After the first political reactions to remarks by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies has preliminarily approved a joint declaration. It rejects Lula’s account of the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) and urges Paraguay’s government to ask Brazil through diplomatic channels to return war trophies. The chamber’s leadership must still combine three proposals and approve the final wording.
While arguing for higher Brazilian military spending, Lula said Paraguay had attacked Brazil and invaded Uruguay and Argentina at the same time. Lawmakers from the ruling Honor Colorado bloc, the liberal PLRA and the opposition rejected that account. Several described the war as genocide; that is their political and historical characterization, not a new finding by the chamber.
The common element of the proposals is a request for Paraguay’s Foreign Ministry to seek the return of the “Cañón Cristiano,” military archives and other relics. The Cristiano is a historic Paraguayan artillery piece cast from melted church bells and held in Brazil as a war trophy. This is the new development: the declaration moves beyond the previously reported statements by individual politicians and calls for a formal diplomatic step.
Acting President Pedro Alliana had previously described a return as a possible “gesture of fraternity.” Former Foreign Minister Federico González called it a “gesture of greatness.” Whether Brazil would agree remains unclear; the reports used for this article contain no response from the Brazilian government to the new initiative.
Lawmakers also criticized President Santiago Peña and Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano for not initially issuing an official response to Lula. That criticism is part of Paraguay’s domestic political debate and is separate from the government’s still-pending diplomatic decision.