Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (Spanish pronunciation: [alˈfreðo strosˈner]; November 3, 1912 – August 16, 2006) was a Paraguayan military officer who served as President of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989. He ascended to the position after leading an army coup in 1954. His 35-year-long rule, marked by an uninterrupted period of repression in his country, is the second longest in modern Latin American history behind only Fidel Castro, who ruled Cuba from 1959 to 2008.