National Encounter Party(1996-2000) Carlos Alberto Filizzola Pallarés (born 24 July 1959) is a Paraguayan physician, labor unionist and politician who served as mayor of Asunción from 1991 to 1996, being the first one to be democratically elected.

[5][3] Born into a wealthy family with links to Alfredo Stroessner, Filizzola came to oppose the dictatorship, first as a student leader and later through unions, organizing protests such as the Clinicazo of 1986.

After the fall of Stroessner, Filizzola served as Assistant Secretary General of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores from its creation in 1989 until his election as mayor in 1991.

He won 34% of the vote, beating the colorado Juan Manuel Morales (27%), the liberal Félix "Pon" Bogado Gondra (20%) and the febrerista Euclides Acevedo (10%).

[11] One of Filizzola's first deeds as mayor was to order the removal of the statue of Alfredo Stroessner situated in the monument atop Lambaré Hill.

Filizzola argued that the statue was illegal, since according to Law 2719/90 the Government could not erect monuments of living people (at the time Stroessner was alive, exiled in Brasilia).

Eventually the commotion led to President Andrés Rodríguez, who couped Stroessner, calling Filizzola to pause the removal and discuss the matter with him.

In the morning of 8 October, Filizzola gave a press conference outside the Palacio de López, communicating that the president approved of the removal, and that he apologized for interrupting it.

His most controversial work, which is remembered to this day, was the renovation of Democracy Square, a large public space located in downtown Asunción, built in the 1960s.

In 2010, Filizzola was one of the founders of the Guasú Front, a coalition of political parties created to unite the scattered Paraguayan left and support President Lugo without the need of the liberals.

Filizzola was initially chosen by the Guasú Front as their candidate for mayor of Asunción in the 2010 municipal elections, however, out of fear of losing his seat in the Senate, they replaced him with Ricardo Canese.

[21] Filizzola served as Interior Minister in a uniquely turbulent time, marked by increasingly violent clashes between landowners and landless farmers who occupied lands that were taken away from them by the Stroessner regime.

The amendment was extremely controversial, since reelection was intentionally banned by the constitution, written in 1992, out of fear of another dictatorship like that of Stroessner, who was president for eight terms.

After weeks of violence throughout April, which included the death of an unarmed civilian at the hands of police, the crisis ended when Cartes gave up and announced he would no longer seek reelection.