As You Were

Paraguay had its sixth coup in 13 months. Without firing a shot, the army kicked General Raimundo Rolon out of the presidency and supplanted him with Education Minister Felipe Molas Lopez, a dentist.

General Rolon had lasted barely 30 days. His big mistake, after scheduling elections for April, was to invite Paraguay's thousands of political exiles to come home and vote. That was strictly contrary to the wishes of the dominant Colorado party, which ran last year's elections on a one-party basis. Colorado chieftains, who wanted to make Dentist Molas Lopez President in April, began to suspect that Rolon was getting ready to stand as a candidate himself.

After consulting with their military friends, the party bosses decided not to wait until April. Saturday night, while General Rolon and most of his ministers were attending a wake for the Primate of Paraguay, the insiders ran off a swift and bloodless coup, installed Molas Lopez.

This week the new President announced formation of an all-Colorado cabinet, and promised that the elections would be held. In plain words, Molas Lopez would win unopposed--if he lasted that long.

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