Coup Atlas Research Database
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15010251948AttemptedMilitary coup

Paraguay, 1948 — military coup attempt

Paraguay (PRY)South America, AmericasOctober 25, 1948

Event Summary

On 25 to 26 October 1948 dissident Colorado elements attempted a coup against President Juan Natalicio Gonzalez of Paraguay, barely ten weeks after he took office on 15 August 1948 as the sole candidate in the February election. Gonzalez, leader of the party's hardline Guionista faction and creator of the Guion Rojo paramilitary, faced rumors from the start of his term that he would not survive it, with the rival Democratico wing under Federico Chaves and ambitious officers maneuvering against him. Loyalist forces, with Guion Rojo militants participating in the suppression, blocked the October rebellion and Gonzalez remained in office.

His reprieve was short: on 29 to 30 January 1949 another coup by Felipe Molas Lopez, Federico Chaves, and defense minister General Raimundo Rolon forced his resignation, and Gonzalez went into exile in Buenos Aires.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Juan Natalicio Gonzalez survived the October attempt unharmed but was forced out by a second coup in January 1949
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Juan Natalicio Gonzalez (president of Paraguay, target)
Dissident Colorado officers (October plotters)
Guion Rojo (paramilitary that helped suppress the attempt)
Federico Chaves and Felipe Molas Lopez (rivals who ousted him in January 1949)

Sources

On 26 October 1948 dissident Colorados attempted a coup d'etat against Natalicio Gonzalez, and the rebellion was blocked by loyalist forces, though he could not hold out for long.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Juan Natalicio Gonzalez open source ↗
The Guionists participated in the suppression of the October 1948 coup attempt, but following another coup in January 1949 Gonzalez was removed from power and emigrated from Paraguay.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Guion Rojo open source ↗
After the 1947 civil war the Colorado Party split between the Guionista hardliners under Natalicio Gonzalez and the Democraticos under Federico Chaves, with Gonzalez running unopposed for the presidency and later joining Morinigo in exile in 1949.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. Army War College SOIC case study, Paraguay 1947 open source ↗
On 29 January 1949 a coup initiated by Felipe Molas Lopez, Federico Chaves, and defense minister General Raimundo Rolon, who controlled the military, forced Natalicio's resignation in the early morning of 30 January.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Juan Natalicio Gonzalez open source ↗

Editorial Note

Dataset date 25 October 1948 versus the sourced 26 October, a one day discrepancy noted. Sits in Paraguay's chaotic 1948 to 1949 presidential churn after Morinigo's June 1948 ouster, leading to the Rolon and Molas Lopez governments and eventually the Chaves presidency and Stroessner's 1954 coup, all part of the dataset arc.

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
15010251948

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Juan Natalicio Gonzalez survived the October attempt unharmed but was forced out by a second coup in January 1949.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. 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
⚑ 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.

Wikipedia

Wall Street Journal

“What’s News– Business and Finance World Wide,” October 26, 1948

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Paraguay Quells Military Revolt; Leader Captured,” October 26, 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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