Coup Atlas Research Database
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15006031948SuccessfulMilitary coup

Paraguay, 1948 — military coup

Paraguay (PRY)South America, AmericasJune 3, 1948

Event Summary

On June 3, 1948, Paraguayan strongman Higinio Morinigo, who had ruled as a de facto dictator since 1940, was overthrown by fellow Colorado Party officers just months before he was due to hand power to president-elect Juan Natalicio Gonzalez. Gonzalez, the sole candidate, had won the February 1948 election with Morinigo's backing, on the understanding that Morinigo would stay on as commander in chief. Suspecting Morinigo intended to use that post to cling to power, Colorado loyalists linked to Felipe Molas Lopez revolted and forced him into exile in Argentina.

Supreme Court president Juan Manuel Frutos served as provisional president until Gonzalez took office on August 15, 1948. The episode was one link in a rapid chain of Paraguayan power struggles that ran through 1948 and 1949 and eventually led to Alfredo Stroessner's long dictatorship.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Higinio Morinigo, de facto President of Paraguay (overthrown, exiled to Argentina)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Higinio Morinigo (overthrown dictator)
Felipe Molas Lopez (Colorado officer linked to the revolt)
Juan Natalicio Gonzalez (president-elect who took office in August)
Juan Manuel Frutos (Supreme Court president, provisional president)

Sources

Suspecting that Morinigo intended to use the post of commander in chief to retain power, on June 3 some Colorado Party loyalists under Felipe Molas Lopez revolted and sent him into exile in Argentina.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Paraguay during World War II" (Higinio Morinigo section) open source ↗
Incumbent President Higinio Morinigo, who had been a de facto dictator, was deposed by a coup on 3 June 1948; Juan Manuel Frutos became interim president until Natalicio Gonzalez took office on 15 August.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Juan Natalicio Gonzalez" open source ↗
In the spring and summer of 1948 the Colorado paramilitary Guion Rojo organized armed uprisings that resulted in the overthrow of Morinigo and the ascent of Gonzalez to power.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Guion Rojo" open source ↗
Suspecting Morinigo would not relinquish power despite the 1948 election, a group of Colorado officers ousted him and allowed Gonzalez to take power directly.
INDIRECT CITATION U.S. Army Study of Internal Conflict, "Paraguay 1947" case study open source ↗

Editorial Note

Sources agree Morinigo was ousted on 3 June 1948 by Colorado officers who feared he would retain power through the army, clearing the way for president-elect Gonzalez. Wikipedia (three articles) was read directly; the U.S. Army SOIC case study corroborates the motive. This June 1948 ouster is distinct from the later Paraguay records the dataset codes for October 1948 (a failed coup against Gonzalez) and January 1949 (the successful coup that removed Gonzalez).

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
15006031948

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Higinio Morinigo, de facto President of Paraguay (overthrown, exiled to Argentina).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; exiled. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higinio_Mor%C3%AD%C3%B1igo

New York Times

“Paraguay deposes Morinigo after an 8 year Dictatorship,” June 4, 1948

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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Related Records

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