Former Paraguayan Dictator Flees Country

ASUNCION, Paraguay--Former Paraguayan President Alfredo Stroessner yesterday boarded a jetliner at the airport that bears his name and flew to exile in Brazil, his 34-year-old grip on this nation ended by a military coup that left hundreds dead.

Also on Sunday, the new president, Gen. Andres Rodriguez, announced that elections for president and Congress will be held in 90 days.

As Stroessner led about 20 family members and aides up the steps to the jet, onlookers at the observation deck at President Stroessner International Airport jeered, clapped and chanted, "Dictator Get Out!" and "Adios! Adios!"

Stroessner landed at 5:55 p.m. in Campinas, 290 iniles southwest of Rio de Janeiro, on a Paraguay Airlines Boeing 707, then left on another aircraft for the small town of Itumbiara in the central Brazilian state of Goias, Brazilian sources said.

A foreign ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Stroessner, who has property in the area, was to stay in Itumbiara "only temporarily."

"It is up to the Brazilian government to chose the place Stroessner will go, at least initially," Paraguayan ambassador Salvador Paredes said in the federal capital of Brasilia.

In an official note released by the foreign ministry on Sunday, Brazil announced that it had granted political asylum to Latin America's longest-ruling dictator, who was deposed in a bloody coup Friday.

Stroessner came to power as a general in a coup in 1954 and remained commander-in-chief of Paraguay's armed forces until Friday, when Rodriguez led the coup against him. Rodriguez was sworn in as president later that day.

As he left his country for perhaps the last time, the 76-year-old Stroessner wore a blue suit and red tie. He did not acknowledge the crowd and made no final gesture.

Radio stations in the capital reported Stroessner was accompanied by his two sons--Gustavo, an air force lieutenant colonel who was considered Stroessner's heir apparent, and Alfredo.

Stroessner had been under house arrest near the capital since he was captured early Friday after a night of fighting. The death toll from the coup has been estimated at up to 300, but no official figures have been given.

Rodriguez arrived at the airport shortly before Stroessner took off and spoke briefly with reporters. "I'm going to guarantee all freedoms and total democracy," he said. Asked how, he replied, "I will call general elections in 90 days." He did not say if he would run for president.