It would be difficult to disagree with the general editor of Rowman and Littlefield’s series of Historical Dictionaries when he remarks that “Paraguay has certainly had more history than most” countries, thus meriting, in spite of its small population, a volume larger than the average and including more than 1,000 entries of between 30 and nearly 3,000 words, on important persons, places, parties, organizations, ethnic groups and events in Paraguayan history. In the usual manner of the series, these are supplemented by a list of abbreviations and acronyms, a chronology from the Spanish conquest to September 2014, a historical introduction and appendices listing colonial governors, republican presidents and other dignitaries. The bibliography comprises 900 books and articles, mostly in English but with a proportion in Spanish. Recent works are emphasized, as the author explains that the rapidly changing political and economic situation has outdated many of the earlier ones. There are three maps which, as in so many volumes of this series, are hardly adequate in the details they show, considering the great importance that wars and territorial disputes have had for Paraguay.
The story of the country, as told by the author, has been a remarkably unhappy one. In short, after independence in 1811, 50 years of dictatorship culminated in the dreadful War of the Triple Alliance with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, which killed two-thirds of the population, a disaster scarcely paralleled in modern history. They followed a long period in which Paraguay was at the mercy of her more powerful neighbors, and political life was dominated by conflicts among a small elite of wealthy landowners, so that about 30 presidents were overthrown by coups; not until 1928 did one complete his term and hand over to an elected successor. Meanwhile, the economy stagnated; the capital had no public water supply until the 1950s. Some years after Paraguay won its second large-scale war (with Bolivia this time), the country fell under the sway of the dictatorial General Stroessner who, contrary to the usual pattern, became the longest-serving head of state in South America’s history (1954-1989) until he too succumbed to a coup. It is explained that many aspects of this tumultuous history have not yet been adequately studied, so that even now interpretations of the most important events are strongly contested. Although the book is inevitably dominated by politics, the author has devoted due coverage to economic, social and cultural life, with which he is well acquainted. Paraguay is, for example, the only South American country in which the majority of the people are bilingual, in Spanish and the indigenous Guarani tongue.
In spite of the title of the series, its volumes usually give a great deal of attention to the events and personalities of recent years, and this is no exception. It would be pleasant to record that the restoration of democracy in 1989 had at last brought prosperity and contentment to the country; but the author points out in many articles that this has not occurred. Some of its presidents have attempted to tackle the problems he enumerates, but, it seems, without much success so far. The elite still dominates political and economic life; there is a wide gap between rich and poor; corruption and crime are endemic; and civic society is correspondingly weak. To give a few examples: Paraguay is the world’s second-largest producer of marijuana, and its largest producer of counterfeit CDs. It comes 150th out of 174 countries on the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International. A recent president, when asked how he had managed to build a mansion modeled on Versailles from his military salary of $500 a month, replied that he had done it by giving up smoking. (The Army supports 48 Generals and 501 Colonels for 11,000 men). Smuggling is so rife that accurate calculation of the size of the GNP has been rendered practically impossible. It might have been hoped that matters would have improved with the construction, jointly with Brazil, of the vast Itaipu Dam, the second-largest hydro-electric power plant in the world, but instead, the author declares, Brazilian interest bribed Paraguayan politicians to sign an agreement allocating a highly unfair share of the profits to Brazil. There has recently been a significant discovery of titanium ore deposits in the country, but on showing this, it may be wondered whether Paraguay will reap its benefits. We may hope that a succeeding edition of this Dictionary may record that the brave and long-suffering Paraguayan people have attained the share of prosperity which they deserve, but this edition seems to be mainly a chronicle of their sorrows.
