$Unique_ID{COW02820} $Pretitle{356} $Title{Paraguay Chapter 5A. National Security} $Subtitle{} $Author{Melinda W. Cooke} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{military forces army armed political war party national service stroessner} $Date{1987} $Log{Francisco Solano Lopez*0282001.scf } Country: Paraguay Book: Paraguay, A Country Study Author: Melinda W. Cooke Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1987 Chapter 5A. National Security [See Francisco Solano Lopez: Artist's rendition.] In mid-1988 the armed forces continued to act as a major source of support for the authoritarian regime of President Alfredo Stroessner Mattiauda. Stroessner had used them, along with the police and the ruling National Republican Association-Colorado Party (Asociacion Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado), as the primary instruments to maintain his regime since coming to power in a coup d'etat in 1954. Under the Constitution, the president is designated the nation's commander in chief. Stroessner, himself a general in the Paraguayan army, had chosen to fill this role actively, retaining command authority over the defense forces and involving himself personally in day-to-day decision making related to them. Stroessner was able to keep the military under his control, rather than vice versa, through his cultivation of ties of personal loyalty, his direction of assignments and promotions, and his reliance on a system of checks and balances within and among the defense forces, the police, the Colorado Party, and elite forces under his own control. Military members had also been given a substantial stake in Stroessner's regime, which granted them special privileges and power through salary, benefits, and opportunities for patronage and graft. Paraguay had a strong military tradition, and the nation took great pride in its performance against Argentina in 1811, in the 1865-70 War of the Triple Alliance, and in the Chaco War of 1932-35 against Bolivia. The military tradition remained a valued one, even though the country had faced little if any external threat since the Chaco War. Instead, the armed forces under Stroessner were chiefly occupied in preserving internal security and supporting the regime. The military was also charged with guarding Paraguay's borders and protecting against insurgency, which had been limited to the 1959-64 period and was largely ineffective. In addition, the armed forces devoted a large portion of their resources to civic action and rural development. In keeping with the limited external threat, the military was equipped mainly to meet public order and internal security assignments. Reflecting the nation's troubled economy and the absence of significant threats, defense spending in the 1980s had not kept up with inflation. Most military equipment had thus grown more and more outdated. For administrative purposes, the armed forces fell under the purview of the Ministry of National Defense. Operational command of the approximately 17,000-member military was held directly by the president and exercised through the armed forces general staff. The army was the largest and most influential of the three services. It was equipped mainly as a light infantry force. Army officers, usually retired from active service, held positions in other branches of government and as managers of state-run economic, social, and political organizations. The navy was a riverine force that included a battalion of marines. The small air force flew mainly transport planes and helicopters, but also had a small number of counterinsurgency aircraft and a paratroop battalion. The country enjoyed unprecedented internal security under Stroessner, and conditions of public order could generally be characterized as peaceful. This level of order came about, however, largely as a result of the government's willingness to use whatever means it deemed necessary to quell disorder and suppress dissent. From 1954 until April 1987, the government ruled almost continually under state-of-siege provisions. These provisions suspended in the name of security civil rights guaranteed in the Constitution. The government justified the extraordinary security measures as the price of peace in a "democracy without communism," even though the nation had not faced a credible communist threat since at least the mid-1960s. The government's harsh internal security measures ensured that opposition to the regime remained muted throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. A slight relaxation in the government's response to domestic dissent, combined with the inspiration of Argentina's return to civilian democratic rule in 1984, emboldened some members of the opposition in the mid-1980s. Members of the press, the political opposition, and labor groups, as well as students, peasants, and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, began to express dissatisfaction with Paraguay's political system and the economic hardship that followed the end of the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric project (see Growth and Structure of the Economy, ch. 3). In 1985 and increasingly in 1986, unprecedented demonstrations were mounted in Asuncion and elsewhere. Most of these were peaceful until they were violently dispersed by police and other security personnel. The lapse of the state of siege in April 1987 was followed by a short interval of greater official tolerance toward dissent. This tolerance ended abruptly in late 1987, however, when a faction of the Colorado Party describing itself as militant, pro-Stroessner, and combative, took control of the Colorado Party in late 1987. As of late 1988, the government's return to harsh repression had not abated. Criminal justice was the responsibility of the national government. The national judiciary, headed by the five-member Supreme Court of Justice, administered the country's criminal courts. All penal and procedural statutes were issued by the central government. Paraguay's police force was also a national force, organized under the Ministry of Interior. Police were divided into one force that served the capital area and another that served the rest of the country in divisions assigned to each of the nation's eighteen other departments. Public confidence in the criminal justice system was undermined because, although the judiciary was formally a coequal branch of government, in practice it was clearly subordinate to the executive branch. Moreover, both the judiciary and the police were widely viewed as susceptible to political and economic influence. The History and Development of the Armed Forces The nation's military tradition is rooted in the colonial past, when armed groups in what is now Paraguay fought against royal Spanish armies and Jesuit-led Indian forces. Elements of these Paraguayan armed groups were organized into a force of approximately 3,000 members that in 1811 repelled an invasion by Argentine forces seeking to annex Paraguay. As a result of that victory, Paraguay declared its independence (see Struggle with the Portenos, ch. 1). The modern army and the navy owe their origins to forces built up under Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, who ruled as a dictator from 1814 to 1840 (see El Supremo Dictador, ch. 1). After heavily purging existing forces to ensure their loyalty to him, Francia imposed strict discipline within the ranks. Under his direction, army and naval strength was increased to deter Argentina from further attacks on Paraguay and to act as the infrastructure for his own autocratic rule. Francia instituted a program of conscription to meet the military's manpower requirements. He also placed landholdings confiscated from his opponents under the control of the army, which until the late 1980s partially fed and supported itself by either working the land directly or leasing it out. The army and navy were further improved by President Carlos Antonio Lopez, who ruled from 1841 to 1862. Like Francia, Lopez used the military both to maintain his rule and to deter invasion by the nation's larger neighbors (see Carlos Antonio Lopez, ch. 1). Lopez was succeeded by his son, Francisco Solano Lopez, an army general who had studied military matters in Europe. The younger Lopez completely reorganized the 7,000-member army he had inherited and began a program of rapid military expansion. By 1864 the army numbered 30,000 and comprised 30 infantry battalions, 23 cavalry regiments, and 4 artillery regiments. The navy was also strengthened, acquiring the world's first steamship built intentionally as a warship. The buildup reflected Lopez's aspirations to increase his influence in the region. Attempts to do so led to the 1865-70 War of the Triple Alliance, in which Paraguay faced Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay in a bloody confrontation that eventually drastically reduced the national population (see The War of the Triple Alliance, ch. 1). Paraguay began the war with an extensive military establishment, but its opponents, especially Brazil, had far greater economic and manpower resources. Paraguay's military was able to make up some of the imbalance through its fierce fighting and its determination to accept total destruction rather than surrender. As the war progressed, however, even Lopez's harsh methods of compelling devotion to battle proved insufficient, and the nation was reduced to conscripting boys down to the age of twelve, but boys as young as ten could volunteer. By the war's end, the army was made up of a few hundred men--most of whom were wounded, old, or very young. Brazil's soldiers were stationed in Paraguay as an army of occupation until 1876. The next few decades were spent in rebuilding the devastated nation, so there was little money for the military. Although the army remained small, it emerged as a center of political power and a primary source of national political leaders. General Bernardino Caballero became a national leader, governing first directly as president and later behind the scenes as the head of the armed forces (see The First Colorado Era, ch. 1). He also founded the National Republican Association--which adopted red as its symbolic color and came to be known as the Colorado Party. The bitter competition between the Colorados and their Liberal Party (Partido Liberal--PL) opponents extended into the armed forces. The late 1800s saw the beginning of what came to be a pattern of army intervention in national politics, rebellions by army factions, and assumption of power by army leaders. The military saw action both in putting down armed revolts and in mounting them. Elements of the army fought on both sides when exiled PL members launched an invasion of Paraguay with the tacit support of Argentina in 1904, eventually deposing the Colorado government. The military again divided into warring groups between 1922 and 1924 when civil war broke out among PL factions. By that time, the army had become the chief source of political power and the most frequent instigator of political change. Growing tension with Bolivia over a long-disputed boundary in the Chaco fueled a secret program of rearmament in the late 1920s (see fig. 3). A major clash between the two countries occurred in 1928; both nations then began to prepare for war, building up their military capability and stationing growing numbers of troops in the Chaco. After war broke out in July 1932, Paraguay rapidly mobilized and brought troop strength up to 24,000. The army succeeded several times in outflanking the more numerous Bolivian forces, cutting their supply lines and access to water. Paraguayan forces also benefited from the fact that Bolivian troops--mostly Indians from the Andes Mountains--were not used to the climate and low altitude of the Chaco. The Chaco War was the bloodiest war in the Western Hemisphere during the twentieth century. By the time a truce was signed in 1935, about 36,000 Paraguayans and an estimated 44,000 Bolivians were dead. The nation was also left economically devastated (see The Chaco War and the February Revolution, ch. 1). In keeping with the terms of the armistice with Bolivia, Paraguay reduced its army to under 5,000 soon after the war's end. The military had captured a large quantity of light arms, mortars, and artillery in the Chaco War. These made up a substantial portion of the army inventory for some fifteen years, because little new equipment was acquired in the 1940s. In the early 1950s, however, the military establishment expanded, and the army beefed up its artillery, infantry, and engineer forces. During the same period, Argentina and Brazil began to compete for military influence in Paraguay, each presenting the nation with its excess second- hand equipment, most of which had been manufactured in the United States. A small quantity of aircraft and other items were also turned over by the United States, so that by the 1950s most of the nation's military inventory was of United States manufacture. Although the years following the Chaco War had been a period of stagnation for the armed forces in the purely military sphere, the same could not be said of the political sphere. Paraguayans had viewed the war as a defense of their homeland, and military service was seen as a matter of great pride and prestige. As had been the case after the War of the Triple Alliance, military figures who had made their reputation in the war emerged very soon as the nation's political leaders. The first of these leaders was the popular war hero Colonel Rafael Franco, who came to power in a 1936 coup against a PL government. He was supported by veterans dissatisfied with the settlement with Bolivia and with their remuneration for service, as well as by students, intellectuals, and members of organized labor seeking various reforms. Franco's supporters formed the Febrerista Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Febrerista--PRF), more commonly known as Febreristas, named after the month in which the coup had occurred. Although Franco was deposed in a military revolt a year later, the Febreristas continued to be an active source of government opposition in the next two decades. Six of the eleven regimes during the 1935-54 period were headed by army officers, ending with the regime of General Stroessner. In addition, all of the five civilian presidents came to power with army backing and/or were deposed under army pressure (see Morinigo and World War II, ch. 1). The defense forces continued to be divided internally along political lines. Tension among factions that aligned with different parties sometimes resulted in open conflict. For instance, army units rose in revolt during World War II, when Paraguay, like most South American countries, declared war on the Axis powers. The most serious conflict came in 1947, however, after President Higinio Morinigo, an army general who had ruled since 1940--primarily with the support of the army rather than a particular party--appeared to give increasing power to the Colorado Party. In reaction, civil war broke out after the air force and army broke into factions, most of the military supporting a coalition of Febrerista, PL, and communist elements. The rebel forces, joined by virtually the entire navy, were put down only with great difficulty by the government. Morinigo's cause was helped significantly by the fact that Stroessner--then a lieutenant colonel--committed his artillery regiment to the government side. Because up to 80 percent of the military had joined the rebel side during the civil war, the government initiated a widespread purge of the armed forces, and the marines were disbanded entirely until the 1950s. As a result, the defense forces became almost completely an organization of the Colorado Party. Stroessner's own impressive performance in the war was responsible for his emergence as one of the nation's leading military figures in the late 1940s. Stroessner and fellow Colorado Party members viewed with particular bitterness the communist role in the civil war. After that time, the suggestion of a potential communist threat was sufficient to promote an immediate negative reaction by the government. Transforming the armed forces into an organization composed almost exclusively of Colorado personnel did not rid them of factionalism. Warring elements within the party took part in coup attempts in 1948 and 1949, and Stroessner was a main player in each attempt. At one point, he was forced to flee to Brazil to escape reprisal for his role in an unsuccessful revolt. He was back in the country within a few months, however, after taking part in a successful coup in 1949. As a reward for his role, he was given a series of rapid promotions, rising to commander in chief of the armed forces in 1951. Stroessner himself came to power as president in an army-backed coup in 1954 (see The 1954 Coup; Consolidation of the Stroessner Regime, ch. 1). Stroessner inherited a military establishment still ridden by factionalism, as well as an economy damaged by civil war and political instability. After forces loyal to him forestalled a planned coup in 1955, he followed up by purging dissident elements the next year. During the late 1950s, opposition to Stroessner flared over austerity measures imposed by his government, and strikes and student demonstrations followed. The opposition drew inspiration and some funds from foreign sources. A government crackdown in 1958 and 1959 included another purge of the armed forces. After that time, virtually all members of the officer corps were either associated with a pro-Stroessner wing of the Colorado Party or personally loyal to or dependent upon Stroessner. Opposition to Stroessner's rule was purely internal until 1959, when guerrillas that were allied with elements of Febrerista, PL, and communist opponents mounted sporadic and largely ineffective raids from bases in Argentina and Brazil. Never of sufficient size to threaten the government or seriously upset public order, these insurgencies were easily quelled by the military, which relied on intelligence provided by Colorado Party members throughout the country. Using the armed forces and the police, the government also cracked down on internal opposition, branding many of its opponents as communist. Guerrilla activity died out by 1964 as a result of harsh government reprisals, lack of support within Paraguay, and moves by Argentina and Brazil to close guerrilla bases in their countries. By late 1988, in the absence of any external or insurgent threat, the armed forces continued to help enforce the government's tight control over the domestic political scene. The military leadership appeared to accept that national economic conditions dictated that the government's rhetorical support for the defense forces could not be matched by sufficient material support to replace or update the aging armed forces inventory. Although the military appeared to remain completely loyal to Stroessner, his government, and the Colorado Party, its personnel were not immune to factionalism within the Colorado Party. This factionalism manifested itself in political violence in the mid-1980s (see The Twin Pillars of the Stroessner Regime; Political Developments Since 1986, ch. 4). As of late 1988, however, political factionalism within the armed forces did not appear to have seriously affected operations of any of the three services. The Armed Forces in the National Life The ideal of an apolitical military force that is shielded from domestic political debates, kept out of domestic decision making, and kept under firm civilian control has not been relevant to the Paraguayan experience. The nation's military, particularly the army as the dominant service, traditionally has been the most powerful institution in the nation, exercising an heroic military role in times of external threat and exerting a strong political and economic presence in peacetime. Many military officers have aspired to national political leadership, and several have achieved it. In turn, political leaders--whether in power or in the opposition-- historically have sought to exert their personal influence over the internal operations of the armed forces and to use the military as an instrument of their own regimes. Such efforts have fallen squarely within the Paraguayan cultural tradition, which stresses the importance of personal ties and personal loyalty over abstract ideology or institutionalism. In such a small country, military, economic, social, and political elites frequently shared ties of kinship or personal affinity. Therefore, institutional barriers have not been strong enough to prevent the intrusion of political or other considerations into purely military matters. On one level, the lack of separation between political and military affairs has resulted in decisions on such matters as promotions and assignments being based on considerations other than merit or satisfaction of qualifying factors. On another level, this lack of separation has had grave consequences for national stability. It is true that under the strong and efficient management of Francia, the Lopezes, and Stroessner, the military remained internally unified and acted as the main instrument of authoritarian rule. For most of the rest of the nation's history, however, political turmoil in the national leadership was reflected in divisiveness within the armed forces. The resulting factionalism frequently erupted into violence that itself threatened public order and political stability. Supporters of the Stroessner regime have justified his authoritarian rule in part by noting the correlation between periods of national stability and the presence of strong rulers able to exert control over the military and the political process. In late 1988, the military's most significant role in the national life was its apparently unified backing for the Stroessner regime. Such backing resulted from Stroessner's efforts first to achieve and then to maintain military support. By 1959 he had completely purged the officer corps of all persons who were not members of the pro-Stroessner wing of the Colorado Party. Thereafter, candidates for service were screened for loyalty to the party. Factionalism within the Colorado Party persisted, however, and also surfaced in the 1980s in the officer corps. In 1986, for instance, the head of the army's First Cavalry Division was reported to have been replaced on political grounds by an officer closely identified with the "traditionalist" faction of the Colorado Party--the faction also favored by the army's powerful First Corps commander, Major General Andres Rodriguez. In late 1988, it was unclear how deeply the party factionalism had affected officer morale or how this factionalism had affected relations between the military and the Colorado Party leadership, which was taken over by the "militant" faction in late 1987. Despite its influence in national political affairs, the Colorado Party did not control the military, and the armed forces had no political officers serving alongside military officers. Instead, party loyalty served as a litmus test of trustworthiness and loyalty to the regime. The Colorado Party, which was highly organized, block by block in towns and cities, also served as a channel of information on military matters and the actions of military personnel. In addition, the party was a potential check on the power of the armed forces. Stroessner played an active role in overseeing military affairs. The president chaired the promotion boards held twice a year and oversaw all important assignments. He devoted one day each week to military matters and attended numerous ceremonies and parades. He took time to cultivate junior officers, especially those in direct command of troops, and made sure that conditions of service were good enough to keep the military content. In addition to relying on personal loyalty and oversight, Stroessner relied on the structure of the military establishment to maintain control over the armed forces. He held command personally through the armed forces general staff, dividing command and support duties between the general staff and the Ministry of National Defense. Stroessner also maintained his own well-armed and well-trained security force, the Presidential Escort Regiment. Missions The nation faced no foreseeable external threat in late 1988 and took care to maintain workable diplomatic relations with its large neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. Relations with Bolivia, which had sometimes been slightly strained over issues related to the shared border in the Chaco, had not been viewed as a serious threat to national security since the Chaco War. The threat of insurgent activity appeared low, and no incidents of guerrilla activity had been reported since a limited number of minor incursions took place in the early 1970s. Consequently, the external defense mission of the armed forces was essentially limited to monitoring the nation's borders. The internal security mission was far more significant. Military units frequently were called out to control demonstrations or handle other manifestations of unrest. The military also maintained checkpoints in the sparsely populated Chaco region as part of the government's administration of the area. All three branches of the armed forces were involved in civic-action projects. The army's engineer battalions were responsible for road construction and the maintenance of transportation routes. The engineers also built schools and public buildings for rural communities, did excavation work, constructed water tanks, and provided bricks and tiles for local building projects. The navy performed ship repair for the merchant fleet, and naval vessels transported goods to needy communities at no cost. The air force provided transportation services and helped build schools and landing fields in isolated areas. Medical personnel from all three services operated rural clinics and offered free emergency medical treatment. The army's veterinary unit was the nation's only public veterinary service. All three services were active in disaster relief efforts. Manpower In mid-1988 the total strength of the armed forces was estimated at 19,500 persons. This number represented a ratio of approximately 4.4 military personnel for every 1,000 Paraguayans, down from more than 9 per 1,000 in the late 1960s. This level was slightly below the average for Latin American countries, a falloff since the early 1970s, when Paraguay's ratio was more than twice the average. An estimated 55 percent of armed forces personnel were conscripts. Conscription had a long history in the nation. During the nineteenth century, the practice of "press-ganging" Indians and peasants into the military was common in Paraguay. The current system of conscription, however, was rooted in 1908 when a formal program of compulsory universal military service was instituted for males. In mid-1988 the system of conscription had its legal foundation in Article 125 of the Constitution, which states: "Every Paraguayan citizen is obliged to bear arms in defense of the nation and this Constitution. Military service is compulsory for male citizens, and those who have completed military service shall remain in the reserves. Women shall not render military service except in case of necessity during an international war, and not as combatants." In accordance with Article 125, women were not subject to the draft in the 1980s, and very few served in the armed forces. Males were liable for two years of service upon reaching eighteen years of age. College students fulfilled their obligations by spending three summers in military training, which led to reserve officer commissions. Those males exempted from service were required to pay a military tax. Conscription was strictly enforced, but the number judged physically fit to serve was generally greater than actual manpower requirements, and only about half of those eligible were actually called to serve. The number of men required annually to replace those completing service did not adversely affect the labor force. Conscripts came from all segments of Paraguay's population, which was relatively homogeneous in ethnic, social, and cultural makeup. Entry was greatly facilitated by personal or family ties to the Colorado Party. Military service generally was viewed as a patriotic duty, and service for conscripts was not particularly rigorous. In fact, for many conscripts, fulfilling their military obligation represented an opportunity to acquire skills valuable in finding later employment, including training in mechanics, carpentry, and all types of construction. Many conscripts learned to read and write during their period of service, and most learned to drive. After meeting their service obligations, conscripts entered an organized reserve, serving nine years. They were then liable for ten years of service in the National Guard, followed by service in the Territorial Guard until the age of forty-five. Officers, noncommissioned officers (NCOs), and enlisted personnel also incurred reserve obligations after leaving service. In practice, the National Guard and the Territorial Guard seemed to exist primarily as paper organizations in 1988. Entry into the officer corps was highly competitive. In practice, successful candidates had family or personal connections with the Colorado Party. Officer candidates came both from the Francisco Lopez Military College in Asuncion and from the reserve officer-training program for college students. Conditions of military service were very good, especially for senior officers. Salaries, when combined with allowances and medical and pension benefits, compared favorably with those of the civilian population. Military personnel also enjoyed special privileges, including access to private military stores and clubs. Members of the armed forces were exempt from car-licensing fees. Officers also had access to favorable business and real estate loans. Senior officers lived particularly well. The nation, like most Latin American countries, had a strong tradition of patron-client relations, and senior officers were especially well placed to aid friends, relatives, and associates. They influenced decisions related to the allocation of public and private employment, the choice of political appointees, the award of public and private business contracts, and the outcome of judicial and legal decisions. Retired officers provided a pool from which the executive filled management positions in government and in public- sector enterprises. A small number of very senior officers had sufficient influence to render their actions virtually immune to investigation by law enforcement officials or to scrutiny by the domestic press. Paraguay had one of the largest officers corps in Latin America. Officers in command of many of the most influential positions were members of the "old guard," who had supported Stroessner in his rise to power and had held command ever since. For a number of years, these long-serving generals had blocked promotions for middle-ranking officers, but resentment over this issue did not appear to be a serious problem during the 1980s. The rank structure of the armed forces generally conformed to that used in the United States, except that Paraguay had two ranks equivalent to the United States army and air force first lieutenant and navy ensign and did not employ all of the ranks found in the United States military. The army had ten officer ranks ranging from second lieutenant to general. The eight air force officer ranks were identical to those of the army in level from second lieutenant to brigadier general, but did not include higher general officer ranks. Army and air force enlisted personnel had nine grades ranging in level from private first class to sergeant major, but naval enlistees had seven grades from the equivalent of seaman to master chief petty officer. The navy had nine officer ranks from ensign to vice admiral (see fig. 8). Rank insignia for officers of the army and air force were indicated by a series of five-pointed stars on shoulder boards. Insignia for general, major general, and brigadier general consisted of four, three, and two gold stars, respectively, surmounted at the outer end by an embroidered wreath. Field-grade officers wore gold stars, and company-grade officers wore silver stars on shoulder boards. For parades, full dress, and special occasions, the shoulder boards were exchanged for gilt epaulettes. Naval officer ranks were indicated by gold-colored bands on the lower sleeve of the shirt. Army enlisted personnel wore yellow stripes and/or yellow bars on a red background; navy enlisted personnel wore black stripes on white background; and air force enlisted personnel wore light blue stripes on a blue background (see fig. 9). The armed forces had both summer and winter uniforms. The three services had full dress, dress, and service uniforms for officers and parade, garrison, service, and field uniforms for enlisted personnel. The army winter service uniform was dark green, the navy's dark blue, and the air force's light blue. Navy officers wore all-white summer dress uniforms; army and air force officers wore a white shirt with summer dress uniforms for special occasions. Defense Spending According to the latest available government figures, the defense budget for 1985 was 13.9 billion guaranies (for the value of the guarani-- see Glossary). That figure represented approximately 10.1 percent of the total expenditures of the central government, down from the 13- to 14- percent levels sustained in the early 1970s. When measured in current guaranies, military spending increased more than fivefold during the 1972- 82 period. The most rapid growth occurred in the 1979-81 period, when revenues from the Itaipu project were at their highest (see Fiscal Policy, ch. 3). When factoring in inflation during the ten-year period, growth was a more modest, but still respectable, 80 percent. The sharp dropoff in revenues from Itaip was reflected in defense expenditures after 1982; when measured in current guaranies, military spending fell by 10 percent in 1983, thereafter rising relatively sharply. These increases were insufficient to match high levels of inflation during the period, however. When measured in constant 1980 guaranies, defense spending fell almost 30 percent during the 1982-85 period. When compared with other Latin American countries, the portion of the national budget devoted to defense was about average. The military's percentage of the gross national product (GNP--see Glossary) was about 1 percent in 1985, a low percentage for Latin American nations. The level of military expenditures per soldier was among the lowest in the hemisphere. A breakdown of the defense budget was not publicly available in late 1988, but the army, as the largest service, was known to account for the biggest portion. A large part of army spending went to fund civic- action projects. It must therefore be assumed that the purely military operations of the army, as well as those of the navy and air force, were affected adversely by budget constraints during the mid-1980s. Any modernization of the military's relatively obsolete inventory would require a significant increase in defense spending. The domestic defense industry was very limited in scope, and the nation imported almost all of its military equipment. The Directorate of Military Industries, an agency subordinate to the Ministry of National Defense, maintained a complex in Asuncion that produced explosives and repaired and maintained military vehicles. Under the auspices of the army quartermaster, such items as field kitchens and uniforms were manufactured locally. The navy also maintained repair workshops and a naval shipyard. The army, which had owned large tracts of land since the 1800s, ran a number of ranches and farms. The produce from these operations helped to supply the military's food requirements. In conjunction with these operations, the army also operated a slaughterhouse and a meat-packing concern.