Coup Atlas Research Database
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15002261949SuccessfulMilitary coup

Paraguay, 1949 — military coup

Paraguay (PRY)South America, AmericasFebruary 26, 1949

Event Summary

Less than a month after seizing power, Paraguay's military president Brigadier General Raimundo Rolon was himself pushed out in late February 1949, and the civilian dentist and Colorado politician Felipe Molas Lopez assumed the provisional presidency on February 27, 1949. The change reflected a deliberate move by Colorado Party leaders, drawn from the democratico and chavista factions, to bring the army back under civilian control and break the pattern of military governments; a U.S.

Embassy dispatch noted approvingly that the new government was entirely in civilian hands with the army responsive to civilian leaders. Molas Lopez governed only until September 1949, when he in turn was deposed and replaced by Federico Chaves, continuing the rapid succession of short-lived Paraguayan presidencies of this period.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Raimundo Rolon, de facto President of Paraguay (removed; Felipe Molas Lopez assumed the presidency)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Raimundo Rolon (military president removed)
Felipe Molas Lopez (civilian who assumed the presidency)
Federico Chaves (Colorado leader, later president)

Sources

Raimundo Rolon was president of Paraguay only from 30 January 1949 to 27 February 1949.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Raimundo Rolon" open source ↗
Felipe Molas Lopez was the 39th President of Paraguay from 27 February 1949, assuming the provisional presidency, until he resigned in September 1949.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Felipe Molas Lopez" open source ↗
A U.S. Embassy dispatch of 29 March 1949 recorded that Paraguay's government leaders deliberately turned down Rolon and chose the civilian Molas Lopez to eliminate military control of Paraguayan politics, putting the government entirely in civilian hands with the army responsive to civilian leaders.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Vol. II, Document 462 open source ↗

Editorial Note

The Cline dataset codes 26 February 1949, one day before Molas Lopez formally assumed office on 27 February, so this record captures the removal of the Rolon military government in favor of a civilian Colorado president. Two Wikipedia articles and a primary FRUS dispatch were read directly and agree on the dates and the civilian-control motive.

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
15002261949

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Raimundo Rolon, de facto President of Paraguay (removed; Felipe Molas Lopez assumed the presidency).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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
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/Raimundo_Rol%C3%B3n

New York Times

“New Revolt Shifts Paraguayan Regime,” February 27, 1949
“PARAGUAYAN UNOPPOSED Molas, Coup Head, Now Holds Presidency by Election,” April 18, 1949

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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