Epifanio Méndez Fleitas (7 April 1917 – 22 November 1985) was aParaguayan politician, musician, writer and poet, and twice the president ofCentral Bank of Paraguay: from 1952 to 1954 and in 1955.^[1] He fled Paraguay during theAlfredo Stroessner years and was the uncle to future PresidentFernando Lugo.^[2] He died inBuenos Aires.

Epifanio Méndez Fleitas was born inSan Pedro del Paraná, in theItapúa Department ofParaguay. He began his studies in his hometown, before relocating toVillarrica where he began his career as a writer by writing his firstessays. He began studying law, but he did not conclude his studies because he became involved in political activity: after joining theColorado Party, he became involved with the government and was appointed first as chief of police ofAsunción and, later, as the president of theCentral Bank of Paraguay.^[3]

In May 1954, Méndez backedAlfredo Stroessner'scoup d'état against PresidentFederico Chaves, who had previously fired Méndez from the position of president of the Central Bank.^[4] Méndez thus reacquired his previous position at the bank, while also becoming the director of a newspaper,La Unión, which became the most important newspaper aligned with the government.^[3]

All the while, he continued his work as a writer, and began writing poetry and composing music. From a young age he wrote poetry in both theSpanish andGuaraní. His works have been published in many magazines. In 1939 he published his first book, “Bajo la verde arboleda”. In 1953, he formed a band called “San Solano” with Reinaldo Meza, Barrios-Espínola, Damasio Esquivel and Nicholas Barrios. In 1976 while in Buenos Aires he revived the group with others. He was also among the founders of the Paraguayan Associated Authors (Autores Paraguayos Asociados, APA); and through his work APA has its own office on Chile Street in Asunción. He also attempted to help spread Paraguayan music to Europe and thus inspired Luis Alberto del Parana and his friendsAgustín Barboza and Digno García to form the band “Los Paraguayos” and sent them, on behalf of Paraguay, to Europe.^[5]

Epifanio Méndez Fleitas married Fresdesvinda Vall on 6 January. The couple had five children: Teresa, Bernardino, Prudencio, Epifanio, María de la Cruz and José.

Méndez' fortunes changed whenJuan Perón, President ofArgentina and a close friend of Méndez, was deposed in September 1955. While initially emigrating to Paraguay, Perón was eventually forced to leave the country by Stroessner, and he relocated toVenezuela. Méndez' closeness to Perón put him in a weakened position within the Paraguayan junta,^[4] and Stroessner, eager to isolate a potential political rival, nominated him ambassador toSpain in January 1956. When Méndez returned in March he was refused entry to Paraguay. He went into exile inUruguay, and became a harsh critic of the regime and its repressive measures. In March 1960, inResistencia,Argentina, Méndez joined forces with theMovimiento Popular Colorado (MOPOCO), another faction within the Colorado Party opposing Stroessner and living largely in exile.

While out of the country, Méndez tried to utilize contacts within the Colorado Party to agitate for a change in government. He was tied to a gruesome event in 1962 when some members of the military in Paraguay were accused of being followers of Méndez by the Minister of the Interior,Edgar Ynsfrán, and were subsequently brutally purged.^[6]

In 1973, MOPOCO and Epifanio Méndez Fleitas would separate, since the latter would found a new dissident group, the Asociación Nacional Republicana en el Exilio y la Resistencia (ANRER). In 1978, under pressure from the Argentine government, he was expelled from Uruguay and went to theUnited States. In June 1984 he was allowed to enter Argentina. He died the following year inBuenos Aires.

1936 -Sueños de adolescente (Poetry)
1939 -Bajo la verde arboleda (Poetry)
1950 -Batallas por la democracia (with Osvaldo Chaves)
1951 -El orden para la libertad
1965 -Diagnosis paraguaya
1971 -Psicología del Colonialismo. Imperialismo yanqui-brasilero en el Paraguay
1973 -Ideologías de dependencia y segunda emancipación
1976 -Lo histórico y lo antihistórico en el Paraguay. Carta a los colorados
1979 -Carta a los liberales
1980 -Carta a un compañero
1983 -Marxismo teórico y utópico. Estructura del neocolonialismo en el Paraguay

• Presidents of the Central Bank of Paraguay
• Paraguayan musicians
• Paraguayan male musicians
• 20th-century Paraguayan poets
• Paraguayan male poets
• 1917 births
• 1985 deaths
• 20th-century Paraguayan male writers
• 20th-century Paraguayan politicians

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata