WesWorld

The usual yearly round-up of basic events in Paraguay. Still unstable, tensions between Marxist rural areas and more conservative urban areas have eased a bit, a second civil war or a new military dictatorship is not unlikely at some point before. Who knows? Perhaps next year's elections will be the turning point/ powder keg? Certainly all nefarious Argentine plans to annex the nation have been dropped and Argentina is likely to be wary of getting too involved again unless the SAE tried to interfere/ gain influence.


Paraguay: A History, by L. Carlos, Bahia Free Press, 1957
1945 saw Paraguay hanging the balance of returning to turmoil as the abuses of power by the National Party clashed with the increasing grip of the Marxist Party in the countryside and on food supplies to the towns.

Politics
The elections of June 1941 to the Chamber of Deputies saw the following shares of the vote; Catholic Peoples Party 40%, National Peoples Party 38%, Marxist Party 9.7%, Northern Democratic Party 8.3%, Asuncion Workers Party 1.3% and Landworkers Party 1.3%. The Catholic Peoples Party and the National Peoples Party formed a coalition government. Elections will be held again in 1946.

Prime Minister Luis Contreras retained total political dominance of the political institutions but Marxists through their commune farms and food distribution network massive influence and popular support in rural areas. This was not true in the towns and cities where the Catholic Peoples Party still held sway among the growing middle classes. The working classes too, often supported the orthodox Catholic Peoples Party. A growing network of state-owned food shops across rural areas had been built up since 1943 with the backing of the Catholic Church, buts grow was slowing and the intended political influence was not gained.

Luis Contreras had promised to build 20,000 homes a year to re-house the population in 1939 but by the end of 1945 the total was 72,000 since the programme began, 30,100 having been completed in the past year due to model estate schemes in Asuncion and at Caacupe. Slum conditions however did get worse during the year as rural migration increased again. Education healthcare policies remained on track, as did education policies, but nearly all teachers in rural areas had by now joined the Rural Teachers League sponsored by the Marxist Party. Aid groups were still funding around 35% of the healthcare system and there was evidence that much of the state spending was largely wasted by government inefficiency.

Resistance to paying taxes was dealt with by the Fraud Department created in 1941 under the leadership of the former Argentine security minister ‘Chico’. During 1945 some 4,900,000 Pesos of unpaid tax was confiscated and added to the nation’s coffers, notably the tax inspectors relieving the Marxist Party of over a million Pesos in land taxes. Opposition to the Catholic People’s Party’s Land Plan continued, especially from the Landowners Association. During the winter of 1944, supported by the national bank, they raised enough funds to buy over 15,000 acres of land to prevent smallholders from purchasing it and it was handed to four prominent landowners. During 1945 around 18,000 acres were similarly acquired. The process of landowners mechanising their farms forced over 5,000 labourers and their families off the land by 1945. Tensions were still high in rural areas but violence was less and ironically between them, both sides had contributed to making Paraguayan agriculture the most efficient it had ever been.

Economics
After several years of peace, stability now began to show itself in the economy. Inflation fell to 4% during 1945 and interest rates fell to 6%. Unemployment in the towns rose by around 6,000, mainly due to the influx of rural people after the mechanisation of the farms. Investment had increased and much of this came from overseas rather than Argentine sources which was proof that the economy was beginning to grow successfully.

Defence
Since Argentine military control officially ended March 1939 only modest Army, Air Force and Navy detachments remain in Paraguay to fulfil the March 1937 joint defence agreement. The Paraguayan Army remained unchanged with no new equipment but the Air Force received twelve FMA I.Ae.23 Jaguar ground attack bombers to modernise their attack force. Argentina began building a river tender to support the warships on the Rio Paraguay, and this vessel was built in Paraguay.