Paraguay is located in Central South America, northeast of Argentina. After gaining independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay was ruled until 1870 by three successive dictators: Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, Carlos Antonio Lopez, and his son, Francisco Solano Lopez. The younger Lopez waged a war against Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil (War of the Triple Alliance, 1864-70) in which Paraguay lost half its population. In the 1930s and 1940s, Paraguayan politics were defined by the Chaco war against Bolivia, a civil war, dictatorships, and periods of extreme political instability. In 1954 General Alfredo Stroessner took power, and his 35-year military dictatorship came to an in 1989 end, thanks to a coup. The 1992 constitution changed Paraguay’s highly centralized government to one with a democratic system. With few mineral resources, Paraguay’s economy is dominated by agriculture, depending on exports of soybeans, cotton, grains, cattle, and timber.