Fascism in Paraguay

Paraguay, that much-maligned Latin American country, has had a terrible history (see this article for a fascinating background).

In the 1860s, the country lost over 80% of its male population in The War of the Triple Alliance. A series of dictatorships in the first half of the twentieth century led to a Paraguayan narrative (persisting to this day) as an oppressed people who should return to former greatness.

This was fertile ground for fascism to take root. In the 1930s, many Paraguayan officials openly emulated Nazism. The best chance is probably during the Chaco War against Bolivia from 1932-25. General Jose Estigarriba had totalitarian tendencies and certainly was capable of launching a military coup.

So if Paraguay became fascist in the early '30s, what would the consequences be? Would Fascist policies be able to re-energize the country? How would Brazil and Argentina feel about a resurgent, militaristic Paraguay? Could fascism spread in Latin America? And what would be the consequences in Europe for Hitler and Germany? Would he try to recruit them as an ally?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Hitler won't care about some landlocked country in the other end of the world going fascist. Paraguay doesn't have the economy to be relevant enough.
 
If Paraguay goes Nazi, they'll get curbstomped by Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Fascism =/= Nazism.

Besides, why would any of those countries attack for ideological reasons? As long as Paraguay doesn't sabre-rattle at Argentina or Brazil, they won't do anything. And Bolivia after Chaco War is in no condition to do anything.
 
Fascism =/= Nazism.

Besides, why would any of those countries attack for ideological reasons? As long as Paraguay doesn't sabre-rattle at Argentina or Brazil, they won't do anything. And Bolivia after Chaco War is in no condition to do anything.

Agreed. I think that what's more interesting is the effect on Fascist parties in other Latin American states. Germany will likely provide some sort of aid to Paraguay until the outbreak of the war, at least - there's a large German-Paraguayan population (including Friedrich Nietzche's sister). Paraguay will likely be more efficiently and brutally run. Will a fascist paraguay inspire Argentine and Brazilian fascists, or will it scare those governments into a crackdown?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Agreed. I think that what's more interesting is the effect on Fascist parties in other Latin American states.

Not necessarily - Paraguay would just get shrugged off. That's because of the one big elephant in the room, and that is the Colossus of the North (TM). Whatever "fascists" there are would not be fascists, anyway - they'd be more Integralists (cf. Brazil, the Anauê! salute nonwithstanding) or Falangists, and even then none of them wouldn't really work as "fascist". Authoritarian, yes. Corporatist, definitely. Fascist? Depends. In any case, at least with Argentina, there would definitely be a crackdown as it would be seen as not only competing with the military but also because of its perceived "threat" to the democracy that had been built up.

Germany will likely provide some sort of aid to Paraguay until the outbreak of the war, at least - there's a large German-Paraguayan population (including Friedrich Nietzche's sister).

On the contrary - I don't see any reason for Germany to support an insignificant country like Paraguay, and in any case Paraguay would horrify Hitler as a good portion of Paraguay's population was in large part due to racial mixing of the type abhorred by the Nazis. Indeed, that the surviving Spaniards adopted Guaraní is a big factor ensuring its survival in Paraguay.
 
Besides, why would any of those countries attack for ideological reasons? As long as Paraguay doesn't sabre-rattle at Argentina or Brazil, they won't do anything. And Bolivia after Chaco War is in no condition to do anything.

This is Latin America we're talking about. If Bolivia can nurture a grudge against Chile for their loss of access to the Pacific during the Guerra del Pacífico and if Argentina can still go crazy over the Falklands and the SGSSI, then surely Paraguay could nurture a grudge against both Brazil and Argentina for what happened during the War of the Triple Alliance and use that as a rallying point.
 
Paraguay is an extremely mixed society. The vast majority of Paraguayans have Guarani ancestry. This is a legacy of Paraguay's first leader Jose Gaspar Rodriguez De Francia who basically forbade Paraguayans from marrying Spaniards, so he effectively created through sheer force a racially-mixed society free of the same hierarchical divides that would emerge in other parts of Latin America.

I can't really see the Nazis assigning much priority to a landlocked, impoverished country, and I can't see a homegrown Paraguayan fascist movement gaining much ground outside of Paraguay.
 
Brazil's Integralist movement was like the odd ball of all fascist groups as it accepted anyone, regardless of skin color as their brother (except for the Jews).
 
Brazil's Integralist movement was like the odd ball of all fascist groups as it accepted anyone, regardless of skin color as their brother (except for the Jews).

Even Brazilians don't really know what race they all are.

A racist government (or at least racist in the traditional sense) would never really survive in Brazil.

The problem is Paraguay is tiny and extremely homogenous, and Brazil is enormous and diverse, I don't really see that as being the start for a glorious friendship.
 

katchen

Banned
The one thing the Nazis would find Paraguay useful for would be as a place for Germans-Nazis to settle iin large numbers, even before war broke out. And as a place from which to possibly accomplish the same settlement in Brazil and Peru. If Paraguay would permit a million German farmers and the infrastructure in terms of railroads to get their crops to market, those German farmers would dominate Paraguay. And they would not be settling in the wasteland of the Chaco, but in the fertile land of the Parana Valley, growing cotton and soybeans and raising beef cattle. And employing Guarani as farm hands. And building a railroad from Asuncion to Santa Cruz and La Paz and possibly Lima. And east to Sao Paulo. Privately built. With Americans like Prescott Bush investing in itl.
Argentina might be somewhat perturbed, but Argentina sympathized with the Nazis during WWII anyway and wanted Nazi investment. As did Brazil.

Yes, I can see where full Nazi penetration of a war torn prostrate nation like Paraguay could be the key to a more low profile penetration and building of a sphere of influence in South America south of the Equator under the nose of the United States.
 
But surely the powers-that-be wouldn't simply allow their power to be taken away by an imported settler-farmer class.

Also, the Vargas regime in Brazil looked more towards FDR and the New Deal, and generally pursued good relations with the US, they aren't simply going to chase Nazi ghosts and risk Brazil's excellent bilateral trade relationship with the US.
 
Argentina might be somewhat perturbed, but Argentina sympathized with the Nazis during WWII anyway and wanted Nazi investment. As did Brazil.

Actually, in the case of Argentina that is not true - most of the population sympathized with the Allies (which makes sense if you house the largest Jewish community in Latin America), but the Argentine government preferred the country remain neutral because of simple economics (since the government wanted desperately to make a profit wherever it could). That was viewed by the US as pro-Nazi, yes, but in the eyes of Britain (Argentina's traditional major economic partner) that wasn't the case, as Whitehall preferred a neutral Argentina.
 
The one thing the Nazis would find Paraguay useful for would be as a place for Germans-Nazis to settle iin large numbers, even before war broke out. And as a place from which to possibly accomplish the same settlement in Brazil and Peru. If Paraguay would permit a million German farmers and the infrastructure in terms of railroads to get their crops to market, those German farmers would dominate Paraguay. And they would not be settling in the wasteland of the Chaco, but in the fertile land of the Parana Valley, growing cotton and soybeans and raising beef cattle. And employing Guarani as farm hands. And building a railroad from Asuncion to Santa Cruz and La Paz and possibly Lima. And east to Sao Paulo. Privately built. With Americans like Prescott Bush investing in itl.
Argentina might be somewhat perturbed, but Argentina sympathized with the Nazis during WWII anyway and wanted Nazi investment. As did Brazil.

Yes, I can see where full Nazi penetration of a war torn prostrate nation like Paraguay could be the key to a more low profile penetration and building of a sphere of influence in South America south of the Equator under the nose of the United States.
But why would Hitler encourage such massive emigration?
The only, rather forced, option would be if Paraguay ends up with a non-antisemite fascist regime which is still friendly to Germany and Hitler decides to dump jews there.
 
Does a small, impoverished nation like Paraguay even have the infrastructure to handle a million new citizens sent in over a relatively short period of time? I would think a million is way too high.
 
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