Paraguay After Stroessner: One Step Away from Democracy

Humberto Rubin, the owner and director of Radio Ñandutí, is undoubtedly Paraguay’s best-known radio personality. For over 15 years Radio Ñandutí was one of the most important independent media voices in Paraguay, and its reports on such topics as government corruption and human rights abuses proved to be constant irritants to the Stroessner regime. Government pressure finally drove its AM station off the air in 1987, but Mr. Rubin sought and found other means—public forums, research, and publications—to pursue his struggle for greater freedom in his country. Following Stroessner’s ouster in 1989, Radio Ñandutí was able to resume its AM transmissions and regain its former position as Paraguay’s preeminent source of news. In 1989, Mr. Rubin was awarded Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the oldest international award in the field of journalism.