Historians have long considered Paraguay a mestizo nation. Little thought or consideration is given to the indigenous population that remains. This failure has been corrected by René D. Harder Horst in his new work that not only reveals the existence of Indians in Paraguay but demonstrates that this population has resisted integration and demanded rights and protections from the dictatorial regime of Alfredo Stroessner, 1954 – 89. The text explores how the indigenous populations of Paraguay secured constitutional rights and protections under the 1992 Paraguayan constitution.
Framing his study around the Stroessner regime, Horst illuminates how policy was implemented in one of the least-studied dictatorships in Latin America. In order to direct this investigation, Horst depends on oral testimonies, newspapers, and government documents. His narrative focuses on how the Stroessner government attempted to make the indigenous population disappear by integrating the population into the larger peasant population of Paraguay. The...
