History

Discovery by Europeans

The history of Paraguay began indirectly in 1516 with the failed expedition of Juan Diaz de Soli to the estuary of the Río de la Plata that divides present-day Argentina and Uruguay, which led to the cannibalised death of Soli by the hands of the Guaraní Indians. The remaining members of the expedition named the tributary 'Río de Solís' and attempted to return to Spain, but on the return, some of the boats were shipwrecked on the Island of Santa Catalina, part of the present-day Brazilian coast.

Among the survivors was Alejo García, a Portuguese adventurer who had made contact with the Guaraní while living among the Indians. Through this melodious language, Garcia astounded the natives with tales of the 'White King' who lived, it was said, farther west and ruled cities of incomparable riches and magnificent splendour. At last, García collected some men and gathered sufficient supplies to attempt a journey to the interior and finally was able to leave the Island of Santa Catalina after almost eight years to finally return to the kingdom of the 'White King'.

Marching towards the west, García's company discovered the massive waterfalls of Iguazú (in guaraní, 'Great Waters'), crossed the river Paraná and arrived at the site of present-day Asunción. There the group recruited a small army of 2,000 local Guaraní soldiers as reinforcement to invade the promising new land and had to enter the Chaco, a rough semi-desert region. There they faced obstacles such as dryness, rainstorms and tribes of the Chaco Indians, who were extremely dangerous, but not as much as the cannibalistic Guaraní Indians who accompanied García. This all took place between the end of 1524 and the beginning of 1525.

García was first the European to cross the Chaco and even managed to penetrate the outer defences of the Inca Empire in hills of the Andes Mountains in present-day Bolivia, eight years before the fierce and greedy Francisco Pizarro. He operated according to a mixed plan including looting which raised an impressive booty of silver but before the army of the ruling Inca, Huayna Cápac, arrived to challenge him, he retreated with the spoils only to be assassinated by his Indian allies near the present city of San Pedro on the Paraguay river. However, they spared the life of his son, the first Paraguayan mestizo. News of the excursion into Inca territory seduced Spanish explorers and attracted Sebastián Gaboto to the Paraguay River two years later.

Sebastián Gaboto was the son of famous Italian explorer Juan Gaboto (who had attempted the first European expedition to North America). Gaboto was sailing east to the Orient in 1526 when he heard of García's feats and concluded that the Río de Solís could provide easier passage to the Pacific and the East than the treacherous and stormy labyrinths of the Strait of Magellan, which was the only route known at that time to go towards the wealth of Peru. Gaboto was the first European to conscientiously decide to explore the estuary of La Plata.

Leaving a small force on the northern border of the wide estuary, Gaboto came slowly up the Paraná River for about 160 kilometres and founded a fort named Sancti Spiritu near the present-day Argentine city of Rosario. He continued upstream for another 800 kilometres, past the joining of the Paraguay River and the Paraná and staying on the Paraná. When navigation became difficult, Gaboto retraced his steps from the Paraná River to enter the Paraguay River. Approximately forty kilometres south of Asunción, Gaboto found a Guaraní tribe that had possession of silver-plated objects, perhaps some of the treasure left by García. Believing that he had found the route towards the wealth of Peru, Gaboto named the Paraguay River 'Río de La Plata', meaning 'River of Silver', though today the name is only where it borders the city of Buenos Aires.

Carlos V promulgated a certificate (decree) that granted the colonists the right to elect the governor of the Río de Plata province; the colonists elected Irala as governor. His domain included actual Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and most of Chile and good parts of Brazil and Bolivia. In 1542, the province transformed to part of the Virreinato recently established in Peru, with the capital in Lima. Beginning in 1559, the Audience of Charcas (actual Sucre, Bolivia) controlled the legal subjects of the province.

The administration of Irala set the standard for the subjects on the interior of Paraguay until the independence. Asunción was not only populated by the Spanish, but also by people from France, Italy, Germany, England and Portugal. This community of approximately 350 men chose Guaraní women as wives and concubines. Paraguay quickly became known as a land of mestizos. Following the example set by Irala, the Europeans raised their children as Spanish who became the creole elite despite the continual arrivals of more Europeans.

The Guaraní, the Kario, the Tape, the Guarajos, and the Tupi were tribes who inhabited an immense area that began from the mountainous regions of the Guyanas near Brazil until the Uruguay River. The Guaraní were always surrounded by other hostile tribes and so warred frequently. Like other tribes in the zone, the Guaraní were cannibals. But they normally ate only their prisoners of war who were brave and gave the hope of acquiring the courage and strength of their victims. The Guaraní accepted the arrival of the Spanish and looked to them for protection from the ferocious neighbouring tribes but also waited for the Hispanics to join them in battle against the Incas once more.

In contrast with the hospitable Guaraní, the tribes of the Chaco, like the Payaguás (of where the name Paraguay originated, according to various versions on the origin of the name of the country), the Guaycurúes, the M'bayá, the Abipones, the Mocoríes, and the Chiriguanos were implacable enemies of the whites.

Irala govern until his death in 1556, in many ways his governing system was one of the most humane and new to the new world of Spain which marked a difference with the conquistadores era. Irala maintain a good relationship with his people and the Guaraní Indians. He pacified the hostile Indians in Chaco and started to trade with Peru, boosting textile reproduction and introducing cattle to Paraguay. In the last years of his life Irala surrendered to colonial complaints and pressure, resulting in the establishment of an encomienda. Under this system, the colonial citizens received land with rights to labour and production of the Indians living in that area. This system soon failed and turned into slavery.

Independence

In 1617, the province of the Rio de la Plate was divided in two smaller provinces: Paraguay with Asunción as its capital, and the Rio de la Plate with Buenos Aires as its main city. With this action, Asunción lost the control of the estuary of the river and became employee of Buenos Aires for marine shipments. In 1776, the Crown founded the Viceroyalty in Rio de la Plata. Because Paraguay was located far from the colonial centres, it had very little power in the important decisions that affected its economy. Spain took control of the wealth of Paraguay through heavy taxes and other regulations.

The French Revolution weakened Spain's capacity to control its colonies. Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808, the capture of the Spanish king Fernando VII and Napoleon's imposition of his brother José Bonaparte on the Hispanic throne broke what was left of the links between the metropolis and its satellites. Without a recognised king, the colonial system lost its legitimacy and the colonists incited rebellions, overthrowing the Spanish authority on the night of May 14 and on the dawn of May 15, 1811.

Independence was formally declared on May 17, 1811.

20th Century Paraguay

In the 1930s and 1940s, Paraguayan politics were defined by the Chaco War against Bolivia, the Paraguayan Civil War, military dictatorships and periods of extreme political instability. General Alfredo Stroessner took power in May 1954. Elected to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor, he was re-elected president seven times, ruling almost continuously under the state-of-siege provision of the constitution with support from the military and the Colorado Party.

During Stroessner's 34-year reign, political freedoms were severely limited, and opponents of the regime were systematically harassed and persecuted under the banner of national security and anti-Communism. Stroessner also pursued an assimilation policy towards (non-mestizo) Indians; many Aché were killed in the process of sedentarisation. Though a 1967 constitution gave dubious legitimacy to Stroessner's control, Paraguay became progressively isolated from the world community.

On September 17, 1980, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, former president of Nicaragua, was assassinated in Asunción. Governmental response to this assassination led to further restrictions in Paraguayan civil rights.

On February 3, 1989, Stroessner was overthrown in a military coup headed by General Andrés Rodríguez. Rodríguez, as the Colorado Party candidate, easily won the presidency in elections held that May and the Colorado Party dominated the Congress. In 1991 municipal elections, however, opposition candidates won several major urban centres, including Asunción. As president, Rodríguez instituted political, legal and economic reforms and initiated a rapprochement with the international community.

Modern Paraguay

The June 1992 constitution established a democratic system of government and dramatically improved protection of fundamental rights. In May 1993, Colorado Party candidate Juan Carlos Wasmosy was elected as Paraguay's first civilian president in almost 40 years in what international observers deemed fair and free elections. The newly elected majority-opposition Congress quickly demonstrated its independence from the executive by rescinding legislation passed by the previous Colorado-dominated Congress. With support from the United States, the Organisation of American States, and other countries in the region, the Paraguayan people rejected an April 1996 attempt by then Army Chief General Lino Oviedo to oust President Wasmosy, taking an important step to strengthen democracy.

Oviedo became the Colorado candidate for president in the 1998 election, but when the Supreme Court upheld in April his conviction on charges related to the 1996 coup attempt, he was not allowed to run and remained in confinement. His former running mate, Raúl Cubas, became the Colorado Party's candidate and was elected in May in elections deemed by international observers to be free and fair. However, his brief presidency was dominated by conflict over the status of Oviedo, who had significant influence over the Cubas government. One of Cubas' first acts after taking office in August was to commute Oviedo's sentence and release him from confinement. In December 1998, Paraguay's Supreme Court declared these actions unconstitutional. After delaying for 2 months, Cubas openly defied the Supreme Court in February 1999, refusing to return Oviedo to jail. In this tense atmosphere, the murder of Vice President and long-time Oviedo rival Luis María Argaña on March 23, 1999, led the Chamber of Deputies to impeach Cubas the next day. The March 26 murder of eight student antigovernment demonstrators, widely believed to have been carried out by Oviedo supporters, made it clear that the Senate would vote to remove Cubas on March 29, and Cubas resigned on March 28. Despite fears that the military would not allow the change of government, Senate President Luis González Macchi, a Cubas opponent, was peacefully sworn in as president the same day. Cubas left for Brazil the next day and has since received asylum. Oviedo fled the same day, first to Argentina, then to Brazil. In December 2001, Brazil rejected Paraguay's petition to extradite Oviedo to stand trial for the March 1999 assassination and 'Marzo Paraguayo' incident.

González Macchi offered cabinet positions in his government to senior representatives of all three political parties in an attempt to create a coalition government. While the Liberal Party pulled out of the government in February 2000, the Gonzalez Macchi government has achieved a consensus among the parties on many controversial issues, including economic reform. Liberal Julio César Franco won the August 2000 election to fill the vacant vice presidential position. In August 2001, the lower house of Congress considered but did not pass a motion to impeach González Macchi for alleged corruption and inefficient governance. In 2003, Nicanor Duarte Frutos was elected and sworn in as president.

On July 1, 2005, the United States reportedly deployed troops and aircraft to the large military airfield of Mariscal Estigarribia as part of a bid to extend control of strategic interests in the Latin American sphere, particularly in Bolivia. A military training agreement with Asunción, giving immunity to US soldiers, caused some concern after media reports initially reported that a base housing 20,000 US soldiers was being built at Mariscal Estigarribia within 200 km of Argentina and Bolivia, and 300 km of Brazil, near an airport which could receive large planes, which the Paraguan Air Forces do not have. At present, no more than 400 US troops are expected. The governments of Paraguay and the United States subsequently declared that the use of an airport (Dr Luís María Argaña International) was one point of transfer for few soldiers in Paraguay at the same time. According to the Clarín Argentinian newspaper, the US military base is strategic because of its location near the Triple Frontera between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina; its proximity towards the Guarani aquifer; and, finally, its closeness toward Bolivia (less than 200 km).