Paraguay's early history as an independent state was shaped by the dictator Jose Gaspar Rodriguez De Francia. On paper his ideals where shaped by the radical fringes of the French Revolution and he desired to end the influence of the Church and the elite European settlers (I should note he was a mulatto as well, and was discriminated as a young man for it). Therefore in order to end the influence of this elite he banned Europeans marrying each other, meaning they all married with natives. As he grew increasingly paranoid, Paraguay then became a completely closed off North Korean like society that had the military pervade all aspects of life and killed anybody trying to escape (even accidentally stranded foreigners). After that it was passed to the terrible and incompetent Lopez family, the latter of which effectively started an unwinnable war with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay simultaneously that caused the death of at least half the population and which the country has never really recovered.
Rodriguez De Francia sounds like a really... unique kind of tyrant. I can't help finding this more than a bit fascinating, even if it's also creepy as hell.
I'd heard about Lopez' disastrous war that ravaged Paraguay but still, wow.
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