© 2012 Brilliance Press. All rights reserved.

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THE MENNONITES OF PARAGUAY

M.G. EDWARDS

The third article in a series on Paraguay’s Chaco region features the local Mennonite

communities. The first focused on Filadelfia, the area’s largest town, and the second on

the rural Chaco. The final post will highlight the local indigenous community. Enjoy

photos and stories from one of Paraguay’s most intriguing places.

Paraguay’s remote western region, the Chaco,

boasts a diverse mix of Mennonite, Spanish,

Brazilian, and indigenous Guarani influences.

The approximately 60,000 to 80,000 Mennonites

in Paraguay who live in large communities, or

“colonies,” dominate the local culture. Its

distinctly German flavor was introduced to the

country by Russian Mennonites of Germanic

descent who emigrated from the former Soviet

Union in the late 1920s and early 1930s to avoid

persecution under Stalinism. Other Mennonite

communities migrated to Paraguay between 1929 and 1932 from Canada, Germany, and

the United States. The Fernheim, Menno, and Neuland colonies settled near present-day

Filadelfia in 1930, and have since grown to more than 10,000 members. Most are farmers

with large ranches (estancias) that produce a variety of agricultural products, including

beef, dairy products, and other foodstuffs.

The Mennonites’ arrival in the Chaco coincided with the rise in tensions between

Paraguay and its neighbor, Bolivia. Eager to solidify the country’s hold on the sparsely

populated region, the Paraguayan government granted in the 1930s large parcels of Chaco

land to the Mennonites on the condition that they establish a permanent presence there.

The Bolivians, who coveted the Chaco for oil-producing potential that never materialized,

invaded it in 1932 and fought the three-year Chaco War with Paraguay. More than 80,000

Bolivians and 50,000 Paraguayans died in the conflict that ended with Bolivia’s defeat.

Although the pacifist Mennonites did not fight, the food they cultivated kept the

Paraguayan troops fed.

© 2012 Brilliance Press. All rights reserved.

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The Mennonites struggled to survive in the 1930s and 1940s. An inhospitable, semiarid

environment with little rainfall and poor soil made life difficult for the early settlers as

they domesticated the land. Travel overland to Paraguay’s capital, Asunción, before the

construction of the Trans-Chaco Highway in the late 1950s, was an odyssey that left the

remote colonies isolated from the outside world. Indigenous groups such as the Guarani

resisted encroachment by their new neighbors and fought occasional skirmishes with the

settlers. The Mennonites and the indigenous learned to co-exist peacefully, and many

indigenous now work for the colonies. After years of toil, the Mennonites transformed the

area into one of the country’s most productive agricultural regions.

The Mennonite's cooperatives (cooperativas) are among Paraguay's largest enterprises.

Closely affiliated with the local Mennonite Church, they manage the colonies’

commercial interests. Their operations and logistics networks are brilliantly efficient.

They provide farmers with enriched animal feed, transport raw milk from farms to dairy

plants, transform milk into dairy products, process foodstuffs, and ship finished goods to

market on gravel roads that they maintain. The cooperatives also operate service

businesses, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and

shopping centers that cater to the Mennonite communities. Fernheim Colony’s

cooperative, the country’s best known, also runs an experimental farm that incubates and

crossbreeds cash crops capable of the surviving in the Chaco. The power and influence of

the cooperatives is astounding, although one would not know it at first glance. The low-

profile associations are opaque operations whose sole purpose is to serve the Mennonites.

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The Mennonite culture emphasizes hard work, a simple life, and strict adherence to its

religious beliefs. Unlike their Amish cousins, Mennonites embrace the use of technology

when it improves their productivity, and they dress in plain, functional clothing. Most

men wear short-sleeve cotton shirts and khaki pants or jeans; women usually wear dresses

to church and pants on the farm. Most marry within the community, while those who

marry non-Mennonites tend to leave the colony. As a result, offspring tend to look

Germanic than Hispanic, indigenous, or mixed. It is common to see someone with blond

hair and blue eyes walking around Filadelfia. Mennonites also prefer to speak

Plattdeutsch, an old variant of Low German, to Spanish or Guarani, Paraguay’s official

languages. It’s easy for those who visit the Chaco to see the cultural divide between the

Mennonites and non-Mennonites. While many indigenous and Brasiguayos, or Brazilian

migrants living in Paraguay, work with the Mennonites on the estancias, they tend to live

separately. Mennonites and other groups seem to frequent restaurants, stores, and services

that caters to one or the other. Mennonite activities tend to focus on the church, while

non-Mennonites enjoy pastimes such as soccer (fútbol) and public gatherings such as

barbeques (asados). This tendency is reinforced more by tradition and preference than

overt discrimination.

A visit to the Chaco is worth the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Mennonite culture

set against a backdrop of the “Wild West” of South America. It’s a remarkable journey

back in time to a simpler age.

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Special thanks to Juliette Wade for hosting the original post on her blog,

TalkToYoUniverse as part of the Writers’ International Cultural Share. I’m grateful to

have had the opportunity to participate in this great forum where writers can share their

cultural experiences and insights from around the world.

Juliette is a fiction writer with several published works, including the short story, "Let the

Word Take Me," appearing in the July/August 2008 issue of Analog Magazine. Her

novelette, "Cold Words," appeared in the same magazine in October 2009. In October

2009, she achieved one of her major goals by signing with The Grayson Agency. "The

Eminence's Match" has since appeared in the Eight Against Reality anthology (July

2010). A novelette entitled, "At Cross Purposes" led the January/February 2011 issue of

Analog, with cover art by Bob Eggleton. Originally from the Monterey Bay area of

California, Juliette holds a Ph.D in Education and has lived in Japan three times, where

she met her Australian husband. She has also taught the Japanese language. Visit her blog

to learn more about her stories.

M.G. Edwards is a writer of books and stories in the mystery,

thriller and science fiction-fantasy genres. He also writes travel

adventures. He is author of Kilimanjaro: One Man’s Quest to Go

Over the Hill, a non-fiction account of his attempt to summit

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain and a collection of

short stories called Real Dreams: Thirty Years of Short Stories.

His books are available as an e-book and in print on Amazon.com

and other booksellers. He lives in Bangkok, Thailand with his wife

Jing and son Alex.

For more books or stories by M.G. Edwards, visit his web site at

www.mgedwards.com or his blog, World Adventurers. Contact him at

me@mgedwards.com, on Facebook, on Google+, or @m_g_edwards on Twitter.

© 2012 Brilliance Press. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or

transmitted without the written consent of the author.