Higinio Morínigo
| Higinio Morínigo | |
|---|---|
Higinio Moríñigo (right) and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House on June 9, 1943.
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| President of Paraguay | |
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In office September 7, 1940 – June 3, 1948 |
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| Preceded by | José Félix Estigarribia |
| Succeeded by | Juan Manuel Frutos |
| Minister of War and Navy of Paraguay | |
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In office May 17, 1940 – September 7, 1940 |
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| Preceded by | Eduardo Torreani Viera |
| Succeeded by | Paulino Ántola |
| Minister of the Interior of Paraguay | |
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In office January 25, 1939 – August 15, 1939 |
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| Preceded by | Arturo Bray |
| Succeeded by | Nicolás Delgado |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Higinio Morínigo Martínez January 11, 1897 Paraguarí,  Paraguay
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| Died | January 27, 1983 (aged 86) Asunción, Paraguay
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| Nationality | Paraguayan |
| Political party | None |
| Spouse(s) | Dolores Ferrari (1932–1983) |
| Children | Higinio Emilio, Juan Alberto, Guillermo Gerardo |
General Higinio Moríñigo Martínez (January 11, 1897 – January 27, 1983) was a general and political figure in Paraguay. He was the President and military dictator of Paraguay from September 7, 1940 to June 3, 1948. Opposition to his rule led to the Paraguayan civil war of 1947. The Paraguayan city General Higinio Morínigo is named in his honor.
Moríñigo was born in 1897 in Paraguarí, Paraguay, to a merchant family of mixed European and Guarani descent. He was fluent in the Spanish and Guaraní languages. Little else is known of his early life.
He attended military college and entered the Paraguayan Army in 1922. He participated in the Chaco War and was appointed the Army's Chief of Staff in 1936. Moríñigo gained fame in Paraguay during the February Revolution of 1936 by heading an expedition to the site of the Battle of Cerro Corá to retrieve the remains of Francisco Solano López. President José Félix Estigarribia, himself a Chaco War hero and supporter of the Liberal Party, promoted Moríñigo to general and appointed him as Minister of War on May 2, 1940.
After Estigarribia's unexpected death in an airplane crash on September 7, Moríñigo was chosen by the army and Liberal ministers as interim President for the two-month period leading to new Presidential elections.
On September 30, 1940, after growing disagreements with the President, the Liberal Party ministers resigned from the government; on October 16 Moríñigo announced that the Presidential elections would be postponed for two years. Soon afterward he announced a policy of disciplina, jerarquia, y orden (discipline, hierarchy and order) and stated that persons who spread subversive ideas would be "subject to confinement".
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