History of Paraguay

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The history of Paraguay can be roughly divided into four phases: the early period before the beginning of Spanish settlement in 1537, the colonial period in which the area of ​​what is today Paraguay belonged to the Kingdom of Spain , the modern period in which the country became independent, developed and developed integrated itself into the state system, and finally Recent History , which covers the period from the end of the military dictatorship to the present day.

Location of the present state of Paraguay

Early days

Various Indian tribes lived in the area of ​​what is now Paraguay before the European settlement. In the west lived the tribes of the Tupí-Guaraní language family , in the east the tribes of the Arawak , Guaicurú, Mataco-Mataguayo, Chamacoco , Angaite and Lengua. It is estimated that around 280,000 people were living in the area when the Europeans arrived. The Aché Indians, who now live in the subtropical east, are considered to be the descendants of the former indigenous people of Eastern Paraguay. Around 500 BC BC Guarani groups immigrated from the Amazon region, occupied the areas on the river plains, planted their plants there and displaced the ancestors of the Aché into the higher forest areas. Today they are assigned to the Tupí-Guaraní language family , but the Aché presumably have adopted this language.

Colonial times

Spanish conquest

Historical map of Paraguay: Map by Josse de Hondt (around 1600)

The first European in Paraguay was supposedly Juan de Solis , who explored the area in 1516 and claimed for the Spanish crown. An expedition under Sebastiano Caboto founded the Sancti Spiritu station in 1527 . However, the actual conquest of the area did not begin until 1537 with the establishment of Fort Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción , today's capital of Paraguay on the Río Paraguay (means parrot river in Guaraní ). Afterwards, campaigns by Juan de Ayolas (1537), Domingo Martínez de Irala (1542) and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (1543) led to the expansion of Spanish territory to the west. In 1542 the region was annexed to the newly founded viceroyalty of Peru . From 1559 the political administrative center of the province was the city of Charcas . During this time, the European immigrants mixed with the local Indian population, but as a result they were decimated by new diseases such as syphilis .

Jesuit reductions

Ruin of a Jesuit reduction in Trinidad

From 1588, the Jesuit order began to Christianize the Guaraní Indians in the south of the region . Since 1610 the Jesuits received from King Philip III of Spain . free hand and began in the province of Guaira with the construction of reducciones , large agricultural settlements in which the Indians were colonized. These were village communities for up to 10,000 Guaraní, to which mestizos and white settlers had no access. Officially, this Jesuit state , which included parts of today's Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, was under Spanish rule, but had its own administration and was sealed off from the outside. However, the economic success was cause for envy and resentment among the Spanish colonial officials, who therefore did nothing to prevent attacks by slave hunters. There was therefore violent unrest, especially around 1725 and 1733–1735. Further unrest followed when part of the Jesuit reductions were to be ceded to Portuguese Brazil under the Treaty of Madrid ( → Guaraní Wars (1753–1756) ). Finally, the Jesuits were expelled from South America in 1767 and the reductions finally dissolved. The Spanish crown hoped to be able to restructure the state finances with the confiscated property.

Further developments

The colony served the Spanish Kingdom primarily as a supplier of raw materials. Nevertheless, the taxes were relatively high, which led to numerous unrest among the colonists and Indians. In 1776 Paraguay was annexed to the newly founded Spanish viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , along with the regions of today's Argentina and Bolivia .

19th and 20th centuries

Time of dictatorship

In the course of the Latin American independence movement, Argentina first declared its secession from Spain in 1810. Paraguay, however, initially remained with the mother country and at the beginning of 1811 even fended off a military attempt by Argentina to force it to join. But on May 14, 1811, Paraguay finally declared its independence, although it did not join the Argentine Confederation . The Spanish governor was deposed and the affairs of state were taken over by a council of five men. After a short time, this was replaced by two consuls, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia , of whom the latter asserted himself as president and absolute dictator in 1814.

Francia ruled until his death in 1840. His reign was marked by the isolation of the country from its neighboring states, so that the revolutionary developments there had little impact on society in Paraguay. To strengthen the government, Francia confiscated church property in 1824 and half of the land owned by Creole landowners in 1826. Agriculture and trade took off under him and his two successors, which made the country one of the most developed countries in South America by the middle of the 19th century. After a brief interregnum , Francia's nephew Carlos Antonio López came to power in 1841, which he initially shared with Mariano Roque Alonso until he was appointed Paraguay's first constitutional president in 1844. López introduced a radical form of militarism . He brought the professional army to 8,000 men, introduced general conscription, had larger and smaller fortresses built and armed the ships on the rivers in peacetime. Nevertheless, he used the military instrument only once when he intervened in the Uruguayan War (1843-1851). López began to officially abolish slavery in Paraguay in 1843, introduced compulsory education, free of charge, reformed the legal system and granted citizenship to the Indians. When he died in 1862, the affairs of state passed to his son Francisco Solano López .

López had expansive intentions, which were reinforced by the fact that Paraguay had the most effective military system on the continent at the time. He continued to arm the military and finally declared war on Brazil and Argentina in 1864 . These in turn allied with Uruguay to form the Triple Alliance . In the following war of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) Paraguay lost most of its population (around 384,000 of around 500,000 inhabitants). In addition, the victors annexed around 50% of Paraguay's territory and kept the country occupied until 1876. Paraguay lost its economic efficiency and its prosperity.

Unstable republic

Disputed Areas in the Chaco War (1932–1935)

President López had fallen during the last year of the war.

Universal male suffrage became effective with the constitution of 1870.

The following years were marked by political instability. Conservative Colorados in particular fought against liberal azules . Only around the turn of the century did the economic and political situation increasingly stabilize. From 1904, more foreign capital flowed into the country again, which the government under Eduardo Schaerer between 1912 and 1916 was able to use for consolidation. During the First World War (1914-1918) Paraguay preserved its neutrality and in 1915 reached a settlement with Bolivia in the dispute over the Gran Chaco area . Only when oil was discovered in this area did new clashes arise from 1928, which culminated in the Chaco War (1932–1935). In the peace treaty of 1938, Paraguay was awarded most of the disputed territory and thus doubled its national territory.

Even before peace was concluded, President Eusebio Ayala was overthrown on February 17, 1936 by a popular movement supported by the military. Colonel Rafael Franco became the new president . But this too was ousted again on August 18, 1938, which plunged the country into political chaos. From 1939 the military seized power in the state with General José Félix Estigarribia , who was succeeded by Higinio Morínigo from 1940 to 1948 . A new constitution came into force under General Estigarribia's government , making the President Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of Paraguay's armed forces rolled into one. In contrast, an uprising broke out in 1947, organized by the Febrerista Party and the Communist Party. In the six-month civil war that followed, the rebels were eventually defeated by government forces. They moved across the borders to Brazil or Argentina.

Military dictatorship

In May 1954, the military under General Alfredo Stroessner , son of a Bavarian from Hof ​​and a Paraguayan woman, put another coup against the government. The general established a dictatorship with police repression (documents listing this repression have now been recognized by UNESCO as World Document Heritage ), which was to last for 35 years. The regime has long been supported by the United States because of its strict anti-communist stance .

Law number 704 introduced universal active and passive suffrage for women at the national level in 1961 .

It was not until 1989 that Stroessner himself was overthrown by another military coup under General Andrés Rodríguez . This initiated a democratic change in Paraguay by lifting the censorship of the media and in 1992 proclaiming a democratic constitution.

Furthermore, immigration was promoted during the time of the military dictatorship. Due to an agreement with Japan , around 8,000 Japanese settled in Paraguay in 1959. They received land from the government and started growing fruits and vegetables. From 1968 around 10,000 more Mennonites , mainly Volga Germans , were brought to Paraguay to colonize and cultivate the barren Chaco region.

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay also founded the " Common Market of the South " ( Mercado Común del Cono Sur ) in 1991 , which, among other things, provided for the gradual dismantling of tariffs between the member states. Since then the administrative headquarters of the organization has been Montevideo in Uruguay.

Recent history

Lino César Oviedo Silva

On May 9, 1993, the Colorado Party emerged victorious in the first truly democratic elections since the state was founded. Juan Carlos Wasmosy became Paraguay's new head of state and government.

But even in recent times the political situation in Paraguay has been marked by instability. In May 1996, a nationwide general strike and bloody clashes between demonstrators and security forces broke out after opposition parties and trade unions called for the resignation of President Juan Carlos Wasmosy, against whom corruption proceedings were underway. At the same time, a coup attempt by General Lino César Oviedo Silva failed, whereupon the general was sentenced to 10 years in prison. But after taking office in 1998, the new President Raúl Cubas Grau pardoned General Oviedo Silva. This sparked a serious crisis in which the opposition parties threatened impeachment proceedings against the president. When Vice President Luis María Argaña, who was critical of the government, was shot dead in Asunción in March 1999, serious unrest and street battles between supporters of the government and the opposition broke out again. The Parliament dismissed the president then his office and appointed Senate President Luis Ángel González Macchi to its temporary successor. Oviedo Silva fled to Argentina and ex-President Cubas Grau evaded an arrest warrant by fleeing to Brazil. At the end of 1999, the dispute between Argentina and Paraguay over the extradition of General Oviedo Silva broke off diplomatic relations. In May 2000, supporters of the general unsuccessfully attempted a coup against the government. Upon his return on May 28, 2004, Oviedo was arrested and sent to prison. After his release, he ran as a presidential candidate in 2008 for the Unión Nacional de Ciudadanos Éticos . Ex-President Cuba Grau was arrested in Paraguay in early 2002.

In addition to Oviedo, Blanca Ovelar ran as a presidential candidate for the ruling Partido Colorado in the parliamentary and presidential elections in Paraguay in 2008 , as incumbent Nicanor Duarte Frutos was not allowed to run again, and the former Bishop of San Pedro Fernando Lugo for the opposition alliance Alianza Patriótica para el Cambio . This election was decided by Lugo with 40.8 percent of the vote; he achieved ten percentage points more than the former education minister Blanca Ovelar, the candidate of the 61-year ruling Colorado party. Lugo was sworn in as President on August 15, 2008, and Federico Franco was named Vice President of the Partido Radical Liberal Auténtico .

On June 15, 2012 There came in Curuguaty in canindeyú department to a violent confrontation between police and squatters at least 17 dead, including six policemen. Lugo was held politically responsible for the incident, whereupon the Chamber of Deputies filed an impeachment lawsuit on June 21, 2012. Only one day later, the Paraguayan Senate approved the impeachment by 39: 4 votes.

Lugo accepted his removal by parliament, but viewed the process as more of a "coup". Lugo's lawyers announced that they will seek a review of the impeachment proceedings by the Paraguayan Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights . The Organization of American States criticized the impeachment process as "somewhat hasty," and a spokesman for the Union of South American Nations viewed the proceedings as a threat to the democratic order. Lugo's successor as President was the previous Vice President Federico Franco . As a result of the events surrounding the removal of Fernando Lugos, Paraguay was temporarily suspended by the other members of Mercosur until the new elections in April 2013 .

literature

  • Nidia R. Areces: La independencia y los tiempos que siguieron, Paraguay 1810-1850 . In: Ivana Frasquet, Andrea Slemian (eds.): De las independencias a los estados republicanos (1810-1850). 200 años de historia . Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-86527-526-4 , pp. 39-59.
  • R. Andrew Nickson: Historical Dictionary of Paraguay. The Scarecrow Press, Metuchen / London 1993, ISBN 0-8108-2643-7 .
  • Jan MG Kleinpenning: Paraguay 1515-1870: A thematic geography of its development. Iberoamericana, Madrid 2003. ISBN 3-89354-592-1 .
  • Max Zeuske: Paraguay. In: Walter Markov (ed.): World history - The countries of the earth from A to Z. VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1967, p. 552f.

Web links

Commons : History of Paraguay  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g M. Zeuske: Paraguay , p. 552f
  2. ^ Indian tribes ( Memento from October 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) German Indian Pioneer Mission
  3. ^ PFX de Charlevoix: Histoire du Paraguay, Volume 1 Didot, Giffart, Nyon, Paris 1757.
  4. ↑ Paiva Baruja: A History of Paraguay
  5. ↑ Paiva Baruja: A History of Paraguay
  6. ↑ Paiva Baruja: A History of Paraguay
  7. ↑ a b Frobel: Paraguay , p. 335
  8. ↑ Biografía de Don Carlos Antonio López abc.com.py , September 6, 2010, accessed March 23, 2019.
  9. ↑ Ramiro Barboza: Manual de derechos humanos , 1990, page 30.
  10. ↑ Biografía de Don Carlos Antonio López abc.com.py , September 6, 2010, accessed March 23, 2019.
  11. ↑ A comprehensive overview of the war can be found in: Frobel: Paraguay , pp. 332–341.
  12. ^ Marta León-Roesch: Paraguay. In: Dieter, Nohlen (ed.): Political organizations and representations in America. , Volume 1, Leske + Budrich Opladen, 1993, ISBN 3-8100-1028-6 , pp. 631-650, pp. 636-637.
  13. ↑ Archives of Terror | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved August 28, 2017 .
  14. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved November 16, 2018 .
  15. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 302.
  16. ↑ Left bishop ensures change of power in Paraguay Spiegel Online, April 21, 2008
  17. ^ Ex-Bishop Fernando Lugo sworn in as President Deutsche Welle, August 15, 2008
  18. ^ Paraguay: Parliament files impeachment lawsuit against President Lugo . Spiegel Online, June 21, 2012
  19. ↑ MercoPress: “A coup against democracy” organized by the political class and mafia claims Lugo , June 23, 2012.
  20. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : President Lugo deposed by parliament , June 23, 2012.
  21. ↑ Mercosur excludes Paraguay , APA in derstandard.at of June 29, 2012