Chaco War: The Argentine Support to the Paraguay War Effort

Argentine Support for Paraguay in the Chaco War

 


"No one dies on the eve, but on the appointed day (Nha ña mano bay i víspera – pe sino ghiarape)." I want to evoke these harsh words in Guaraní to describe the chilling photographic "Archive" of Dr. Carlos De Sanctis, compiled during the months he spent on the front lines of the Chaco Boreal battlefield. As he himself affirms, he was "…the first foreign doctor that Paraguay allowed to reach the front line…". "Chilling" is an appropriate term, as in my previous note, Facebook's intellectual censorship mechanism selectively blocked part of the content, which was taken precisely from the archive of the doctor from Rosario.

The astounding De Sanctis document captures in photographs, with annexed explanations as brutal as they are succinct (I would say "clinical"), what healthcare was like in the jungle, as seen by a "civilian" who served Paraguay in a war where Argentine public opinion was mostly inclined in favor of Paraguay and against Bolivia.

Other civilians, but with weapons in hand, served in the 7th General San Martín Regiment, formed in the Argentine House in Asunción and composed of a large number of Argentines—many from Goya, it seems—who played a distinguished role. We cannot forget the Argentine army officers who lost their careers due to the events of 1930, several of whom honorably served under the Paraguayan flag in the Chaco.

In terms of psychosocial support from Argentina, perhaps the most potent was the exaltation of Paraguay’s image, promoted by the media, which portrayed it as a small country under attack, a victim of unjust ambitions.

The other side of the coin is daringly presented in Buenos Aires in 1933, during the height of the conflict, by Bolivian diplomat Eduardo Anze Matienzo, under the auspices of the Engineering Students' Center, to a decidedly "pro-Paraguay" audience, as he put it.



Who is Anze Matienzo? A Bolivian who reached the highest position as a United Nations Commissioner in Eritrea and who served his diplomatic mission in Asunción in the years 1930 and 1931.

Anze gives a lecture titled "Bolivia in the Continent and in the Chaco Conflict." Extensive, substantial, and sharp, he laments the ignorance about his country, attributing it to "a prejudice that entails injustice," "…a subjective vision…".

I omit all the propositions about the rights of the parties he raises, ignore his arguments denying that Standard Oil subsidized Bolivia, and focus on "The Responsibilities of the War," where he argues against "Paraguay's 'gadfly' policy, which has weakened our governments and our people like an infectious and harmful disease for more than half a century." Anze postulates that Paraguay was a nation "burdened since the War of the Triple Alliance," which made it warlike because "López's madness, which led his people to collective suicide in the War of the Triple Alliance, had the virtue of creating a 'legend of heroism' whereby 'every Paraguayan considers himself an unparalleled hero, and the Paraguayan people form a cluster of heroes capable of making the world tremble'." He exemplifies this with the words spoken by his Paraguayan driver on the way to the legation: "I advise you, Secretary, to warn your compatriots that every Paraguayan soldier can fight ten Bolivians and defeat them." He concludes by stating that "when I left Asunción in 1931, Paraguay was already morally at war."

How does this situation, which this author perceives as a collective inheritance permeated by "the toxins of distrust, fear, and suspicion," this "hereditary poison," fit as a continuation of the historical process of the Francia and López dictatorships? Is it credible? Did Argentine literature play any role? I think it’s enough to recall Alberdi for reflection.



There are authors who believe they see in the former partners of the Triple Alliance a sort of guilty conscience for what happened in Paraguay, just as others see in the Chaco War an attempt at redemption, to heal the wounds of both belligerents. Paraguay with the "Guerra Guasú," and Bolivia with the Pacific War. I see a certain analogy between that historical moment and Paraguay’s struggle for the Chaco Boreal, claiming to be the victim, but quietly mobilizing, buying weapons on behalf of third parties, and being in a position to crush Bolivian forces in Boquerón and nearby forts by sheer numerical strength. And this against a world, perhaps due to its proximity to the disputed area, more inclined to see Paraguay as the attacked and Bolivia as the attacker, the aggressor, an image that the country to the west fueled not a little with the bravado and arrogance displayed by its military and politicians.

I have in my archive images circa 1931, of Paraguayan soldiers stationed in the remnants of the Curupaytí trenches, their greatest success against the allies, where I imagine seeing a ghostly wait for an enemy they hope will appear to be defeated. I see how the legend of Lopismo has not only turned the "marshal" into an eponymous hero but also portrayed Paraguay as a defenseless dove, unjustly crushed by the might of three nations. On the other hand, that Paraguay of despotism is presented as a developing nation, incomparable for its time. The similarities are abundant: López was also already preparing for war long before the allies; he was the one who attacked first, in Matto Grosso against Brazil and in Corrientes against Argentina. However, just a quick search on the web shows the proliferation of fabrications, which through repetition, have convinced not only Argentines but the world of the "justice" of the Lopista cause in that war. Argentine intellectuals, writers, and authors, especially those on the left, have played a significant role in this construction. Today, there are "scholars" who never tire of apologizing, sometimes seemingly just in case, to anyone who claims to have a score to settle with their own country. It’s worth noting that Brazilians, judging by their expressions on social media, display a very different attitude and don’t hesitate to proclaim themselves the victors, and rightly so. They haven’t even returned to Paraguay, despite repeated requests, war trophies like the "Cristiano" cannon, which remains in the Historical Museum of Rio de Janeiro.

Paraguayan networks post it as "Paraguayan historical heritage residing in Brazil."

Regarding Argentine support for Paraguay, I refer to the words of Paraguayan historian Julia Velilla de Arréllaga, who calls it an "essential aspect of the conflict," asserting that it was "decisive." She notes that this collaboration is spoken of very little in Paraguay because there was a pact of silence between the Paraguayan and Argentine leaders, because pressures from the Paraguayan press prevented leaders from confiding the help they received, because Argentina had proclaimed itself neutral, and because of the "subsequent partiality of the pro-Brazilian ruling sectors." Velilla concludes that "the truth is that Argentine aid was decisive and significant, even if it was (Admiral Casal)," because "how could Paraguay have continued the fight if it had not had Argentine support? It’s better not to consider such a scenario (José Fernando Talavera)."

Contributing to this, it is worth mentioning the supply of fuel, gasoline, and diesel throughout the war, as well as flour, since the Paraguayan soldier's ration was meat and hardtack, or at least something similar.

There is much more to say, but I will simply pay tribute to another of the Argentines who, when it came time to choose, fought shoulder to shoulder with the Paraguayans, and I do so with the words of ABC Revista, which speaks of "A Condor in the Chaco," referring to Riojan Vicente Almandos Almonacid, whose name is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris for his exploits as a combat pilot in the First World War. He was the one who organized the Paraguayan Air Force and flew the first missions. To be able to join the fight, he had to "sell his belongings and decorations."

I must also mention Colonel Abraham Schweizer, from Corrientes, who was stationed in Paraguay between 1931 and 1934. He became a legend, reportedly the one who designed the military strategy that Estigarribia implemented. Schweizer, reputed to be the most brilliant officer in the Argentine Army, founded the Paraguayan War School.

Finally, regarding Argentine intelligence support for Paraguay: When I was a first lieutenant, during a course, they brought in a very elderly colonel to honor him. We were told he was a sort of mathematical genius who, every morning with just paper and pencil, deciphered Bolivian—and Paraguayan—codes and delivered the clear messages to Minister Saavedra Lamas so he could proceed accordingly.



Source: Diario Epoca

Biography: Admiral Manuel Domecq García

From war orphan to admiral

MANUEL DOMECQ GARCÍA

By Luis Verón

Next Wednesday marks another anniversary of the battle of Acosta Ñú, during which hundreds of children were massacred in an unequal skirmish. Others survived, and there was no shortage of those who became president of the Republic of Paraguay, such as the case of Emilio Aceval. Today we will remember another survivor of the War against the Triple Alliance who, over the years, became a great personality in Argentine political life, Admiral Manuel Domecq García.


"I was then nine years old. Hundreds of hungry and scattered creatures arrived from the countryside to the capital, following the pilgrims who returned from the deserts, lost for multiple reasons, from our families or guardians, tracking them uselessly. And frightened by the who stole children in the city, those of us who could escape these persecutions fled back into the interior, wandering until we found some pious person in the nearby towns, which had been abandoned and were beginning to be populated again.

"This hunt for minors had lasted from 1869 to 1870, or until later. I went back to the town of Capiatá, taking refuge in a woman from the Mongelós family, until one of my only sisters returned from Cerro Corá, and had to pick me up. with me in the capital. My male brothers all succumbed. The incident that I have described cannot be considered an isolated case, because it was carried out systematically, since the Argentine soldiers themselves went out to walk the streets, looking for small wanderers, or the children of the same neighbors, who had returned to occupy their houses, to later distribute them, as gifts, to their relatives, as living trophies or as "captives." I have had the opportunity to meet many of these unfortunate people, both in the community. capital of Argentina, as in the towns of the provinces, before and after I remained in the army of that country.

This dramatic story was told by Bartolomé Yegros, a child survivor of the War against the Triple Alliance. Theirs was one of the many tragedies experienced by Paraguayan society in the final days of the international conflict that bloodied South America between 1865 and 1870.

Children of war

History gives us several names of children who were kidnapped and taken to neighboring countries, such as the cases of Ramón Grance, Mateo Rivas, José Cantero or Manuel Domecq García. Others were lost in the black pages of the past, as not only were they kidnapped but their own identities were stolen.

Survivors report that a few days after Asunción was taken by the allied forces, in addition to the furniture, jewelry and other looted objects, hundreds of ragged and starving children who had been kidnapped by the soldiers and carried downstream by members of the invading armies, in the midst of dramatic scenes on the part of their relatives, unable to avoid such dispossession, since strong cordons of soldiers did not allow relatives and acquaintances to approach to say goodbye to the unfortunate ones.

The case of the boy Manuel Domecq García is quite curious, because, over time, he became a notable and highly respected personality in Argentine society. He was born in the town of Tobatí on June 12, 1859 and, at just six years old, he was swept up in the maelstrom of war. His father, Tomás Domecq, a military doctor, lost his life in the siege of Humaitá, in 1868, and his mother, Mrs. Eugenia García Ramos de Domecq, would have died in the battle of Piribebuy on August 12, 1869 or due to hardships. following the Paraguayan army as a resident.

Rescued from the jaws of slavery

With the allied forces, numerous families arrived in the country that, until then, lived in exile, such as the case of the Decoud Domecq family, made up of Don Juan Francisco Decoud, second chief of the Paraguayan Legion, and his wife, Doña Concepción Domecq de Decoud, both parents of important protagonists of the national resurrection, such as Don José Segundo Decoud Domecq, journalist, conventional of 1870, minister of state and main ideologue of the National Republican Association, a political party founded in 1887. His brothers Juan José, Adolfo, Diógenes and Héctor Francisco Decoud Domecq stood out in various activities, including literature and journalism, being the founders of the first independent newspaper that the country knew.

According to a report provided by Mrs. Concepción Domecq de Decoud herself, to Dr. Estanislao S. Zeballos, the child Manuel Domecq García had been picked up by soldiers of the Brazilian occupation forces. "After the families returned to Asunción," says Dr. Zeballos, "one night when a meal was being held at the house of Mr. Decoud (Juan Francisco) to rejoice at the family reunion, some Brazilians knocked on the door. He came out. young José Segundo to inquire about the purpose of the visit, and they said that they wanted to speak with the lady.”

When Doña Concepción showed up, with two of her children, the following dialogue took place: "You are looking for a nephew, ma'am; we have one." "Bring him, then." "You need to pay us for the service" "Bring it, I will give you a pound sterling (a high figure at the time)."

The Brazilians refused to hand over the child for that sum and it was only after several minutes of bidding that the handover was agreed upon, when Mrs. Decoud offered to hand over eight pounds sterling for the ransom of the child, who was hidden in a tent in the Brazilian camp.

New loss

In the absence of the parents of the boy Manuel Tomás Domecq García and his sister Eugenia, about five years old, also rescued by her uncles, and given the climate of desolation that existed in Asunción, the children were sent to Argentina to be raised by a maternal uncle, Don Manuel García Ramos, a strong rancher of the time. At one point during the long trip to Argentina, little Manuel Domecq got lost, to the desperation of the person in charge of the children. All efforts to find him were unsuccessful, they continued their journey to Buenos Aires and informed Don Manuel García Ramos of the child's disappearance.

Faced with this situation, Don Manuel resorted to every resource available to him to recover his nephew... He appealed to many friends, both in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. He even managed to get the authorities to issue a notice that said: "Circular. Addressed to several Chiefs and Officers of the Allied Army in operations in Paraguay and other people residing in the same country, asking for news of the child Manuel Domecq who has gone missing.

We ask anyone into whose hands this form reaches, if they have any news about the whereabouts of the ten-year-old boy Manuel Domecq, white, black eyes, black hair; Please be kind enough to transmit it to the Argentine Commissioner in Asunción, Colonel D. Pedro José Agüero, directly if possible and if not to the most immediate superior, who is also requested to forward the news to said Colonel.

This child came with the lady in whose care he was, among a group of families that were collected by the allied forces last August. During the walk to the railway station the boy got tired or became ill and a Brazilian officer took him on the back of his horse and in the confusion he got lost, not being able to find him until now.

"The family that is devastated by the loss of this child will deeply thank and gratify the person who provides them with information about his whereabouts. "In Buenos Aires you can think of Peru Street on the corner of Rivadavia." This group was distributed everywhere, but, luckily, it had an effect and, after four months of agonizing waiting, the boy Manuel Tomas Domecq García was able to reunite with his uncle's family.

What happened to the child, the time he was missing again? When he was traveling to meet his uncle Manuel García Ramos, with the unconsciousness of his age, the boy decided to climb on the back of a Brazilian officer's horse, who took him to Brazil, where he was picked up by Marshal Luis Alves de Lima e Silva. , Duke of Caxías, who became so fond of him that he wanted to adopt him. Luckily, his relatives located him and his uncle traveled to Brazil to rescue him.

In Buenos Aires, the boy Manuel and his sister Eugenia went to live in the house of a sister of his mother, Mrs. Demofila García Ramos de Lanús.

Manuel the sailor

In 1873 the Argentine Naval School was founded, which operated on the ship General Brown. Called by his vocation, in 1877, the young Manuel García Domecq entered the brand new school, thus beginning a long and profitable career. He stood out as a student and graduated as a midshipman with excellent grades that made him the first in his class.

In those years, the Argentine government undertook numerous exploratory expeditions of its territory, then unknown to the authorities themselves and with the need to define its limits with neighboring countries.

The young Domecq García participated in several of these expeditions (including some to Pilcomayo), exploring distant territories and carrying out hydrographic surveys of important river courses such as the Paraná and the Yguazú. These missions led him to become one of the important experts on these issues.

In 1886 he joined the Argentine boundary commission with Brazil under the command of Commander Valentín Virasoro and composed, in addition to the young captain, of the hydrographers Niederlein and Brackhauser, Major Rohde and Lieutenant Montes. This commission worked with its Brazilian counterpart to delimit, by surveying the Pepiry-Guazú and San Antonio rivers, the true demarcation line of the border between Brazil and Argentina.

The undeniable ability of the young Paraguayan, nationalized Argentine, led him to carry out important missions commissioned by his superiors, among them being sent to contract the construction of the frigate Sarmiento, destined to be a training ship for the Argentine Navy.

After studying the various proposals from European shipyards, finally, in 1896, he contracted with the firm Laird Brothers, established in Birkenhead, England. Once the construction of the frigate Sarmiento was completed, Domecq returned to his country, being appointed commander in chief of the Río de la Plata Division.

Domecq García in Japan

By order of the government of General Julio Argentino Roca, Captain Manuel Domecq García was appointed president of the Argentine commission for the construction of the armored cruisers Moreno and Rivadavia at the Gio Ansaldo shipyard in Genova. Despite certain family problems - the death of his eldest daughter - he dedicated himself fully to supervising the construction of these two ships, the most advanced of the time in naval matters, in addition to others already delivered to the Argentine Navy: Garibaldi , San Martín, Belgrano and Pueyrredón.

But the fate of the ships whose construction was supervised by Domecq García was going to be totally different from what was planned. In 1902, Argentina signed a disarmament pact with Chile and the equalization of the naval power of both countries.

The two battleships were completed in 1904 and if they were incorporated into the Argentine fleet, the aforementioned pact would be violated. For this reason, the sale of the ships to the Empire of Japan was processed.

Domecq García, as head of the Naval Mission in Genoa, was in charge of delivering the ships to the Japanese envoys, who renamed the battleships with the names of Kasuga and Nisshin.

The Russo-Japanese War was in full swing and the Japanese Empire had invited the Argentine Government to appoint a Navy officer to attend as an observer of the war. The designation fell to Manuel Domecq García, who traveled from Genoa to the scene of war.

Observer in the Russo-Japanese War

The mission as an observer of the Russo-Japanese War was very beneficial in the career of the sailor, who gained the trust of the Japanese and had the opportunity to tour the facilities of various arsenals, the naval school, the machinists' school, etc., in addition to being on board various warships and attending more than one naval battle, some of them frankly bloody.

After almost two years in Japan, Domecq García returned to Argentina in May 1906.

The Paraguayan Domecq García, Argentine admiral

After an eventful life, knowing the horrors of a war in the middle of his childhood, carrying out exploratory expeditions, carrying out important missions abroad, among other things, on May 19, 1908, at the age of forty-nine, Manuel Tomás Domecq García received the honors of the admiralty when he was promoted to rear admiral, after a long postponement as a ship captain, serving in the Navy in different destinations.

Domecq García, the factor

Already with the palms of the admiralty, his long experience in naval matters determined that on December 17, 1908, President Figueroa Alcorta appointed him president of the naval commission in Europe. This commission had to study the proposals and collect reports from the different shipyards that would build ships to reinforce Argentine naval power.

For this purpose, he traveled again to Europe and the United States, where he commissioned the construction of the two largest warships in the world at that time and which cost the country five million pounds sterling. These two battleships were again baptized with the names Moreno and Rivadavia.

After three years at the head of the naval mission in the United States, Domecq García returned to Argentina, being appointed commander in chief of the Sea Squadron. He commanded the battleship Moreno and, now with the rank of vice admiral, he commanded the Argentine flagship, the battleship Rivadavia.

In 1922, Dr. Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear was elected President of the Republic and appointed the most prestigious sailor of the time as Minister of the Navy: Manuel Domecq García. From his ministerial functions, Domecq García was the factor in the modernization of the neighboring country's Navy, which saw its fleet increase, especially through the acquisition of submarines, which were added to the Argentine fleet, some years later.

Both President Alvear and Admiral Domecq García encouraged the construction of submarines by the Argentine Navy and promoted the equipping of a special shipyard. That shipyard was named after his main mentor: "Minister Manuel Domecq García Shipyard", recently reconditioned and reopened by the government of President Néstor Kirchner.

At the Ministry of the Navy

In his youth, Manuel Domecq García was one of the founders of the Argentine Naval Center. In 1912, he was one of the promoters of the creation of the Aeronautics of the neighboring country and, years later, as Minister of the Navy of the Argentine Republic, Manuel Domecq García was the drafter, among other things, of the project of agreement with the Republic of Uruguay for the determination of the jurisdiction of both countries over the waters that separate them; of the preliminary draft for the formation of the Argentine Overseas Merchant Navy; the remodeling of the port of Quequén and the construction of another in Uruguay Bay; of the project to exploit ferrous and plumb minerals at the Valcheta mine, among other achievements.

Being a minister, and because he met the age limit, with the recognition of the entire institution, he retired from naval activity, after fifty-eight years, four months and fourteen days of continuous service. His management was not only recognized in his country, but also abroad: King George V of England honored him with the decoration of Knight of the British Empire. Retired from public activity, the governments that came later did not hesitate to turn to the old admiral to request his wise advice.

When the war broke out that bloodied our country and Bolivia (1932-1935), Admiral Domecq García, so close to Paraguay by ties of blood and friendship, supported Paraguay's fortunes and was one of the main promoters of Argentine aid to the Paraguay.

Personally, he was the founder of the Paraguayan Red Cross Fraternal Association, which sent uniforms, blankets, food, etc. to the front, and he was a member, as a special advisor, of the Argentine commission that, chaired by the Argentine chancellor, Carlos Saavedra Lamas, finally achieved the peace agreement between the belligerents, signed in Buenos Aires on June 12, 1935.

In the postwar period, Admiral Domecq García continued to demonstrate his friendship towards Paraguay. At the desperate request of General José Félix Estigarribia, prisoner after the overthrow of President Eusebio Ayala, he welcomed the wife and daughter of the Paraguayan hero into his home and took care of mobilizing the authorities of Argentina and Brazil, to the opinion public, without forgetting the big bankers and businessmen, until finally obtaining the freedom of both prisoners.

Argentine Patriotic League

On January 16, 1919, a far-right paramilitary group called itself the Argentine Patriotic League was created in Buenos Aires and Manuel Domecq García was elected as provisional president, a position he held until April of the same year. When the general strike of rural laborers broke out in the province of Santa Cruz in November 1920, an event popularly known as Rebel Patagonia, the League enlisted to stop the strike. The League had an outstanding performance in the conflict that ended in January in 1922, with a death toll of 1,500 workers.

The meetings of this group were held in the rooms of the Military Circle, where Domecq García, together with Rear Admiral Eduardo O'Connor, distributed the weapons that the League used for its raids.

In 1938, Domecq García was one of the promoters of General Estigarribia's candidacy for the presidency of the Republic of Paraguay, telling him, among other things: "...just as in the last war the entire people of Paraguay mobilized to defend it." "You must mobilize in your government, if it arrives as I wish, that same people for work, so that the shovel and the pickaxe, instead of the rifle, are the weapons of progress."

After a long life, on January 11, 1951, at the age of ninety-two, Manuel Domecq García, that boy born in a small Paraguayan town, who knew the horrors of the war in which he lost his parents and whose fate He took to Argentina, a country he served with heroism from the wild missionary forests, the inhospitable Chaco wastelands, who actively contributed to enhancing the naval power of his adopted country, he gave his soul, after becoming deserving of the highest awards and honors. professionals, leaving behind as he died a mortgaged house and a twenty-year-old car, his uniforms, his letters and the admired memory of his Argentine compatriots. It is time for his Paraguayan compatriots to start getting to know him.

Triple Alliance War: Williams, John Hoyt (2000). "A Swamp of Blood. The Battle of Tuyuti"

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Williams, John Hoyt (2000). "A Swamp of Blood. The Battle of Tuyuti". Military History 17 (1).

The Paraguayan War: The Paraná Protocol

The Paraná Protocol

 
José Maria da Silva Paranhos (1819-1880)

Like those cubes that fit one inside the other, Brazil was included within the larger cube of British politics. Miter, in turn, would be the smallest hub of Brazilian diplomacy, as Captain Richard Burton himself would denounce.

Miter and his class did not enter into war, neither deceived nor naive. This general of pounds and surrenders, he knew that if war was declared “…. It would be an unprecedented event in South America, the most immoral in modern history. The Confederation has nothing to claim regarding the free navigation of the Paraguay River. Regarding the question of borders, it is not in the interest of the Republics of Silver to assist Brazil in its policy of invading foreign territory, betraying the cause of the Republic of Paraguay, our defense against the exaggerated pretensions of Brazil; and it would also be betraying our own cause, when similar issues may arise later between Brazil and the Argentine Republic.”

This was maintained by Miter against Urquiza, when he suspected that the Protocol of Paraná of December 14, 1857, which established the alliance between Brazil and the Confederation, to attack Paraguay, was about to be signed. The general's speeches and words are clarified politically in their historical context. Extracting from this quote by Miter a definitive meaning about his position favorable to Paraguay would be hermeneutically incorrect and historically false. Even the same representatives of Urquiza, in article 4 of the Paraná Protocol, had stated: “The war has only as its goal the free navigation of Paraguay in which the interest of the Confederation is secondary and remote due to its current lack of trade in those directions, would not be popular in his country, would not justify the Argentine Government before the national public opinion of abandoning the contemporary policy that has been prescribed until today, despite the serious damages that result from the deplorable system that the Paraguayan Government insists on.

“…That an alliance of the two States to draw their borders with Paraguay, a State weaker than either of them, would be odious and could seriously compromise the results that both promise to obtain.”.

Upon signing the Protocol of Paraná, on December 14, 1857, Paranhos gave the following “significant toast”: “I wish to see the closest union between the Empire and the Confederation realized, and that the glory of Caseros is not the only glory acquired.” in common for Brazil and the Argentine Nation.”

In a “confidential” from José Manuel Estrada to Wenceslao Paunero, dated December 24, 1868, it is clarified: “…The Government of Urquiza, which in 1857 was courting Brazil to bring it into an alliance against Buenos Aires and obtain loans, without which "He could not carry out what he called the war of reconstruction, that year he concluded a treaty with Mr. Paranahos in which he undertook to hand over the slaves who escaped from Brazil." This treaty was, effectively, another of those signed in Paraná on that occasion. Urquiza's “objectives” were exactly as described. For this reason, Pelham Horton Box rightly says “…in the agreements between Brazil, the Argentine Confederation and Uruguay, of 1856 and 1857, we already see the outline of the Triple Alliance of 1865.”

Miter would participate in the war, despite the position publicly held in 1857, because with it he consolidated his political alliance with the Brazilian Empire and ensured his triumph over the federals. With the alliance, on the other hand, the cycle begun with Urquiza, of financial-political dependence, with respect to Brazil, that is to say, England, was continued.

The price of the “repressive” tranquility of the provincial interior had been previously regulated by Baring Brothers, Rothschild and the Foreign Office. In Argentina, the livestock class, “exporter-importer”, urged Bartolomé Mitre. The newspaper of Melchor Rom – director of the Stock Exchange and one of the eminent representatives of that class – dreamed of the appropriation of Guaraní tobacco and yerba. His imagination as an economic speculator would cause the Paraguayan lands to be traveled, in his dreams, by Buenos Aires cattle.

Seduced by Mitrist rhetoric, a coincidental sublimation of their class interests, the young “autonomists” and “nationalists”, with aristocratic roots, would voluntarily enlist, commanded by their philosophy professors, to put an end to Paraguayan “barbarism”. “After the triumph of Paraguay,” said “La Nación Argentina” in December 1864, “the reign of barbarism will continue for us (…) As Argentines, then, and as enemies of barbarism and dictatorship, we hope that, if the Paraguayan government carries on the war is defeated by Brazil (...) no one can doubt the situation that awaits us if Paraguay triumphs."

After Curupaytí, Mitre's “nationalists” would be replaced by paid mercenaries or the unemployed. The mercenaries were Europeans, hired by Hilario Ascasubi in France. The couplings were made in Marseille and Bordeaux. Hundreds of men were embarked monthly on ships of the “Societé General des Transport Maritime”. The contracts were accompanied by a medical certificate of health of the mercenaries, and the statement of two witnesses, which proved that they knew how to handle weapons. All formalities were completed at the Argentine Consulate in Marseille or Bordeaux. The unemployed Argentines, in turn, were men who, destroyed by free trade the tasks of craftsmanship and industry that flourished under Juan Manuel de Rosas, were distressed and without work, forced to look for a “military” occupation.

All of them would go to carry out the bloody British plan on Guarani land.

Uruguay, converted into a political appendage of Brazilian-Mitrista diplomacy, after its national defeat, would participate through Venancio Flores in the war. The 5,000 men that he will send to their deaths will justify the geometric increase in his public debt, due to the measured “efforts” of the Baron of Mauá and the London bankers. The convention of October 12, 1851, had determined that the Eastern Republic of Uruguay was obliged to apply all its resources to the payment of the Brazilian debt. But, from this obligation, at the request of Brazil itself, the loans that Uruguay had obtained in London had been excluded. This requirement would be repeated in the protocol of 1867, and conclusively demonstrates the total dependence of Brazilian Banking on the English one. The credits of the Brazilian Empire were, in reality, British credits, which could not be settled with English money. León de Palleja, despite his position as an allied officer, would express the authentic Uruguayan thought: “I was not a supporter of this (war); Everyone knows my ideas in this regard, but I consider it a stupid war to wage between Orientals and Paraguayans. Nations of identical origin and causes; although by different means, they are destined to maintain a common policy and to be sisters and not enemies…”

The war seemed an irrational fact, but the world was experiencing the transformation of the export of merchandise into the export of capital, and South America was the favorable victim of that transformation, deeply “rational” for British interests.

Cotton, free navigation, loans, limits, commercial profits, industrial destruction, political power, ambition and fear, marked the war of the Double Alliance, between Financial Capital and local oligarchies. Drama of American characters, with a hidden protagonist and author: England, revealed, through the few traces left in its lethal path.

Faced with this plexus of interests and relationships, the Paraguayan people, with their statesman at the helm. The armed people, defending their economic freedom, their protectionist tariff, their closure of rivers, their agricultural production, their industry, their railroad, their telegraph.

But above all, sovereign Paraguay, defending the balance of the Río de la Plata, that is, the “American Union”, against the attack prepared by the foreign power.

Anticipating what would happen, Rosas had written to Carlos Antonio López a dozen years ago: “that he hoped for his happiness and for God to preserve him without admitting foreigners, who are bad locusts.”
Felipe Varela, director of the “American System” would say of the War, in an ephemeral moment of truce:

“… The war with Paraguay was an event already calculated, premeditated by General Mitre (...) The Argentine provinces, however, have never participated in these feelings, on the contrary, those people have contemplated, groaning, the defection of the President, imposed by the bayonets, on the Argentine blood, of the principles of the American Union, in which they have always looked to the safeguarding of their rights and their freedom, taken in the name of justice and the law”.

And that thought would be the fraternal echo of the high Paraguayan patriotic expression, synthesized in the doctrine of the balance of the Río de la Plata, which Francisco Solano López proclaimed, with just pride before all his people.

Full text of the Paraná Protocol

On the fourteenth day of the month of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in this city of Paraná, the Plenipotentiaries of the Argentine Confederation, doctors Don Santiago Derqui and Don Bernabé López, and the Plenipotentiary of YE. the Emperor of Brazil, Counselor José María da Silva Paranhos, agreed to record in writing the results of their conferences, on the means that their respective Governments should use to obtain from the Republic of Paraguay a satisfactory solution to the pending issues, which they say regarding common river navigation as well as the declarations that the same Plenipotentiaries made in the name of both Governments, presupposing the case that war becomes inevitable to achieve that goal that is of such interest to both countries and to civilization and commerce in general.
It was agreed at the same time that this document must be kept in the most complete confidentiality and is intended only to inform the two Governments of the circumstances and dispositions that each of them has towards the Republic of Paraguay, taking into account that , in any case they can mutually bring together all the good offices inherent to the benevolent and close relations that so happily exist between them and the peoples whose destinies they preside over.
Being an obligation contracted by the Empire of Brazil and the Argentine Confederation, in the Alliance Agreements of 1851, confirmed and again stipulated in the Treaty of March 7, 1856, and in the river Convention of November 20 of the present year, the invitation and use of all means within the reach of each of the two Governments so that the other coastal States and especially the Republic of Paraguay, adhere to the same principles of free navigation as well as the means of making them effectively useful, said Plenipotentiaries agreed:

1. In that the Government of the Argentine Confederation, based on the aforementioned stipulations and the special conditions that exist between it and that of the Republic of Paraguay, for the free transit enjoyed by the Paraguayan flag in the waters of the Paraná, belonging to the same Confederation and by the Treaty of July 29, 1856, will demand of said Republic that for its part it opens the Paraguay River to all flags and adopts in relation to common transit the franchises and means of Police and inspection that are generally used and found stipulated in the River Convention of November 20 between the Confederation and the Empire of Brazil.
2. In that the Government of the Confederation as well as that of Brazil will maintain said claim with the greatest possible effort, being however free to each of them to ensure that their claims reach the point of leaving diplomatic channels and compromising the state of peace. in which they find themselves with that neighboring State, given that the Government of the Confederation and the Imperial Government are not yet in agreement on the hypothesis of resorting to war.
   
3. In that, to make possible, as both Governments so desire, a peaceful solution to the pending issues with the Republic of Paraguay, regarding river navigation, both may stop insisting on the general concession and ultimately limit their claims, to that the Paraguayan Government effectively guarantees all its freedom of transit to its respective flags, according to the means indicated in the river Convention of November 20 of this year, each Government invoking its perfect right to this free transit, in view of the treaties in force between them and that of that Republic. 
4. In that, the claim of the Government of the Confederation will be made in a way that coincides with the special mission that the Government of H.M. The Emperor of Brazil now sends to the Republic of Paraguay with the demand that in the same sense and at the same time direct the Government of the Eastern State of Uruguay.

Sources

• Efemérides – Patricios de Vuelta de Obligado
• Peña, R. O. y Duhalde. E. – Felipe Varela – Schapire editor – Buenos Aires (1975).
• www.revisionistas.com.ar

Triple Alliance War: Riachuelo, the Greatest Naval Battle in America

Riachuelo

On June 11, 1865, the largest naval battle in America was fought, at the site where the water course called Riachuelo flows, located at the mouth of the Paraná River at its conjunction with the Paraguay River, a few kilometers from the city of Corrientes, over Argentine waters. That area of the province of Corrientes was at that time in the power of Paraguayan troops, so they had control of the coast.

By early 1865, Solano López was determined to take control of the Paraná River in the first place to control an entire future cleansing of the Río de la Plata. If he were successful in sneaking up on the Brazilian imperial fleet in the lower waters of the river then he would achieve an important victory that would enable deeper land operations in the future.

Surprise would be essential. At the end of 1864 the Paraguayan navy consisted of 17 small vessels of various sizes. Only two of them, Anhambay and Tacuarí, were built as gunboats. During the 1860s López was hoping to get new ironclads added to his fleet. He maintained contacts with some European countries to obtain these ships. This project, however, had to be abandoned due to financial problems.

The imperial fleet, on the other hand, fielded 45 vessels, 33 steamships and 12 sailing ships at the beginning of the war. The force had at its disposal a total manpower of almost 2,400 officers and men. The main units were the Niterói propeller type and the Amazonas rear-bladed propeller boat. The fleet, however, had a major defect: it had been designed for the high seas rather than for river operations.



On June 8, the Paraguayan fleet was concentrated in Asunción for the departure towards the fortress of Humaitá. López himself was aboard the Tacuarí. The entire population of the capital was present to witness the departure. At the end of the morning the ships left for the fortress. As soon as he arrived in Humaitá on the morning of the next day, López immediately began to prepare the attack against the enemy squadron located near Corrientes, in a width called Riachuelo, which gave support to the land forces of the Triple Alliance to expel the Paraguayans of Corrientes. He gathered the bulk of the Paraguayan armada to hit the Brazilian ships at dawn on June 11. The squadron consisted of eight ships, the flagship Tacuarí, the recently arrived Paraguarí, built in England, the captured Brazilian steamship Marquês de Olinda and the Ygureí, Ybera, Yporá, Jejuí, Salto Oriental and the Pirabebé. Along with the ships, six low flat-bottomed barges with an eight-inch gun each, known as flatboats, would be towed to confront the enemy. The squadron numbered 36 guns. Commodore Pedro Ignacio Meza would order the assault. In addition, the Paraguayan ships would have the support of a cannon battery under the command of Colonel José Maria Bruguez placed along the river coastline.

The Brazilian squadron anchored near Corrientes formed the Amazonas (flagship) and the ships Jequitinhonha, Belmonte, Parnaíba, Ipiranga, Mearin, Iguatemi, Araguarí and the Beberibé. The total firepower of the squadron amounted to 59 guns. Admiral Francisco Manuel Barroso was in command of the ships.

Meza must sail downstream of the Paraná during dawn on June 11 to reach the enemy around dawn. The surprise would compensate for the fact that the Paraguayan ships were outgunned. At two in the morning the fleet left Humaitá. At five o'clock the chatas assembled the ships. Despite this, a problem with the Iberá's engine delayed the plan.

Battle Plan


Only at nine o'clock, in the broad light of day, the ships reached Riachuelo.

After placing the chatas near the coast, Meza led his ships directly into the enemy to split the Imperial squadron in two.

Barroso's ships were anchored near the confluence of the Paraná and two narrow channels. The attack, if not entirely a surprise, occurred when Barroso's ships were lined up toward the coast.

Meza's squadron passed over the enemy ships sending fire on them. Each of his ships chooses a ship to pawn. Soon the Amazonas was under fire from the Tacuarí, while the Ipiranga exchanged fire with the Salto.

Google Map of the battle zone

In the battle the two squadrons changed positions. Meza was below the squadron and cut off by the enemies from his base in Humaitá. The Paraguayan commander then adopted the strategy of luring the enemies into the lower channels where they would not be able to maneuver as well as the Paraguayans did.

The Jequitinhonha, Barroso's largest ship after the Amazon, was struck on a sandbank. This made him an easy target for Bruguez's ruthless artillery.

The Belmonte was hit several times by the chatas' fire.

The Parnaíba hit the coast and was set adrift. Several Paraguayan ships soon surrounded her. The Marquês de Olinda boarded the Brazilian ship and a deadly combat occurred on the deck of Parnaíba. On several occasions, the Paraguayans tried to take command of the ship. Only with the iron resistance of the Parnaíba crew did he save the ship. Finally, a final assault was expelled and the ship slid away from the enemy.

At this point, things began to change.

Despite the difficulties in maneuvering, the superior firepower of Barroso's ships began to show effectiveness. The Jejuí was sunk by nearby fire from Brazilian ships. The Marquês de Olinda caused her boilers to explode and she was out of action. The Paraguarí was hit by the Amazon and was left helpless. Meza gave orders to retreat. At 1 P.M. the combat was over. Of the eight Paraguayan vessels, only four returned to Humaitá. The others were sunk, captured or left stranded on a sandbank (this included the Paraguarí, the Jejuí, the Marquês de Olinda and the Salto Oriental). Two flatboats were sunk and the other four remained in Brazilian hands. A few days later, however, the Paraguayans succeeded in removing the Paraguarí, sending the ship to Asunción for repairs. The Paraguayan casualties are not known exactly. Brazilian assumptions of 1,000 casualties are probably exaggerated. Perhaps this number is between 300 and 400 (Brazilian sources say it can reach 750).

Meza died a few days later in Humaitá from the wounds he received during the battle.

The imperial squadron lost one ship, the Jequitinhonha while two other vessels, the Parnaíba and Belmonte were severely damaged. The Ipiranga was slightly damaged. Barroso had 104 men killed, 123 wounded and 20 lost.

The Paraguayans failed in the attempt to have the entire power of the Paraná River from Asunción to Montevideo. Furthermore, they would not be able to replace the lost ships. While Brazil added new units to the fleet.




Remarks

• I would highlight the fact that in the river the East-West escape and maneuver axes are considerably smaller. For this reason and due to the number of ships used, the battle had to have a lot of congestion between so many ships and ships giving back to the cannon shots. Another issue was the loss of surprise of the attack given that the Iberá broke down. This caused the attack to begin at 9 AM when it was planned for 5 AM. It was a failure of surprise that added light to the scenario to the detriment of the Paraguayan plan. As in Tuyuty, the loss of surprise caused a good initial attack plan to falter. (SiberianSky, FDRA moderator).
• "...largest naval battle in America"... The most paradoxical thing is that this action was in a river (Mongoose, FDRA moderator).

Triple Alliance War: Battle of Yatay

Battle of Yatay

Battle of Yatay - August, 17th 1865

The War of Paraguay can be divided into five campaigns: that of Matto Grosso, that of Uruguay, that of Humaitá, that of Pikysyry and that of the Cordilleras. In Matto Grosso's campaign, the Paraguayans took over the fortresses of Coimbra, Alburquerque, Corumbá, Miranda and Dorados. The second had as its objective Uruguay, where two columns of the Paraguayan army headed, through Corrientes and Río Grande, to expel the Brazilians and maintain the sovereignty of that country. The objective of the third - for the allies - was the capture of the stronghold that was the center of the Paraguayan resistance. The fourth is called that because it was developed on the fortified line of the Pikysyry stream, the second center of the resistance in Paraguay. The fifth was the one that took place after the battle of Lomas Valentinas, on the other side of the Cordilleras, to Cerro Corá.

At the beginning of the second campaign, Solano López left the capital to go and lead his armies. He thus left the Assumption forever. He would never enter her again, not allowing her the hazards of a war to the death or even contemplating her from a distance again.

In reality, at that moment - June 8, 1865 - his agony began, which was that of his country, as he was condemned to a cruel and irremediable death. Before leaving, he addressed a proclamation to the people, in which he implied that he was determined to abandon “the bosom of the Homeland,” to join “his comrades-in-arms in the campaign.”

But he arrived in Humaitá and changed his mind, under the influence of insinuating courtiers, such as Bishop Palacios, who ended up convincing him that this useless sacrifice should not be imposed, having at his side so many capable men who could very well replace him... He therefore installed , there his headquarters, establishing active telegraphic communication with the city of Corrientes, where José Berges exercised his representation.

General Wenceslao Robles had, meanwhile, gathered 30,000 men from all three arms and was in a position to march, without any difficulty, overcoming the small obstacles that he found in his path. At that time the general camp of the allies in Concordia had not yet been established, nor did they have troops capable of counteracting the action of Paraguay. No Paraguayan doubted the success of the enterprise entrusted to Robles, an experienced military man, who had given so much evidence of his brilliant organizational skills. But events soon dashed such optimistic hopes.

At the head of that powerful column, Robles felt inferior to his task, unable to act with the resolution and expertise that circumstances imposed on him. He wasted his time with futile pretexts, advancing extremely slowly, distracted by small, unimportant guerrillas. Thus he lost the unique opportunity given to him, giving all the advantages to the opponents. Finally, he entered into deals with the allies, paying with his life for the serious errors committed.

He was replaced by General Francisco Isidoro Resquín, who made his army countermarch, returning with him to Paraguayan territory. The failure of the Robles expedition determined the failure of the Estigarribia expedition. He, leading 12,000 men, invaded the State of Río Grande del Sud, following the line of Uruguay, to meet the other expeditionary column on the border of the Eastern Republic.

The timely arrival of Robles must have prevented the formation of the allied army that went out to defeat him, allowing him to easily subdue the Brazilians. But it didn't happen like that. Robles never reached the eastern border, not passing beyond the limits of Corrientes. Thanks to this, Miter was able to organize the army until he was in a position to defeat the Paraguayans.



Estigarribia really had to back down when he saw that the agreed plan had failed. But he was pushed forward by the numerous eastern leaders who accompanied him, who assured him that, upon reaching the border of his country, he would have the frank support of all Uruguayan compatriots.

Entering Uruguayana was for him entering a mousetrap. He was soon there surrounded by the already powerful allied army, having to succumb, defeated by hunger and death. A part of his army, which was marching along the right bank of the Uruguay River, under the command of Major Pedro Duarte, also succumbed, crushed by much superior forces.

In fact, on August 17, 1865, 3,500 Paraguayans, cavalry and infantry, fought battle, with 11,000 allies of the three arms, under the command of General Venancio Flores.

Despite his overwhelming enemy superiority, Estigarribia ironically rejected the proposal to surrender to the “liberators of his homeland.” “If VV.EE. (he said to the allied leaders) they are so zealous to give freedom to the Paraguayan people, why don't they start by giving freedom to the unhappy blacks of Brazil, who make up the majority of the population, and groan in the harshest and most frightening captivity to enrich and be idle for some of the hundreds of grandees of the Empire?”

After the defeat of the Paraguayans, Flores declared: “The Paraguayans are worse than savages in fighting, they prefer to die rather than surrender…”

Most of the prisoners were put to the sword (it is estimated that there were around 1,400) and the surviving soldiers were enlisted in the battalions of the allied army, thus forcing them to go against their homeland. Flores said: “The eastern battalions have suffered a great loss in Yatay, and I am determined to replace them with the Paraguayan prisoners, giving a part to General Paunero to increase his battalions, some of which are small.” Meanwhile, Argentine Vice President Dr. Marcos Paz adds: “General Flores has adopted a system of incorporating all prisoners into his ranks, and after reloading his battalion with them he has organized a new one of 500 places with pure Paraguayans.” .

The great oriental publicist, Carlos María Ramírez, protested in 1868 against the systematic repetition of the same event: “The prisoners of war,” he said, “have been distributed among the line corps and, under the flag and in the uniform of the allies, compelled to to turn their weapons against the defenders of their homeland. Never has the 19th century witnessed a greater outrage to the rights of nations, to humanity, to civilization!

In the Fifth Section, the Ombucito farm, there is a monolith that evokes the Battle of Yatay. This site was declared a Historic Site on February 4, 1942, by Law 12665, as stated in “Monuments and Historic Places” by Hernán Gómez. There a stream meanders, through bushes and grasslands, which empties into the Uruguay River. This landscape is adorned with elegant Yatay palm trees (Yatay means Palm Tree in Guaraní). They gave their name to the stream and the place. The toponym gave the name to the battle.

Source

Efemérides – Patricios de Vuelta de Obligado
O’Leary, Juan E. – El Mariscal Solano López – Asunción (1970).
Portal www.revisionistas.com.ar
Rosa, José María – La Guerra del Paraguay y las Montoneras Argentinas – Buenos Aires (1985).
Turone, Gabriel O. – La Batalla de Yatay – (2007)

Source: www.revisionistas.com.ar

War of Paraguay: The Fall of Asunción

Brazilian entry to Asunción

 

On January 1, 1869, the Brazilians entered Asunción, unleashing a wave of unrestrained looting and chaos. In a matter of days, the city was inundated with a diverse and chaotic population, speaking a multitude of languages and dialects in its once-peaceful streets. Private homes were forcibly occupied and quickly rented out by the audacious individuals who had taken them over, demanding exorbitant rents for entire quarters and semesters in advance.

Makeshift hotels, inns, restaurants, entertainment venues, public dance halls, shops, stores, and sweet shops sprang up overnight, all thriving on the proceeds extracted from the 30,000 allied soldiers and countless tourists, opportunists, and curious onlookers who eagerly flocked to witness the downfall of a once-mighty nation.

These invaders stormed houses, competing to seize the most valuable spoils. It is astonishing how the efforts of generations could be obliterated in mere hours. As the day wore on, the streets became littered with furniture discarded as houses were set ablaze. In the afternoon, ships from Argentina appeared along the Paraguay River, eager to purchase the looted goods. Soldiers thronged the docks, bartering their ill-gotten gains for gold, leading to arguments and scuffles. The ships remained anchored, awaiting more plunder, while the soldiers continued their relentless pillaging. By nightfall, the fires from the ravaged neighborhoods cast an eerie glow on the thick black clouds overhead.

Men concealed their loot wherever they could, stuffing their saddlebags, cloaks, the interiors of their boots, and helmets with gold, silver, and precious metals. The following day, they advanced to another section of the city, setting it ablaze as well. They had already ransacked government offices, embassies, opulent residences, and humble abodes alike. It was then that the refugees began to return.

Most of these returnees were young women and girls or children left behind by the men who had perished on the battlefield. These vulnerable individuals ventured back to the city driven by hunger and the faint hope of finding shelter. However, the invaders pounced on them, subjecting them to physical assault, public humiliation, and sexual violence in the streets. They mercilessly raped these women, with lines of ten, twenty, or even thirty men taking turns on a single victim. The desperate cries of these victims echoed throughout the city, and there was no corner or alley in Asunción where a woman was safe from harassment. Those who resisted were ruthlessly killed on the spot.

The horrors did not cease with the onset of night, nor did they relent with the arrival of a new day. The tormentors only relented when the victims, drained of life and devoid of the strength to resist any longer, met their end with a look of bitter resignation on their faces.

And then the thirst for gold is revived again and the officials look greedily at the cemeteries of Asunción. Under his orders, the soldiers dig everyone up. Those who have a ring or chain are stripped without respect. The rest, they leave lying everywhere; bones and more bones piled up everywhere, restlessly dead, warming in the sun.

The Brazilian minister in Asunción himself, José da Silva Paranhos, who later received the title of Viscount of Rio Branco, seized the immense treasure from the National Archives of Paraguay which, after his death, he donated to the National Library of Rio de Janeiro, the catalog of the Rio Branco collection, which contains the public archives of Paraguay taken at the end of the war, consists of a thousand pages divided into two volumes. The collection consists of fifty thousand documents on the early history of Paraguay, Portuguese infiltration, questions of limits and dates, and facts about the history of the Río de la Plata. It would also contain the act of the Foundation of the City of Asunción in 1537 and all the archives of the Jesuit Missions with the first geographical map of Paraguay, established before 1800 by the famous Spanish geographer Félix de Azara.

For three days the city was robbed by the imperial hosts, who did not spare the temples or the tombs, in their barbarous eagerness to increase their booty. Admiral Delfino de Carvallo himself - Baron del Pasaje - directed the looting, accumulating on the decks of his ships the pianos and fine furniture that adorned Paraguayan aristocratic homes. And when there was nothing important to steal, they even took the doors, windows and marbles of the López palace (2) and many houses and public buildings. In a word, Asunción, according to General Garmendia, "suffered the fate of the vanquished of distant times, the victor entering it by sack."

Many children were torn from their mothers' arms to end up sold as slaves on the plantations of Brazil. Everyone is running for their lives, and the once-populous Paraguayan capital is left deserted. “It was pitiful to see the city completely devoid of human beings,” says Brazilian colonel José Luis Da Silva.



The National Archive of Paraguay, with centuries of history inside, burns in flames. “El Paraguayo” from Asunción, in its edition of October 10, 1945, thus recalled the burning and looting of such vital documentation. “The archives of Paraguay were looted by the invaders during the War of the Triple Alliance. We lack many documents, even to reconstruct our history, and we can affirm that when our Archive was stripped, all those documents that could compromise the historical version that was forged were selected to take away all hope of vindication”.

Like the headquarters of the Archive, houses and public buildings are also looted, one by one, carefully and without haste. “The officers made use of the houses and things” points out the aforementioned Brazilian colonel.

The Argentine army camped five kilometers from the city, in Trinidad. And to be worthy of his ally, he turned the temple of that town into a stable, setting up a stable on the very grave of Carlos Antonio López. Soon the tombstone disappeared under the dung of the spirited steeds of the officers, substituting the noise of neighing for the voices of the organ and the prayers of the believers.

Just like "in the distant times" when Asia spread its barbarism, like a bloody shroud, over dying Europe. Breaking in and turning Christian churches into dunghills was the great pleasure of the men of the North. And no other was the delight of those terrible warriors, at whose step the earth trembled, led by the Scourge of God.

History repeats itself. Man is within men. Humanity advances, but has not yet finished leaving the cave. Ferocity boils in the depths of instinct, and there are moments when the beast that has crouched for centuries, dominated, but not defeated, leaps to the surface.
 
This is how peoples who called themselves Christians and men who invoked altruistic sentiments of humanity, fell into crime, reproducing, through an ancestral movement of inborn barbarism, acts that are repugnant to our conscience and that seemed already far from history. And all that was still nothing. The war was just about to enter a really wild period.

Meanwhile, Marshal López was preparing to resume the resistance. When he returned to occupy the old camp of Cerro León, after his last defeat, he had no more strength than his omnipotent will. All Paraguayan defensive power was concentrated in his person, a moral fortress more fearsome than the artillery walls of Humaitá. To no avail, the Duke of Caxías declared the war over.

The twenty thousand victorious soldiers, entrenched in Asunción, knew very well that as long as the Paraguayan president remained standing, the fight was not over.

When Count D'Eu, who came to replace the Duke of Caixas, arrived in Asunción, he found a great demoralization of the allied troops. The solemn Te Deum commanded to be sung by Caixas, celebrating the end of the war, had fallen into immense ridicule. The discouragement was general.



Benigno López Palace (Asunción, 1869). Source

 

 

No Brazilian boss had wanted to take responsibility for a single initiative. And, meanwhile, López grew at a distance. From one moment to the next, a surprise was expected, believing him capable of extracting resources from nothing. And there Juan Bautista Alberdi had time to say in Europe that at that time Paraguay had its “second and most powerful army in what are called its mountains. They are the Andes –he added- of the new Chacabuco and the new San Martín, against the new Bourbons of America”.
In the battle of Lomas Valentinas the invalids and children had fought, loading the cannons with pieces of stone and even with earth. Three months after that defeat, Paraguay again had an army of thirteen thousand men, relatively well armed and equipped.

The wounded of the last battle threw themselves by the hundreds into the immense estuary of Ypecuá, crossing it, with water up to their necks, for three days, without eating, and joining Solano López in Cerro León. And all those who could still walk or carry a rifle rushed from the farthest reaches of the republic to surround the unfortunate hero who was holding the Paraguayan flag.

Weapons abandoned on the battlefields are collected, another arsenal is assembled, iron is cast, cannons are drilled, gunpowder and paper are manufactured, a newspaper is published, schools start operating again, the compulsory primary education law is in force, children Soldiers attend classes. And the Ybycuí foundry and the Caacupé arsenal worked tirelessly to arm that strange army, taking advantage of the scandalous indecision of the more than prudent victor. Despite Asunción having fallen, the war was not yet over.

References 

(1) On February 22, 1869, at 4:00 p.m., Francisco Solano López issued an edict ordering the evacuation of Asunción, it was then that all the Asunción families that still had some jewelry and metal money, ran to deposit them in the legation of the United States of America, in charge of Minister Carlos A. Washburn as well as in the consulates of France and Italy.

(2) The Palacio de los López is the seat of government of the Republic of Paraguay, since the official office of the President of the Republic is located there. It is one of the most beautiful and emblematic buildings of the Paraguayan capital, Asunción. Its location is on Paraguayo Independiente street, between Ayolas (before Paraná) and O'Leary (before Paso de Patria). Located in the center of Asunción, overlooking the bay, this building was built by order of President Carlos Antonio López, to serve as a residence for his son, General Francisco Solano López, hence the fact that the name of the building is "Palace of the Lopez". Its works began in 1857 under the direction of the English architect Alonso Taylor.
In the first half of the 19th century, Lázaro Rojas gave his baptismal godson Francisco López the property where the palace is located. After his famous trips to Europe, Francisco Solano brought several architects and engineers with him, who helped develop works of progress in the country. By order of Carlos Antonio López, President of the Republic since 1842, one of these works was the residence of his son. The construction, planned by the Hungarian Francisco Wisner, began directed by the English architect Alonso Taylor in 1857.

The materials for the construction of the palace came from various places in the interior of the country, stones from the quarries of Emboscada and Altos, wood and obrajes from Ñeembucú and Yaguarón, bricks from Tacumbú, cast iron pieces in Ybycuí, etc.

Various European artists came to Paraguay to be in charge of decorating the building. Artists such as the English engineer Owen Mognihan who was in charge of sculpting the necessary figures to create a palatial environment, the Italian Andrés Antonini who came to Paraguay exclusively to design and establish the marble staircase of the Palace that connects to the second floor, the painter Julio Monet, French, who painted the ceiling with floral decorations and figures.

By 1867, the time of the War of the Triple Alliance, the Palacio de los López was almost finished, although finishing details were lacking for its conclusion. The decoration was made of bronze statuettes and furniture imported from Paris, and large and decorated mirrors for the halls of the Palace. During the seven years that the Brazilians occupied Asunción, the Palace served as their forces' headquarters. After they abandoned it, the building was left in a state of abandonment. It was during the government of Juan Alberto González that the great restoration works of the Palace began, which lasted only two years. The building ended up regaining its former glory.

Source

• Efemérides – Patricios de Vuelta de Obligado 
• Estragó, Margarita Durán – Homenaje al pueblo de Patiño, en el centenario de su fundación (1909- 2009) 
• O’Leary,Juan E. – El mariscal Solano López 
• Rivarola Matto, J. Bautista – Diagonal de sangre: la historia y sus alternativas en la Guerra del Paraguay. 

www.revisionistas.com.ar 

Brazilian entrance to Asunción