after his 35-year reign of terror, his presence is still felt as his political party continues to run the country. This may be the fault of the country though, as criticism following the overthrowment was not loud and Strossener’s control was unchallenged by other military strongmen in the region. It’s very hard for people to be held accountable for crimes in Paraguay because of their faulty government.
This article paints a picture of a country very different from the United States. While we have very vocal and widespread opinions, and a justice system that does their very best to figure out the truth, Paraguay does not. It makes me wonder how bad Paraguay’s previous dictator messed up his citizens’ psyches, and why they seem to accept their government as just the way things are. Latin America, a region that suffers from many missing people, may lead people in Latin America to accept a missing person as a thing that happens, not a very serious matter. Clearly, Paraguay’s previous dictator still has a great influence on the country and they can’t seem to move past it.
Because of Latin America’s regional issues with missing people, it seems like they should handle this security threat regionally instead of at a state level. If they combined their resources, utilizing diplomacy and interdependence, they could work toward a better solution. The issue is, each country has its own government forms varying from democratic to authoritarian. This makes it hard for them to collaborate because of differing views. They could form a pseudo-marriage of convenience, like Russia and China currently, an alliance that would ultimately end. Overall, Paraguay and the other Latin American countries need to up their national security, and could form some multilateral policy to combat the issue but will most likely utilize unilateral policy.