A review of "Reign of Doctor Joseph Gaspard Roderick De Francia in Paraguay".
This book was originally published in 1827. The authors, Rengger and Longchamps, were two Swiss nationals who had visited the South American nation of Paraguay in 1819. For various reasons, they couldn't leave the place until 1825.
At the time, Paraguay had just won its independence from Spain and defended it against Argentina. The government was headed by Dr. José Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, a self-styled Dictator and president for life. What makes Francia's rule so interesting is that it was an early attempt to create something akin to socialism. While Francia admired Napoleon, the Jacobins seem to be a more relevant source for his ideas. Rengger and Longchamps intensely disliked Francia, but several interesting facts nevertheless emerges from their narrative.
Before independence, Paraguay had apparently been a typical colonial monoculture exporting tobacco and "the herb of Paraguay", and importing basic foodstuffs. The authors blame this on the indolence and stupidity of the locals, when in fact it's a classical colonial situation. Francia, upon taking power, isolated the nation from the outside world and turned the cash crop plantations into agricultural land, thereby boosting domestic food production. Rengger and Longchamps marvel at the fact, that Francia managed to turn the lazy inhabitants into such efficient agricultural labourers! Francia also imposed a state monopoly on foreign trade, compulsory militia service and corvée.
According to the book, the population of Paraguay was divided into several "castes". Of these, the Spaniards had been the most influential before independence. There was also an elite group of Creoles (Mestizos). Francia overthrew the Spaniards and gradually confiscated their property. He also diminished the role of the Creole elite, instead basing his power on plebeian Creoles, which he promoted to high rank within the administration and army. (Francia himself was a Creole of French extraction. Hence his name.) The Dictator studied the works of Voltaire and Rousseau, dissolved the religious orders and forcibly secularized the monks. Some convents were turned into granaries and wharehouses. Francia also made himself the de facto head of the Catholic Church in Paraguay.
The Swiss travellers go to some length describing Francia's "terror", strange laws and capricious nature. They claim that the dictator took his worst decisions when he had "fits of hypochondria". He lived the life of an ascetic, and apparently wasn't married at the time the authors visited Paraguay. Apparently, Francia was also completely disinterested in money, and his only private vice was cigar-smoking.
In other respects, Paraguay still resembled a colonial settler state. Francia never abolished Black slavery and his regime had constant conflicts with Indians. Some of them worked the state lands under serf-like conditions. Francia's personal barber and personal cook were Black slaves, although the authors marvel over how leniently he treated them. Still, one wonders why this "enlightened despot" didn't abolish slavery en toto, especially since the slaves seem to have been few in numbers (there were also free Blacks in the country).
Due to tensions between Paraguay and neighbouring nations, Francia often "grounded" foreign visitors and merchants on visit to his country. Rengger and Longchamps were forced to stay in Paraguay for six years, until the Dictator finally gave them permission to leave. The authors were naturalists and were free to travel across Paraguay itself and collect specimens of rare animals and plants. Rengger was also a doctor, which also gave him freedom of movement (the regime used his services). Since they published a detailed book about Paraguay only a few years after their home coming, one wonders whether or not they could have been spies as well? The neutral Swiss!
Francia ruled Paraguay until his death in 1840, at which point the nation quickly reverted to the chaotic, neo-colonial status it still "enjoys". Yet, it's interesting that a "Jacobin" program was made to work in this godforsaken country for almost half a century.
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