Upon taking office, Rodríguez canceled most of Stroessner's most repressive measures, which came as a surprise given his previous closeness to Stroessner. He abolished the death penalty, freed political prisoners, and tried to imprison some leading members of the Stroessner government. He formally canceled the state of siege that had been in place for virtually all of Stroessner's rule; while it had nominally been repealed in 1987, its substance had remained in place in the form of draconian security laws and close restrictions on press freedom (opposition leaders had been arrested, and Stroessner had been the only candidate who had been allowed to campaign unmolested in the 1988 elections). He also welcomed back several longtime exiles.