File No. 834.00/101.

The American Consul at Asuncion to the Secretary of State.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith my report dated April 13, 1911, on the insurrection in this country in February and March, 1911.

I have [etc.]

Cornelius Ferris, Jr.
[Inclosure.—Extract.]

Report on the Insurrection in Paraguay in February and March, 1911.

circumstances leading up to the outbreak.

The Insurrection which began in Paraguay on the 21st of February, 1911, was the culmination of political differences between the Provisional President, Colonel Albino Jara, and the leaders of the Liberal-Radical Party, namely, Manuel Gondra, Juan B. Gaona, Adolfo Riquelme and Eduardo Schaerer, the two last named being the most prominent leaders.

The Liberal-Radical Party came into power by a revolution in 1908, Colonel Jara being the effective agent to accomplish that result.

In November, 1910, Manuel Gondra was inaugurated President, having been duly elected under the constitution. Colonel Jara was appointed Minister of War and Marine, Adolfo Riquelme was appointed Minister of Interior. Juan B. Gaona was Vice President and President of the Senate. Eduardo Schaerer was to have been appointed Intendente of Asuncion. All of these offices were held by the same persons under the provisional government established by the revolution of 1908, except Manuel Gondra, who was Minister of Foreign Relations.

During the provisional government Colonel Jara had been the dominant personality. * * * When Mr. Gondra became President it was understood that Colonel Jara was to leave the country on some foreign mission, taking the portfolio of Minister of War until such mission should be decided upon. Whether he had acquiesced in that arrangement is not clear, but he persisted in holding the ministry of war, and upon that issue his relations with the rest of the ministry were strained to the breaking point.

A crisis was reached upon the question of the appointment of a chief of artillery. The Minister of War holding out against the President, the latter ordered his arrest, upon what technical Chargé I have not been able to ascertain. Colonel Jara took refuge in the artillery barracks, and on the 17th of January [1911] used that arm of the military service to obtain control of the police [Page 1266] department. This placed at his disposal the 600 or 700 force of armed and drilled police of Asuncion. He then demanded the dismissal of Mr. Riquelme, the Minister of Interior. In order to save bloodshed the President and Vice President resigned.

Colonel Jara was elected Provisional President January 18 [1911] by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, securing the attendance of a quorum of those bodies with the greatest difficulty. A ministry was appointed, and the Provisional President attempted to form a new party, but was not able to detach any of the leading men from their former political affiliations. Colonel Jara’s position became continually more isolated, there being a succession of resignations of both civil and military officials, besides the arrest and deportation of many army officers. Congress made an effort to assert its authority by ordering inquiries into the deportation of army officers, and an investigation into the conduct of the ministry of war and marine when in Chargé of Colonel Jara. After that there were no more quorums of Congress.

insurrection and its suppression.

On the 21st of February [1911] the disaffection came to a head in Concepcion, the second city in Paraguay, situated on the Paraguay River, about 132 miles north of Asuncion. News of this reached Asuncion February 23, when it was reported that the garrison at that place had revolted and was supported by the people of the city. On the same day news was received that an insurrection was gathering in the southeastern part of the country, northwest of the Paraná. River, indefinitely and locally known as the “Misiones.” Mr. Riquelme was at the head of the insurrection in Concepcion; Mr. Schaerer was somewhere in the south; Mr. Gondra had retired to a small place south of Asuncion; and Mr. Gaona was in Buenos Aires. * * * An expedition was organized to proceed against Concepcion. In fitting out this expedition three Argentine merchant vessels were seized. In resorting to this measure the Paraguayan Government asserted the right, under stress of circumstances endangering its existence, to avail itself of foreign vessels found in its ports. It admitted the right of the owners to compensation, but neither the terms nor the security of such compensation were settled at the time of the seizure. The Argentine Chargé d’Affaires protested, and was hindered from communicating with his Government, it being necessary for him to go to Formosa, the nearest Argentine port, to do so. Preparations continued for the expedition against Concepcion, but the insurrectos in the meantime were proceeding southward from Concepcion. * * * On the 3d of March the expedition for the north was to have made another start, but as it was about to leave, the orders were again countermanded. By that time the insurrectos from Concepcion had proceeded more than half way from Concepcion to Asuncion. March 7 a battle took place near Yuty, between a force of 2,000 Government troops and 800 insurrectos; the former being victorious. * * * March 8 three Argentine naval vessels arrived at Asuncion. On the 9th of March a small river naval vessel of Brazil, the Sampio, which had been stationed in the upper Paraguay River, arrived at Asuncion, escorting two Brazilian merchant vessels. The Pernambuco, a Brizilian monitor, has been in this port for several months, Asuncion being a naval station of Brazil. With these vessels came the information that about 25 miles north of Asuncion there was an insurrecto force of 16 boats, among them some Argentine vessels forced into service by the insurrectos.

At about this date it was reported that a force of insurrectos numbering one or two thousand men occupied the territory a few miles from Asuncion. To oppose this force the troops were hurried back from Yuty, and under the personal command of Colonel Jara the insurrectos were forced northward, up the river. The principal fighting took place March 12. On the following day Colonel Jara returned to Asuncion and started north by river with a force to cooperate with the Government troops on land. In a week the Government forces returned to Asuncion, having defeated the insurrectos, March 17. Mr. Riquelme was taken prisoner. Afterwards he was taken out and shot. Eleven other prisoners were disposed of in the same way. It is reported that all the wounded insurrectos left on the field were killed. I have made careful inquiry on this point and am satisfied that it is true. * * *

No information whatever had been published except what was favorable to the Government, whose policy was to make light of the insurrection. * * * The return of the expedition was considered as the end of the insurrection, but martial law was then declared for six months and troops were sent to the “Misiones” to prevent the gathering of insurrectos in that part of the Republic.

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general effects.

Certain effects of the insurrection may be noted even at this early date. The three political parties of Paraguay are all out of office and, as far as there is any public opinion in the country, the bulk of the country population is hostile to the Government. No one considers the country at rest. At the opening of Congress on the first of April, an event always conducted with great formality, presided over by the President and attended by officers of state, representatives of foreign powers, and prominent citizens friendly to the Government, there were only ten members of Congress present, out of a total of about forty. There was also almost an entire absence of prominent Paraguayans.

Unlike revolutions in Argentina and Uruguay, all business stops when there is such a disturbance in Paraguay. Furthermore, on account of the condition of unrest now prevailing, orders for foreign goods are placed in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where they may be small and quickly filled, instead of buying in more remote countries. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have considered it necessary to send nine war vessels here, besides three previously kept in these waters by Brazil. The Paraguayan navy consists of two old nondescript boats of small size; probably having been converted from their original purposes. Talk of guaranteeing the peace of this country by some outside power has become quite common among commercial classes of Asuncion. * * *

Although the Government means little to the mass of people but an agency for sending out recruiting and foraging parties, there is a loyalty for Paraguay among them which is almost fanatical. Reports that might tend to reflect unfavorably on their country are deeply resented. Even those who have suffered from the oppression of their leaders, or rather masters, are reluctant to give information of a bad state of affairs.

Cornelius Ferris, Jr.