Epifanio Méndez Fleitas, foto de 1960, Montevideo.
NOTE: The following entry for EPIFANIO MENDEZ FLEITAS comes from the Second Edition (revised, enlarged, and updated) of R. Andrew Nickson's Historical Dictionary of PARAGUAY (Metuchen, N.J., & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993), pp. 374-376.
MENDEZ FLEITAS, Epifanio. 1917-1985. The major political rival to President Alfredo STROESSNER inside the PARTIDO COLORADO in the early years of the "Stronato". Unlike most Colorado leaders, Méndez Fleitas came from a poor, peasant background. He joined the party in 1941 and played a key role as secretary of an underground emergency committee during the government of President Higinio Morínigo. He initially supported the "democrático" faction led by Federico Chaves which emerged after the political liberalization forced on Morínigo in 1946. In March 1947, he was appointed editor of La Razón, a newspaper taken over by the Colorados, in which he bitterly attacked the opposing "guionista" faction inside the party. After the latter took control of the party at its convention on 18 November 1947, he was again forced into hiding.
On 19 April 1948 he organized a failed uprising against Morínigo amongst the Cavalry and was lucky to escape alive. It was through Méndez Fleitas that Stroessner turned towards the "democráticos". They collaborated closely in the coup on 26 February 1949 which deposed President Raimundo Rolón and elevated Felipe Molas López to the presidency as the leader of a nominally re-united Colorado Party. Méndez Fleitas was rewarded for his services with the post of Chief of Police when he was only thirty-two years old.
On 31 October 1952, during the presidency of Federico Chaves, Méndez Fleitas left the post of Chief of Police to become President of the Central Bank. He spearheaded ECONOMIC PLANNING, involving greater state intervention in economic management. The policy was adopted in early 1953, but its implementation was resisted by conservative elements inside the Colorado Party. In search of political support for his initiative, he persuaded Chaves to turn to the populist Argentine government of President Juan PERON for economic support. After long negotiations undertaken by Méndez Fleitas, the UNION PARAGUAYA-ARGENTINA was signed on 14 August 1953. By openly associating Paraguay with Peronist Argentina, conservative elements inside the Colorado Party and within the armed forces began to allege that Méndez Fleitas was both pro-communist and infringing the national sovereignty of Paraguay.
In a move which Stroessner secretly engineered from the high command of the armed forces, the anti-Peronist head of the cavalry, Colonel Néstor Ferreira, forced the resignation of Méndez Fleitas as president of the Central Bank on 4 January 1954, following which he was banished to his birth-place at San Pedro del Paraná, in the Department of Itapúa. In addition, the powerful "Asociación Rural del Paraguay" had demanded his dismissal because of his stand in opposing the rise in beef prices which would have had a serious impact on the urban poor.
Between 3-8 May 1954, a complex military uprising took place which resulted in the overthrow of President Chaves. Méndez Fleitas and Stroessner emerged as leaders of an uneasy alliance between the Colorado Party and the armed forces. In July, Méndez Fleitas recovered his post at the Central Bank and in August his military supporter, Major Virgilio Candia, assumed command of the Cavalry.
The overthrow of Perón in September 1955 was a severe blow to Méndez Fleitas. Overnight, strong Argentine support for his faction within the party was replaced by strong Argentine pressure against him. Although he had organized the REENCUENTRO of 27 October 1955 in order to unite the "Partido Colorado" against Stroessner, the latter was now able to use the event to strengthen his own support within the party. The new Argentine government of General Aramburu which came to power in November increased pressure on Stroessner to remove the supporters of Méndez Fleitas, known as "epifanistas", from office. On 20 December Candia and other "epifanista" officers were dismissed and Stroessner took over direct command of the Cavalry. This forced the resignation of Méndez Fleitas himself on 23 December, following which he traveled to exile in Uruguay in January 1956.*
A founder member of the MOVIMIENTO POPULAR COLORADO in 1959, he subsequently broke away to form the ASOCIACION NACIONAL REPUBLICANA EN EL EXILIO Y LA RESISTENCIA in 1973. Méndez was a prolific writer whose works denounced Stroessner in the harshest terms. In 1978, following the military repression in Argentina, he was forced into a second exile in the United States, where he died in October 1985.**
* A correction is needed here. In fact, in January 1956 Méndez Fleitas went to Spain (with his family) on a diplomatic mission which was supposed to last until June. In March, however, he learned that his father had fallen very ill and he decided to return home immediately. When he (and his family) reached Rio de Janeiro, he was met at the airport by members of the Paraguayan Embassy who told him he would not be allowed entry into his country. While his family continued the trip to Paraguay, Méndez Fleitas stayed in Rio temporarily and from there he traveled to exile in Uruguay in mid-April 1956.
** Another correction is needed here. While it is correct that in 1978 Méndez Fleitas was forced into a second exile in the United States, in June of 1984 he returned to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he died the following year, on November 22, 1985.
The above footnotes were provided by Teresa Méndez-Faith, daughter of Epifanio Méndez Fleitas.