Paraguayan participation in the American independence movement

Beatriz González de Bosio. Teacher.
Asunción del Paraguay. Paraguay.  

Initially the American independence movement was just an effort to restore the Spanish throne invaded by Napoleon Bonaparte as an ironic experience to extend the ideas of the French Revolution, liberty, equality and fraternity brought by an imperial army.

From the beginning the contradictions were appropriated by the independence movements that arose from nothing less than swearing allegiance to the monarch. The typically reactionary idea that was advocated was to leave things as they were before the outbreak of the crisis.

The Province and General Captain of Paraguay was an integral part of the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata, splintering from the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1776 as a result of the Bourbon reforms in an attempt to organise the colonies to improve taxation and the organisation of military defence against the Portuguese neighbour, Brazil.

The regional universities at that time were those of Cordoba of Tucumán, that of Charcas - Chuquisaca - the San Felipe de Santiago, the San Marcos de Lima and the Javeriana University of New Granada. In all these houses of study, original versions of the work of the Enlightenment were circulating freely particularly Rousseau's Social Contract, the work that had made an impact on the Paraguayan José Gaspar de Francia who graduated from Cordoba.

In the University of Charcas, due to proximity to the tragic Indigenous uprising of Jose Gabriel Condorcarqui and Tupac Amaru, it was particularly influential among students and teachers and the news was brought to Paraguay by our hero Fernando de la Mora.

The supreme test of the accession of the colony to the Spanish monarchy gave protection against the British invasions at Rio de La Plata, where the entire region contributed troops and supplies to expel the occupying invaders.

The feat took place in Buenos Aires on May 25th 1810, in an open council, where an idea arose spontaneously that was at the same time both conservative and revolutionary and provided for the expulsion of Spanish rule but replaced it immediately with the hegemony of the Port of Buenos Aires as legitimate heir of the recently deceased Viceroyalty.

From this came the forces to maintain unity and the name of Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata (United Provinces of Río de la Plata) that included military support with the “auxiliary expedition" of Manuel Belgrano, in the Paraguayan case.

Subsequent diplomatic negotiations at the Province of Paraguay, requested the election of delegates to the constituent congress of the new political entity.

On May 14th 1811 in Paraguay they met with the last Spanish governor, Don Bernardo de Velasco who did not resist but instead became part of the first Junta board, evidence of the ideological confusion in the first moments of independence. And so a triumvirate composed of Juan Valeriano Zeballos, José Gaspar de Francia and the governor was created.

To be "revolutionary" these first steps were somewhat conservative and did not damage the oath of allegiance to Fernando VII. Our patriots began the expulsion of the Spanish sceptre and with it the creation of a Confederation of Equals in the region. They reflected this in the note of July 20th 1811. It explained to Buenos Aires the new reality of the province, that "it does not move from one set of chains to another nor move from love" and that it refused to deliver to a foreign arbitration the fruit of its civil-military effort.

In this note we do not see any mention of the monarchy and a desire to communicate to the provisional board of Buenos Aires the idea of a union of equals, promptly appropriated by José Gervasio Artigas of the Banda Oriental of Uruguay, who also proposed the union of the outlying provinces for mutual reinforcement.

This brings us to a tipping point. From the beginning, the province of Paraguay had refused to accept being part of a viceroyalty under any name. The Paraguayan separatist process that for almost half a century gave it the nickname "renegade province" culminated with the declaration of the Republic of Paraguay in Congress in 1813, in the Church Iglesia de la Merced.

Paraguay was at the absolute cutting edge of emancipatory ideas because it left established the principle of regional sovereignty, which left the Spanish empire dismembered in sovereign nation-states.

What more did Paraguay contribute?

Thus Paraguay became the first Republic of Hispanic America and only the third in the continent and the world. In 1776 thirteen British colonies ceded to Paraguay and in 1804 Haiti followed. By 1840, the year of the death of Dr. Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, political leader of the revolution in Paraguay, all former Spanish colonies were republics.

As a republic, the authorities would be elected by the people and write a 'constitution' as a covenant of unity and restraint, a kind of 'social contract' setting limits on the rulers and enshrining the rights of the governed.

Paraguay also provided an example that was not echoed in the continent and that did not encourage the emergence of warlordism generating internal instability. Examples of this occurred repeatedly throughout the other parts of the continent, which shattered the PATRIA GRANDE project of Simón Bolívar.

Paraguay has been known from the beginning for the unusual aspects of its evolution, for the "confinement" of its first 30 years of independent republicanism and the emergence of paternalistic leadership with lifelong absolute governments.

The fact that Paraguay was the pioneer of political ideas in replacing the monarchical system was completely ignored but at the same time it was subject to a particular historical process, with an imponderable geographical framework and being landlocked signed its destiny as a nation.

The American independence movements took place with military juntas such as that of 1810 in Buenos Aires, 1811 in Asuncion and the liberating campaigns in 1815 with Simón Bolívar to the north and San Martín, to the south. The Cabildo Abierto (Open Council) of Buenos Aires in 1810 triggered processes that culminated in Ayacucho in 1824. Under the command of San Martín´s Southern Army, he led a contingent of battle-hardened and undefeated Mapuches, Guaranis, Aimaras, freed slaves and Maroons, using the strategies of guerillas, freedom fighters and formal war.

It is worth recalling the great and largely ignored Paraguayan contribution both in terms of ideas and soldiers to the great emancipation and we must necessarily conclude that the independence process was the result of a combination of ideas and arms.  In this sense, the documents originated in Paraguay are enormously important to consolidate the freedom of the peoples and the separation of the colonial metropolis.

Paraguay has always made huge contributions but is remembered more for the deviations of the republican system, originating in the ongoing crisis of being considered the rebellious province until 1852.

The process of implementation of the ideas of the Enlightenment was shattered in Paraguay for short-term political needs, whether justified or not, that wiped out the thinking class.

Paraguay has not only been a land of dictators but also brilliant thinkers and brave soldiers. This stands as a challenge that forces us to strengthen motivation for a great task that is not yet concluded.

Article published in the Journal Re, No. 66, April 2011 edition.