Anarchism in Paraguay feat. Andrew

is sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. Speaking of course, about Paraguay, known for its fraud history of warfare, politically volatile landscape, series of dictatorships, and indigenously intertwined cultural and social fabric, anachism took root in this rather unique setting and downs to the work of Anhil Capelletti and a few other scattered sources, I've been able to piece together the history

of anarchism in Paraguay without further ado nos comencemos. For much of its early history, Paraguay's identity was distinct within South America, from its time as a Guarani settlement to its formation as a Spanish colony in the sixteenth century. Spanish Jesuit missionaries wielded significant influence, and for over a century, Paraguay was a self sustained colony with a rigidly hierarchical

system based on the Spanish cast system. Paraguay's economy primarily revolved around agriculture and cattlehooded, unlike the mining economies and other Spanish territories. The Guarani people had a significant cultural impact throughout Paraguay's history, and the language and traditions rained central even as Paraguay evolved through the centuries. Even today, most of the population speaks some variety of Guarani alongside Spanish.

Fast forward to the early nineteenth century, as South American nations began to clearing independence from Spain, Paraguay took a unique approach. Rather than aligning with the neighboring revolutionary movements. Paraguay, under the leadership of Jose Gasparrodriguez deve Definancia, declared independence in eighteen eleven and adopted an isolationist authoritarian path. Francia ruled as the country's supreme dictator for nearly three decades,

envision a self sufficient, cometic society. He strictly controlled foreign influences, banned European migration, and restricted trade. By the mid nineteenth century, Paraguay had built up a significancy infrastructure under Francia's successor, Carlos Antonio Lopez. However, this era of economic development was short lived, as Paraguay entered the catastrophic War of the Triple Alliance between eighteen sixty four and eighteen seventy against Brazil, Argentina,

and Uruguay over territorial disputes. This conflict proved disastrous for Paraguay as they suffered staggering losses. Nearly seventy percent of its population died, its economy was shattered, and its territory was significantly reduced. And yes, you heard me right, nearly seventy percent of its population perished, including most of its male population. In the wars aftermath, Paraguay was plunged into political chaos, economic ruin, and a period of foreign interventions.

Due to the economic devastation of the war, the country became indebted to British creditors. With that leverage, Briturn pushed for the development of a free market economy and privatization, which brought Paraguay into closer contact with the global economy and eventually led to a more pronounced class de vatuside,

an establishment of an exploitive agricultural export system. Land that had once been communitly managed was swiftly privatized, driving indigenous communities and small farmers off their lands and into the workforce of larger estates. On those estates, workers would find themselves in debt bondage tied to the estates, as small debts at workers over to landowners would spiral into insurmountable

debts that would become nearly impossible to repay. Laborers, called pionies, were typically paid in vultures or script that could only be redeemed at the estate's store, where prices were exorbitantly inflated. Any attempt to leave or challenge the conditions was met with violent repercussions from estate managers, creating a cycle of economic entrapment. There was essentially slavery by another name. Paraguay became a country of ever more wealthy and powerful landowners,

with a struggle in rural working class. As twentieth century approached, the labour struggles and social divisions the Paraguay and society were clearing. Cron inequality, Explosive working conditions, and the dislocation of adious communities created foot ground for radical ideas among rural campusinos and urban workers. European immigrants flee in political oppression brought with them some rather radical ideas that began to resonate with partaground workers who were desperate for a

way out of their circumstances. For people who had survived centuries of oppression and authoritarian rule, anarchism had a unique appeal. By the eighteen eighties, workers in Paragua had become organized in mutual aid societies, and one such society of typographers would organize themselves into a union, the first in the country's history. By eighteen eighty six. That same year, so the rise of construction workers, carpenters, tailors, postal workers, and

bakers unions. Those bakers would also conduct the country's first ever strike action in October of eighteen eighty six. The first distinctly anarchist publication I could find in Paraguay was organized by a group called those eCos del Chaco, who published a libertarian manifesto in eighteen ninety two. They call themselves anarchist communists and declare their intent to abolish private property,

the clergy, the state, and the armed forces. Quote. We seek the complete emancipation of the proletariat as we fight abolished the unjust exportation of man by man. We dedicate all of our moral and physical strength to overturn all attorneys established genuine liberty, equality, and fraternity in the human family. We seased to transform private property into a common good, which needs to do so because individual property is the

basic cause of all the evils that afflictors. It's on that basis that the dregs of humanity, government, clerics, lawyers, militaries, entrepreneurs maintain themselves in power, live as parasites and to continued enjoyment of their funder of finances large armies with

the products of our labor end quote. Even prior to that manifesto, anarchists were making moves in the graphic railway and bakers unions as early as eighteen eighty nine, fighting for and winning the eight hour weekday by nineteen oh one. Strike actions in this period were focused on that goal, alongside wage increases and with the improvements to working conditions. The anarchists also tried to establish a national Trade union center,

but unfortunately did not succeed. In eighteen ninety two, thanks in part to the growing Spanish and Argentine immigrant populations, there was a wave of the Berterian Union formation throughout Paraguay. The anarchist was quite successful among the peasantry as they helped organized armed resistance societies to aid in their struggles

against the landowners. Anarchists also managed to establish Rafaa Barrett Cultural Center in the early nineties, hosting an impressive collection of books by fellow Paraguayan and foreign writers, and them bolding in the formation even more trade unions. Rafhaya Barrett, by the way, is one of the most significant figures in Paraguay and anarchist history, according to every account I've read.

Born in Toda Vega, Spain in eighteen seventy six, Barrett's early life was typical of a welds do intellectual he studied languages, pan and eventually engineering. By his late twenties, he was drawn to Latin America party by adventure and party to make a difference, Driven by a gruing commitment to justice and solidarity. He arrived in Budas Airis in nineteen oh three, where he found work as a journalist, soon making ways with an article that condemned the stock

inequality he observed in Argentina's capital. This critique cost him his job, yet had deepened his dedication to speak for those who were voiceless. But as experiences of CEA and European amercront workers toiling on the brutal conditions fueled his indignation against unchecked wealth and poverty's vicious whold on the working class. In nineteen oh four, but that made his

way to Paraguay. He essentially welcomed as a correspondent for LTMBO and even held government positions, including as a director of the Department of Engineers and the Railroad Agency, but his comitments, exposed in the country's political and social rat soon puts him at odds with Paraguay's new liberal government.

He saw that simply swapping our conservative leaders for liberals did little to improve conditions for ordinary Paraguayans, as demonstrated by the continuous labour struggles that arose and response to the industrialization undertaken by the liberal government. Workers were fighting to abolished child label, improve their conditions, increased wages and

so on. He couldn't stand by in silence, so he resigned from government service, now fully committed to social justice, even as his grown radicalism began to alienate the political elite. Brett's personal experiences sharpened his perspective, transformed him from a sympathetic observer to a dedicated anarchist. His writings in Criminal became essential reading for workers and peasants alike, urging them to see beyond superficial reforms and to challenge the entire

structure of the pressure. But that condemned the government's abuses and spoke out against exploitive systems that kept the majority of Paraguayan's martialized. He was a fiery advocate for social justice, and one write in particular, Acrosto Robastos, called him the discoverer of Paraguayan's social reality. Because Wrette didn't just observe

these injustices. He threw himself into exposing and condemned them with fufor His impact was so significant that even when he was forced to flee Paraguay in nineteen oh eight under Goffun pressure, his ideas endured. His health was deteriorating from tibergulosis, where he continued to write, receiving support from intellectual comrades in Uruguay and Brazil his final years, which is a continuation if his relentless dedication. Even as his

health continued to decline. In nineteen ten, he went to Paris to seek treatment, but his health failed and he passed away in December of that year. But just before Barret's exile and passing in nineteen oh six, the anarchists would form their first and for some time only workers federation in the country by joining together the illustrators, carpenters

and drivers uniors. Rafaelbert actually became something of a thought leader for this group, and this was the Federacion Opreira Astricanal Paraguay or four, partially inspired by the Federacion Obreira Reginal Argentina or FORA, where they borrowed many of their programmatic ideas. If you recall the episodes I did on Argentina. You know that the reasoning for the name was ideological.

By adding the adjective regional, it made plain that the country in question, whether Paraguay or Argentina, was not being considered a state or political unit, but a region of the world in which workers struggled for their liberation. Soon after its founding, on the first of May nineteen oh six, the Forpe held the country's first international workers data demonstration,

despite police attempts to shut it down. Four also launched their official publication, El Espertade in the same year, and the paper carried articles while the anarchist movements in Europe and Latin America printed works by authors such as Peter Kopotkin and Selmronzo. Published reports of the Forbes activities, named and shamed and known strike breakers, and encouraged its members

to pay their union dues promptly. Subsequent years would introduce other libertarian newspapers, such as later Billion, La Tribuna and Acierl Futruro. After the nineteen oh eight coup by Emiliano Gonsalves Naverro Dey stabilized the economy and restricted Assuncion's labor movement. Anarchism still found strength among rural and tanan industry workers. Despite increasing hostility from figures like Presidents Kndre and Jarre. Labor strikes continued, which were met by fierce oppression, arrests,

and forced deportations. With the outbreak of the Paraguay and Civil War from nineteen eleven to nineteen twelve, anarchists and other labor organizations faced a government crackdown. Groups like the FORP became inactive temporarily at least, and by nineteen thirteen, in the wake of the war, a schism was emergent as some unions moved toward reformist ideologies, influencing part of

the populist Colorado Party. Meanwhile, FORPE reaffirmed to anarchostynicolus routes, forming a federal Council that included both workers and intellectuals, a meant to reconne union activities. Amidst a wave of reorganization post World War One, a new surgeon demand for Paraguay and exports revived the labor activism. In nineteen sixteen, the Corps or Centro Oberrero Regional Little Paraguay to call

the role of championing anarchos, syndicalism, and labor rights. This one gained support from a wide network, launching influential publications like El Combat and Renovasion. Other groups like COMDE and the Revolutionary Nationalist Alliance, which sought a federalist union. Other peoples of Latin America also took part in the resurgions of anarchist ideas. In nineteen twenty two, the Paraguayan anarchists were able to finally establish links with the International Workers Association.

By the nineteen thirties, Syriaco Puarte emerged as a prominent voice advocating for workers rise despite you know everything. He was a protege of fellow anarchists and printmaker Felix Cantalisio Aracuyu,

a Paraguayan mestizo of mixed indigenous and black ancestry. At one point, Aracuyu and his comrades had helped organize a tram workers strike in Asuncion, which compelled the government to round them up and dump them in the middle of the jungle in Matu Grusso, hoping that they would die, and yet Aracuyu and his friends made their way through over one thousand three hundred kilometers of mountain jungle, surviving on roots, fruits, and game to make their way back

to their hometown of Incarnacion and speaking of Incarnacion both to our Day and Aracuyu took part in the little known attempt at an anarchist uprising in Paraguay, which was actually centered in Incarnacion. On the twentieth of February nineteen thirty one, a group of one hundred and fifty workers and students organizing a couple of popular assemblies, took control of the city of Incarnacion with the goal of establishing a libertarian commune, part of a plan to spark a

wider anarchist Syniclius revolution in Paraguay. This was the culmination of a series of strikes and widespread leaf Latin by anarchists and students in support of revolution. It wasn't meant to be centered in the Karnacion, as there was a planned construction worker at Donald Striking and Sudanzion, and similar action in Villary and Concepcion, but key organizers in those struggles in those cities were deported in the days leading up to the action, so those planned actions ended up failing.

After sixteen hours when their efforts to have reinforced by workers in the rest of the nation. The interactionists of Encarnacion took over two steamboats and made their way along the river to Brazil, but not before they attacked the Yuromatic companies and burned the records related to indentured laborers in two ports. Their solidarity never died, even after they went through everything they went through, they didn't lose their sight and what really mattered. Sadly, the seventeen students and

workers who remained in Incarnacion were arrested. Duarte found himself jailed and interned in Marcurita, Ireland after Liberal Party president Jose P. Kogiari outlawed trade unions. Other revolutionaries were dropped off from the jungle to die at a random point along the Parana River. Seven of the captured seventeen met this fate, and the other ten spent a few months

in prison before being deported to Argentina. Movement then faced distinct challenges during the Chaco War from nineteen thirty two to nineteen thirty five between Paraguay and Bolivia, which halted much of the anarchist activism. May anarchists joined the war effort reluctantly, including Duarte, who performed duties in the Rear Guard while working as a type setter for various pressors,

including anarchist pressors the Paraguay and Victory. Following the war, the return to domestic concerns saw a resurgence of anarchists and labor activities. The government's crackdown of lefster'c ideologies in the late nineteen thirties nineteen forties under present Wrinigo's rule led to severe repression of anarchists and cynicalist groups do what.

He spent some time as a worker representative at the National Labor Department or DNT, who was under considerable fire from the communists were taken hold of the treading movement

after anarchism waned in popularity. He finally resigned from his post in nineteen forty one after a worker's coordinating committee of seamen, tram workers, bakers, print workers and other trades issued a protest note to President Morinigo threatening to withdraw from the Workers Delegate for the infringements of their rights assembly to unionize and to strike. Of course, their protest note was completely ignored. The president's authoritarian tenure pushed several

anarchists and socialist organizers into exile. Duarte himself ended up in exile in Argentina by nineteen forty two, but eventually was able to return and reclaim his appointment as a worker representative. Then, not long after, he became a victim of a police crackdown during the nineteen forty four general strike after labor movement was hijacked by the Republican Workers Organization.

After nineteen forty seven, Duarte dropped out of trade union activity entirely and refocused to publishing articles and trade union publications abroad and urgent research into Paraguay and trade union history. Yet faced d arrests and took part in strikes anyway, advocating for workist rights across various industries. He continued his activism against fascism and authoritarianism, operating from Argentina at times,

while still supporting strikes at anarchist literature in Paraguay. The nineteen fifty four ascension to power of General Alfredo Streisner marked a significant period of intensified authoritarianism. Streuisner's regime viariently suppressed opposition, including anarchists, for over three decades. Even in his seventy years. During the nineteen seventy years, Duarte was

harassed by Straussner's secret police. Many other anarchists were imprisoned, exiled, or disappeared by Streuisner, who imposed tight control of unions and labor organizers. The nineteen fifty four to nineteen eighty nine dictatorship of Streisner stifled anarchist activities severely and forced them underground, where they would have to preserve anarchist literature

and ideas through secret print publications and solidarity movements. The result of this dictatorship was that anarchism in paraguay I experienced resurgence much later than other Latin American nations, with the spark rekindled only in the early two thousands. This rebooth of anarchist sentiment emerged largely within the punk count culture and youth led social movements, often interconnected with struggles

for indigenous rights, economic justice, and environmental causes. The establishment of spaces like Laterraza and Anarchist Squad provided platforms for activists and community engagement, while publications such as Autonomia Zene and Grito Fanzine disseminated anarchist ideals despite Paraguay's history of

anarchist repression. These newer movements, however small, signify some small hope for a renewed interest in the materian ideas within Paraguay, one that can be seen even more violently in other parts of Latin America. Paraguay and anarchists have shown us the drive for freedom and equality is a daily equipment to defy attorney and resist exploitation. Despy facing decades of silence and and the destroys stand dictatorship, anarchism did not disappate.

The seeds are resistance late dormant, but they are ready to bloom again as new generations can take up the struggle. As we conclude, let's remember the words of Rafael Barre, who fought tirelesslie for the people he came to call his own justice, justice above all things, justice, even if it costs blood, all power to older people. Please, it could happen.