Antonio Campos Alum
Antonio Campos Alum (July 16, 1919 – February 14, 2012) was a Paraguayan politician and head of the National Directorate of Technical Affairs (Dirección Nacional de Asuntos Técnicos, DNAT), a law enforcement agency during the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner. Early life Antonio Campos Alum was born in the agricultural department of Paraguarí, a conservative peasant region. He received a degree in law at the university of Asunción, and began a career as a lawyer. A staunch anti-communist, he became a member of the Colorado Party, the main conservative political force in the country. Following the 1947 civil war, Paraguay became a one-party state under the Colorado Party, with most opposition groups being banned and driven into exile. In 1954, General Alfredo Stroessner launched a coup d'état and took control of the government. Campos Alum became a strong supporter of the new regime, and began serving in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the General Secretary of the Ministry. Under Stroessner In 1956 President Stroessner established a special service of the secret police, subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs - the National Directorate of Technical Affairs (Dirección Nacional de Asuntos Técnicos, DNAT). Robert Thierry, a Pentagon official and veteran of the Korean War was sent from the United States to help the Stroessner regime set up the new organization. When selecting the employees, Lieutenant Colonel Thierry paid special attention to the lawyer Antonio Campos Alum. In 1957, Campos Alum completed an internship in the United States. Upon his return to Paraguay, he was commissioned by Stroessner to lead the DNAT. Antonio Campos Alum held this position for 35 years - throughout the whole history of the department. As director of the DNAT, Antonio Campos Alum was primarily concerned with the suppression of the anti-government insurgency. The 1958 elections gave Stroessner his second Presidential term. The vote was fixed to favor the regime and the opposition blossomed into a guerrilla insurgency soon afterwards. Sponsored by exiled Liberals and Febreristas, small bands of armed men began to slip across the border from Argentina. Venezuela sent large amounts of aid to these groups starting in 1958. The following year, the new Cuban government under Fidel Castro also provided assistance to the United National Front. The suppression of the armed opposition was led by the Minister of the Interior Edgar Ynsfrán, at that time one of the key men of the regime. Antonio Campos Alum was one of the closest collaborators of Ynsfrán, and the DNAT played an important role in the suppression of anti-government movements. In 1966, Ynsfrán was dismissed, but this did not affect either the position of the DNAT or the status of Campos Alum - he became one of the deputies of the new head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sabino Augusto Montanaro. Campos Alum formed an effective network of informers. The headquarters of the DNAT combined the functions of a prison with that of an interrogation chamber. DNAT agents identified, arrested and killed those suspected of being members