Despite the fact that the indigenous people in the Americas made alcoholic beverages before European grapes were imported by the Conquistadors, the local vitis genus of grapes were never used to make wine. The first known attempt to grow vines for wine began in Hispaniola after Columbus’ second voyage in 1594. Since then, viticulture spread across the…
Bolivia and Paraguay are both landlocked neighbors in South America. Neither have had the luxury of strong economies. Between 1932 and 1935, the two countries fought the bloodiest conflict on the continent in the 20th century. At dispute, was a region known as “Gran Chaco” which was incorrectly believed to contain substantial oil deposits. Control…
Mercosur is a full customs union encompassing Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay y Uruguay. On Tuesday, the 31st of July, Venezuela joined that group making it one of the largest economies in the world at an estimated $3.3 trillion dollars. Recently, a similar economic agreement made up of largely western countries (Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia) named…
Fernando Lugo was elected president of Paraguay in 2008. His election was particularly notable, as it marked the first time in the history of Paraguay that any ruling party had peacefully transferred their power to an opposing candidate. The “Colorado Party” had been in power for 61 years before Fernando’s election. As Paraguay’s second leftist…
Mercosur is a full customs union encompassing Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay y Uruguay. Additionally, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and Perú are associate members of the union, and as such, participate in the economic union, but not the unified customs system. While Venezuela signed into the union in 2006, their membership has been blocked ever since by…
Like many South American countries, Paraguayans have held onto their indigenous language despite modernization in areas such as television, telecommunications, or the internet. An estimated half of the rural population is monolingual, and the majority of the population in Paraguay speaks Guaraní (it is also spoken in parts of Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil). The tenacious hold of the language in what is…
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