The Dictator Dilemma

The Dictator Dilemma tells the story of US bilateral relations with the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship (1954–1989). Tyvela focuses on how and why that diplomatic relationship changed during the Cold War from cooperation, based on mutual opposition to communism, to conflict, based on clashing expectations concerning democratic reforms and human rights. The policy debates by officials in Washington and in Asunción brought out a tension that has defined US diplomacy for more than a century: how can the United States partner with tyrants while credibly proclaiming to advance a democratic mission in the world? Tyvela argues that the Stroessner regime was symbolic of a broader foreign policy struggle to perpetuate, enforce, and ultimately redefine the importance of friendly dictators to US global and hemispheric interests.

More Praise

Tyvela has written an excellent, detailed history of US relations with Paraguay during Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship from 1954 to 1989. Tyvela’s study is a comprehensive one that utilizes a variety of sources and extensively plumbs both US and available Paraguayan archives. His book wrestles with an important question in U.S. foreign policy, that of America’s longstanding reliance on regional despots while still proclaiming its mission to protect and expand democracy around the world.

E.I.A.L.

Kirk Tyvela’s important new work puts into perspective how not only Stroessner consolidated his power locally by limiting dissent within his own political party (the Colorados) but also, more importantly for Tyvela, his regime was able to maintain stability and control by securing economic aid in the form of grants and loans from a compliant U.S. government.

Hispanic American Historical Review

Tyvela’s diplomatic history of the three-and-a-half-decade relationship between Washington and the Stronato offers a ‘top-down’ analysis focusing on how one U.S. administration after the next negotiated the inherent contradictions of prodemocratic rhetoric and dictatorial alliances. Though Tyvela’s monograph is far from the first to address this contradiction, it succeeds in integrating the oft-sidelined Paraguayan case into the inter-American Cold War literature.

Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Kirk Tyvela has produced an excellent piece of scholarship based on multi-archival research. His analysis of the U.S. approach toward Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner captures the essence of US policies toward Latin America during the Cold War. Tyvela further demonstrates how Stroessner adeptly manipulated Paraguayans and the United States.

Stephen G. Rabe, University of Texas at Dallas

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