Support of the Paraguayan Episcopate to Franco (1937)

From the beginning, Paraguayan society and the resident Spanish colony were divided in their views of the conflict in Spain. The traditional political parties, the Colorado Party (ANR) and the Liberal Party (PL), did not openly choose sides and maintained a tacit silence. Those who did call for active solidarity with the Spanish people's struggle in defense of the republican regime and the democratic system were the leaders and militants of the Paraguayan Communist Party (PCP).

Both progressive sectors and government officials initially worked to gain support for the legitimate Spanish government, although this changed as events unfolded, and as the the Falange’s parallel diplomacy expanded support for the rebels in Latin America. On the other hand, Paraguayan society found itself divided over the conflict. In general, the lower classes, the unions, workers, and progressive or liberal intellectuals showed a greater tendency to support the Republic and the rule of law in Spain, while wealthy families, the military, nationalist intellectuals, and the clergy were mostly more favorable to the fascist rebel side.

This document is a page from the newspaper El Noticiero, edited in rebel-controlled Zaragoza (under rebel control), which reproduces a letter sent by the Paraguayan episcopate about a year after the coup d'état that led to the Civil War stating its support for the fascist military uprising. The episcopate justified its support for fascism in Spain because it was "in pursuit of the noble goal of maintaining the well-defined rights of the Catholic Church…which the false freethinkers want to eliminate." On the occasion of the First National Eucharistic Congress in Paraguay, the Paraguayan bishops and archbishop called for "Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to end this horror as soon as possible with the triumph of the Christian Faith, and that the Lord bless the work of Generalissimo Franco."

It is important to note that the letter makes many references to the notion of Hispanidad, which would later be promoted by Francoism in Spain and Latin America. The idea that Paraguay was the "little daughter of the Motherland," or the expression "with the interest with which the son looks at his father's fate," show that the Paraguayan episcopate was very close to the colonial postulates of the time. This positive vision of the colonial heritage did not contradict the development of Paraguayan nationalism in the mid-20th century, which contained no criticism of the Spanish colonization process. In fact, during much of the second half of the 20th century, this Paraguayan nationalism with a strong attachment to Hispanidad would get stronger. This occurred due to the good relations between the Francoist regime and the Stroessner dictatorship, which owed a lot to the diplomatic activity of the Spanish fascist Ernesto Giménez Caballero, Franco's ambassador in Asunción from 1958 to 1969.

ETB