Paraguay: History

Pre-20th-Century History

The original inhabitants of eastern Paraguay were the semi-nomadic Guaraní. Several hunter-gatherer groups, known as Guaycurú, populated the Chaco.

In 1524, Alejo García became the first European to cross Paraguay. Three years later, Sebastián Cabot sailed up the Río Paraguay without founding any settlements. This was left to Pedro de Mendoza, whose expedition of 350 Spaniards settled at Asunción after fleeing Buenos Aires.

The colony flourished, becoming the nucleus of Spanish settlement in southeastern South America. Eager to strengthen themselves against the Chaco's hostile hunter-gatherers, the Guaraní provided the conquistadors with food and an abundance of their women. This mixing resulted in a mestizo (mixed Indian and Spanish descent) culture of Guaraní food, customs and language, and Spanish politics. During this colonial period, Paraguay covered much of northern Argentina and western Brazil.

In the early 17th century, Jesuit missionaries created reducciones (settlements) where Guaraní were introduced to European high culture, new crafts, new crops and new methods of cultivation - some gained a classical education along the way. The settlements also protected them from the enslavement perpetrated by less scrupulous European colonists.

The Jesuits were expelled in 1767 as a result of local jealousies and Madrid's concern that their power had become too great. Until then, however, they were remarkably successful. They deterred Portuguese intervention in the region and protected the Guaraní from the ruthless slavers of São Paulo. As the settlements quietly withered, the Indians skedaddled or were employed by different masters.

Within a few years of Paraguay's uncontested independence from Spain in 1811, the xenophobic and sinister José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia emerged as the strongest member of a governing junta. Until his death, 'El Supremo' sealed the country's borders to promote national self-sufficiency and expropriated the properties of landowners, merchants and the Church, thus establishing the state as the dominant political and economic power.

Like most of his successors, Francia ruled by fear. His secret-police force jailed and tortured his opponents, many of which met their end in Francia's most notorious dungeon, the 'Chamber of Truth'. He escaped an assassination attempt in 1820. Some time after his death in 1840, his remains were disinterred and flung into a river.

By the 1860s, Francia's successor, Carlos Antonio López, ended Paraguay's isolation by building railroads, a telegraph system, a shipyard and a formidable army. Unfortunately, he also spawned a megalomaniacal son who set about destroying the country, most notably declaring war against Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil in 1865. The catastrophic War of the Triple Alliance proved to be one of the bloodiest and most savage in Latin American history. When the smoke settled, Paraguay had lost over half of its prewar population and 26% of its national territory.

Modern History

At the turn of the century, tensions arose with Bolivia over the ill-defined Chaco border and full-scale hostilities erupted in 1932. It is thought that Bolivia's desire for a sea port and rumors of petroleum deposits in the area were likely reasons for the unrest. Paraguay's guerrilla tactics overcame Bolivia's larger troops - they made it as far as the lower slopes of the Andes. By cease-fire in 1935, more than 80,000 were dead and there was no clear victor. A treaty awarded Paraguay three-quarters of the disputed territory.

After a decade of disorder, a brief civil war brought the Colorado Party to power in 1949. Five years later, a military coup saw General Alfredo Stroessner installed as president. A vainglorious man, he employed torture, murder and bogus elections to remain in power for the next 35 years. When the inimical dictator was overthrown in 1989, 75% of Paraguayans had known no other leader.

Stroessner was replaced by General Andrés Rodríguez. Formerly Stroessner's right-hand man, he cancelled the country's perennial state of emergency, eliminated censorship, legalized opposition parties and released political prisoners. The four-nation economic trade zone, Mercosur, was also created during this period.

The 1993 presidential election of Juan Carlos Wasmosy, a free-market zealot and former member of Stroessner's faction, inspired a number of nationwide strikes - he came under scrutiny for shady business dealings associated with Paraguay's massive hydroelectric projects.

In May 1998, the Colorado Party reconfirmed its staying power with the election of President Raul Cubas. However, he was accused of abusing his powers by freeing conspirator general Lino Oviedo from prison, despite orders to keep him there. When Vice President Luis Argaña was gunned down by assassins in 1999, popular sentiment linked Cubas and Oviedo to the murder and Cubas was forced to resign. Luis Gonzalez Macchi was sworn in while Cubas and Oviedo fled to neighboring countries.

Recent History

In 2000, a judge ordered the extradition from Brazil of Alfredo Stroessner, but he remains there, despite frequent inaccurate reports of his demise.

In 2002, President Macchi was charged with embezzlement but survived impeachment. On leaving government, he was put on trial on charges of corruption.

Nicanor Duarte Frutos (another Colorado party member), came to power in April 2003 claiming he'd 'break the stronghold of the elite'. While the country's economy is marginally improving, he's facing tough challenges and becoming increasingly controversial.

Government efforts to implement free market reforms were highly unpopular, leading to peasant-led land invasions in 2004.

The same year, the wheels of justice turned against Oviedo when he was imprisoned upon his return from exile.

The government's 2006 economic report revealed that job opportunities had increased and poverty had decreased. The population, however, is skeptical, branding the president a japu ('liar' in Guaraní).

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