"Once upon a time in South America, when the borders between countries had not yet been clearly defined, there was a war which is hardly mentioned in history books." "A war in which the Empire of Brazil and the nascent republics of Argentina and Uruguay formed an alliance to fight the republic of Paraguay." "There was a soldier who painted that war..." "Last night I had a dream..." "Today, all of us... were drinking mate, waiting for the moment" "We are all going to die..." "And I, Oolonel, said Oharlone will die 100 yards in front of you." "Will die 100 yards in front of you." "That was his privilege, to die ahead of his superior." "And so it was." "And Luis María Oampos, a short man, a lieutenant." ""You, 'little man', will be" "And so it was." "That morning" "Oándido López was wounded..." "by shrapnel, on his right hand." "He bandaged it... it still bled." "An assistant came to help him and got killed." "He was very exposed so he was dragged off, to safety." "Solano Lopez didn't deserve what his people did for him." "Solano Lopez was a traitor." "In every sense." "In the jungle, he shouted:" ""I die with my country"" "That was absolutely true:" "He had killed the Paraguayan people with his insanity." "This is a fact." "This is the battle of Boqueron." "The largest of all his battle paintings." "One day we'll go there." "I felt as if a ghost were spying on me." "I turned around and saw José Luis." "I was scared." "José Luis looked at me and said: "Excuse me"." "Is that Oándido López?" "He said:" "I want to do something on Oándido López." "I'm trying to find someone who could help me." "You've found him, that's me." "Are you familiar with Oándido López?" ""I'm his grandson"." "He couldn't believe it!" "I met Adolfo López in a printing store... discussing the reproduction of the color in the photos I had taken." "Adolfo is writing a book on his grandfather and, before finishing it he plans to go to the places he visited... during the Triple Alliance's Oampaign against Paraguay." "They should have used color here." "At least for the Paraná River, which is a landmark." "A battle took place on this island." "Some of the landscapes are a few hours away from Buenos Aires and others in a forgotten country in the heart of South America." "Far from the sea." "I see, the four flags, nice, good idea." "Haven't you noticed that I can come up with odd ideas?" "Oirilo Batalla Hermosa is a Paraguayan friend of Adolfo's." "An admirer of the work of Oándido López... who knows the places he sketched as a soldier, during the campaign." "Your grandfather was there." " Yes... and we made it to Ourupayti" " Of course." "Where he concludes the wars ...and his paintings" "The paintings also end there." "They had planned on making a trip together, to see the battlefields where their grandfathers had clashed." "But a few days before departing, he felt sick and decided to stay." "I was now obsessed with finding the exact places he had painted." "THE BATTLEFIELDS" "Oándido López volunteered for the Argentine army in the San Nicolás National Guard." "He could read and write so he was appointed 1st Lieutenant and was given a squad." "But he didn't know how to fire a weapon... so he preferred the rank of 2nd Lieutenant." ""You are here"" "In June 1865, the first allied troops... marched towards the Argentine province of Oorrientes." "I started painting in Rosario." "Painting cars was bad for me." "So I had to give up painting and started working in construction." "Hey, Batalla!" " I thought you didn't recognize me." " No way!" "Mr. Ocampo was the first person I met who showed me where the first battle had been." "A writer friend of Batalla who lost his sight as child in an accident." "Batalla explained the paintings of Oándido López to him in detail." ""Historical site:" "Yatay." "Victory of the Allies over the invaders in the Paraguayan War." "August 17, 1865."" "Most people didn't want to go to war with the Paraguayans." "They were called "brothers" after all." "The site where Ocampo took us... had nothing to do with the cliffs in the painting of the Battle of Yatay where the allied armies of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay... fought against Paraguay." "We should start looking for the large common grave." "There, they buried, dumped, rather, the bodies of many Paraguayans." "The second person Oirilo introduced to us was Don Eugenio Oolunga... a descendant of a Paraguayan soldier killed in battle." "They came and we heard them... they rode their horses with all their gear." "They made a lot of noise." "We went outside..." "There was no one there!" "All the Paraguayans were dead..." "Like my mother says." "They come... to visit the other dead." "Alejandra, his daughter and her husband Fabián Leguiza... took us to the hills from where the painting was sketched." "At first, I didn't care much for the reasons or goals of the war." "Nor for its consequences." "In the province of Oorrientes this was not a national war... rather a civil war." "Society in Oorrientes was fractured." "Historically, the allies had always been the Paraguayans... and the enemy, the Brazilian Empire and the port of Buenos Aires." "It didn't make sense to join them in a fight against our friends." "And there were the troops." "Fascinated, I followed, the trail of the painter..." "Oándido López, the one handed man from Ourupayti" ""Welcome to Brazil"" "These are the native trees." "And these banks here, with mud... are a clear sign that water rises and falls." "This stream was narrower, smaller?" "Yes, it falls in summer." "This was 150 years ago." "They go into the forest looking for lianas." "All his paintings are seen from a high vantage point... from where you can see many actions at the same time." "All men are equally small when set against nature." "Today, a Brazilian camp stands where the Argentine camp at Uruguayana was." "The soldiers came from this way, from the back." "Oarlos Fonttes, a retired colonel came to see what we were doing." "Came to see what we were doing." "He insisted we should visit the city's museum... which has a sword that belonged to Pedro II." "A poet, philosopher, a scientist... and the Emperor of Brazil in times of war." "If he hadn't had that ambition... he was educated in France." "When France already had Napoleonic ideas... of the Empire, of domination." "When he died on the Aquidaban river... his carriage had a cape and a crown." "This confirms that he'd wanted to be an emperor... and unite the Latin American people." "He'd had the intention of forming a government... and he had the crown and the cape." "At times, I felt lost with the language." "It seemed that Fonttes was talking about the Brazilian emperor... but he was talking about Francisco Solano López the "other" López..." "the Paraguayan president." "Paraguay was one of the most modern countries in America." "It had a foundry..." "Brazil didn't have foundries then." "When I was a child, the street we lived on was named after him." "I asked my father, who was annoyed at the change, who this López was." "He said if he hadn't been stopped in time..." "Buenos Aires would have ended up being the capital of Paraguay." "There was conflict in Paraguay, with the people of Spanish origin." "They had all the money." "They had land... and the government began taking land from them to help the poor." "So they got angry, sold their lands and moved to Buenos Aires." "Later, they would form a Legion, the Paraguayan Legion." "Solano López never did invade Buenos Aires... but some of the Paraguayans living there wanted to overthrow him... and they also joined the allied army." "This is the trench... and this is the street we are going down." "The trench is the avenue we are going down." "The city to the left..." "And to the right, the Allies besieging." ""The Surrender of Uruguayana" September 18, 1865." "One of the figures in the background is Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil." "He came from Río de Janeiro with his army... which consisted mainly of black slaves to see the Paraguayan troops, which had taken the city, surrender." "The reference for finding the original vantage point... could have been the old cemetery." "But now there is an abandoned factory and slums." "...for a documentary to be screened in Buenos Aires." "When this bridge was inaugurated there was a phrase on it:" ""Everything unites us, nothing separates us"." ""Everything unites us, nothing separates us"." "And this is it, right?" "At this cornerstone." "No, that's new." "It is not old, it's new." ""Argentine Oamp at Uruguayana." "Brazilian Empire."" "If the Paraguayan people see Francisco Solano López as a hero... that's their problem, making a hero out of him." "I write about history from a scientific, non political, point of view." "Why distort the facts?" "It was war, genocide." "Was there ever war without genocide?" "Did some commanders get carried away?" "Yes, sure." "Late in September the Allies returned to Argentine territory... chasing after what was left of the Paraguayan army... which was marching towards the River Plate." "The first Oorps of the Argentine Army... crossed the Oorrientes river on November 5, 1865." "They even crossed in carts to get to the other side." "Those who died in combat abandoned their things... or buried their belongings before dying." "And this is the machine." "We spend time searching with this." "It's a hobby." "We are also interested in Archaeology, things that... have a cultural value, we may even find valuable things for ourselves." "Some say you shouldn't meddle with tombs." "That it'll call up snakes, headless pigs and cows." "That's nonsense, myths." "Here in Oorrientes there are many stupid myths." "I've seen a guy digging up a mud keg full of pounds sterling." "You could even see the marks the pounds had left inside." "Those flattened against the walls, were round." "They had a white circle." "Some were like a moon, in the first quarter." "On November 12, a mass was held at the bank of the Batel river." "General Bartolomé Mitre..." "President of Argentina and commander of the Allied Forces... asks to see the soldier who'd sketched the troop's movements." "Oándido López went to see him, feeling anxious." "Mitre congratulated him for his work and urged him to carry on with it predicting that some day it would attest to history." "And Mitre said that he would be in Asuncion, in three months." "These were the huts of the Paraguayan soldiers." "They were burnt down." "These crosses where placed by the Paraguayans burying their dead." "On December 11, the Argentine column camps at the town of Empedrado." "On the bank of the Paraná river." "The river must have been lower, look at the beach." "We must find a sandbank." "This house was here at the time of the Paraguayan War." "How were these houses built?" "This is a quebracho wood post." "The hardwood that brought the English to Empedrado." "They came to extract the tannin from the quebracho which they used to tan leather." "I begin to feel it's ridiculous to make this trip without Adolfo..." "Oándido López' grandson." " Is this the way to Pexoa bridge?" " No, wrong way." " Which way is it?" " Past the booth." "On Ohristmas Eve, the allies were crossing the Riachuelo... close to the Pexoa Bridge." "After a 7 month campaign, the troops are exhausted of crossing rivers." " What setting should we use?" " 250, 16." "Decimated more by cholera than by the receding enemy." "Is it deep?" "Well done, Oolo!" "Now read it from in there!" "Before going to war..." "Oándido López traveled through the province of Buenos Aires... making oil portraits." "He joined a Frenchman to make daguerreotypes as well." "But with the new technology he lost more and more money each year." "In one of the towns, he met Emilia Magallanes." "The daughter of a landlord who was later to betroth another landlord." "His art teachers encouraged him to perfect his skills as a landscapist." "But without enough money he started to travel through Argentina." "What makes us Oorrentinos more Argentine than the Paraguayans?" "In fact we are more Paraguayans than Argentine." "We were founded by Paraguayans." "For three centuries we've believed to be Asunción's beloved offspring... and our relationship with Argentina goes back to 1861... in other words, only 140 years." "What is it that makes us more Argentine than Paraguayan?" "Pf all the cities founded downriver by creoles born in Asunción, Paraguay none other grew as much as the port of Buenos Aires." "Negotiating any type of good that was produced in England..." "And charging for all the merchandise that came from upriver" "The conflict erupted when on April 13, 1865... the Paraguayans captured two Argentine navy ships... at the port of Oorrientes." "The next day they occupied the city backed by part of the population... and they kidnapped the wives of the military leaders of the province." "The outraged "porteños" (Buenos Aires citizens)" "Responded to the call of President Mitre... who said from his balcony they'd be marching in a week... and they'd be in Asunción del Paraguay three months later." "This was taken by the Paraguayans during the invasion... and then the allies brought it back." "This painting evokes the death of Toribia de los Santos de Sosa." "She's the only one who dies of cholera." "There you can see all the captive women... even the children, Oarmencita and Manuel." "By the end of the war... the other captive women and children returned to Oorrientes... and thousands of "correntinos" crossed the river in the opposite direction... moving to Paraguay." "...from any country married the Paraguayan women left..." "And why did this happen?" "Because all the Paraguayan men died." " Oorrect, all the men died." "...and they benefited from that law." ""The people of Oorrientes to Mitre." "The road to victory and nationality"." "Did you just follow the book to get here?" "It is our guide." "Don't expect to find the coast like it was 100 years ago." "We're not that far in time..." "Do you know any forest like this one?" "Probably the natives do, not me, I'm from civilization." "Unfortunately, I wasn't born here" " Were there more woods then?" " Yes, many more." "They cut everything down." " How old is this tree?" " 150 years old." " How many?" " 150." "They grow slowly." "There probably is a bullet inside it." "This looks somewhat like the algarrobo, but smaller..." "Oirilo took us to the beach that gives name to the painting." "In autumn 1866 the Paraguayan army had been expelled from Argentina and the allies get ready to invade Paraguay." "This is Estero Bellaco." "No, I don't understand Guaraní." "They say they lived at Estero Bellaco." "This is Ourupayti." "How do you pronounce it?" "You can see it clearly." "The colors of the stone are vivid." "What we know is what we studied." "What we know it is that the Paraguayans invaded us." "What do you know?" "This is what you've been taught." "And what were you taught?" " It didn't happen like that." " How did it happen then?" "For instance, Mariscal López went to back Uruguay." "There was a misunderstanding and that's how this war started." "Once the Paraguayan defense posts on the coast... were bombarded by the Brazilian Imperial fleet... the allies marched up to Paso de Patria..." "This is from Italy..." "Spain." "At Paso de Patria... we stayed at an inn owned by Laureano Ruiz and his wife..." "Oándida." "Then much later..." "Longino and Odina are professors, two friends of Oirilo Batalla." "I studied in this building..." "Don't get emotional." "What did you study there?" "I went to elementary school in this building." "The old telegraph office, the former barracks of Mariscal López were turned into a school, but it no longer exists." "Very few things were left." "They took everything, pillagers." " Show me the other painting." " Which one?" "The hospital." "She teaches crafts." "Ms. Ocampo." "The second painting Oándido López sketched... at Paso de Patria three months later... has some elements of the former." "A small chapel and two tall trees that are no longer there." "The place is now the hospital of the Allied Army." "This is the battle of Tuyuti." "His father was older than me and my brother..." "You never wear shoes?" "I don't understand." " I'm OK barefoot, I'm all right." " He doesn't need shoes." "No, just barefoot, with these spurs." "Paso de Patria is at the southern top of Estero Bellaco... a swamp with very few transitable paths." "...you can't walk in the mud..." "The troops came out from this road." "It was the only road." "In the winter of 1866, over 20 square km." "Of marshes... five battles took place which defined the course of the war." " José María Burgués." " Brugués." " General José María Burgués." "Only the chest and the head are left." "This looks like the beard..." "This is how war monuments are looked after." "Front line episode at Estero Bellaco." "May 2, 1866." "7.000 died and 14.000 were left wounded." "That is why Paraguay was weak after that." " Where could this mountain be?" " That dates to those days!" "Paso de Patria was the allied headquarters for months... and it will also be ours for a few days." "Horse, horse..." "As long as it doesn't have a saddle it's OK." "This one is complete." "It was cut to break it into change." " What country was this from?" " Bolivia." " Who used these?" " Everyone in America." "The Paraguayan officers were dressed by France." "There you see..." "Paris." "Some people in Paraguay were very rich." "We were pillaged after the war." "They took everything away." "They took gold, clothing." "According to history, the war wasn't against Paraguay." "It was against the tyrant, Francisco Solano López." "Tuyuti." "May 24." "Battalions four and six start the battle." "The battle started at 10 am." "According to history six or seven thousand died here." "At this place." "At this very place, a blood bath... of those people who fought for some cause... and the blood reached the Estero Bellaco... from where people drank water and this led to cholera." "This is where the cholera started." "And where that hill is, with the animals, that was..." "They met there." "Our Mariscal López offered Mitre a cigar." "And Mitre said:" "I never smoke the cigars of an enemy." "In the mean time, Osorio, the Brazilian... stayed at Estero Bellaco." " He didn't go." " No, he didn't." "The Triple Alliance agreed that the treaty... required the three parties to decide." "They would never reach an agreement without the three parties." "If one was missing, the treaty could not be signed." "A secret clause in the Treaty... also stipulated that none of the armies could abandon the war... until the Paraguayan President was overthrown." "You have to study." "And get good grades and study mathematics." "Maths is what runs the world." "Maths or economy?" "Maths." "Economy is based on mathematics..." "I don't know his nationality." "I know he made the plans..." "Derlis Pérez is a topographer... working on the construction of a dam at Paso de Patria... affected by the floods of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers." "...with the UTN coordinates... and it matches the plans of the Military Geographic Institute exactly." "A bullet." " This is a bullet?" " Yes." "There are many bullets." "The water from rivers and marshes continually moves the soil... uncovering weapons and other objects from the war times." "Or small treasures the people buried when abandoning their homes... to avoid the abuse by the invading army." "But most, never came back." "My grandmother was from the times of the 70's war." "She told me about the horses marching, she meant the Brazilians." "The cambas marched across the fields like ravens." "We would charge on them, and then attack them with lances." "The teeth... white, she said." "In his backyard, old man Avalos keeps on digging... hoping one day he'll find something." "He says:" "Let's go this way." "Each night in her dreams, Doña Aureliana... waits for the man who will lead her to the treasure." "He'd tried to wake me up, but I wouldn't." "The treasure here, this one... and you could see all the shiny things he was showing me." "This is gold for you, only for you." "Don't bring anyone with you." "We would chat." " The teacher thinks we're up to no good." " I don't know." "She thinks we are doing something to benefit the Argentine." "That's why you said:" "Better go to school?" "This is the bombarding by the allied troops... at this town." "And this image is on the Battle of Estero Bellaco." "The first books had more information." "But the new books, with this "reform", don't have much information." "What happened at Ourupayti?" "Does anyone know what happened at Ourupayti?" "There was a battle in which the Paraguayan Army was victorious." "Who was Mariscal Francisco Solano López?" "He was the president of the republic... and he was in charge of the Paraguayan army then." " Who told you?" " My grandfather and my grandmother." "So if he gave in he'd have to leave the country." "That's why he didn't." "The only good thing about him... is that he died for his country, his flag." "He died for his country or with his country?" "Not with this country." "Paraguay kept a piece of him." "Am I right or not?" "For his country but not with his country." "But he said:" "I die with my country." "For my country." "With my country." "So if he died with his country... what nationality would we have here?" "When Oándida finished dying Laureano's hair... it was Oapullo's turn... the bogus Dalmatian Oarlitos invented... after seeing the Walt Disney movie." "Laureano looks like an extraterrestrial." "Nobody knows who founded Paso de Patria." " No?" " Nobody knows." "All the other towns have a history." "This one, apparently, doesn't have one." "If you look for it you might find its history, maybe." "Tony Pollard is a British archaeologist." "A specialist on battlefields." "He's studying sites in different parts of the world for a TV show." "This is not a fox." " Isn't it?" " No, it's not." " No, it's like that animal..." " Aguaraguazú... that laughs..." "It is somebody's spirit." " It is a fox." " It's too tall to be a fox." "It's very pretty." "Next morning we left for the Ourupayti trenches." "The last site where Oándido López made sketches and fought." "The last site where Oándido López made sketches and fought." "All wars in history have had or have some economic motive." "Paraguay after the government of Dr. Francia... he was in office for about 40 years... he left the state a huge fortune." "This was one of the richest countries in South America." "The first locomotive in South America was assembled in Paraguay." "The first foundry was at lbicuy" "There, they started making agricultural tools." "Plows, spades, machetes." "England exported all these tools... and Paraguay was starting to overshadow the English products." "That didn't make sense to them, coming from such a small country." "Derlis Pérez arranged for us to stay at the ranch of Don Attis... close to the trenches." "I don't think the Argentine betrayed us." "If you read the history of the Argentine gauchos... they were against this war." "Nobody wanted this..." "Mariscal López told General Mitre..." "We are brothers with the Argentines, we don't want this..." "Just leave us the Brazilians." "Only the Brazilians, and you can leave." "We can easily beat the Brazilians." "Don't get involved in this war, he said." " Just leave us the Brazilians." " And we'll take care of them." "At the time, Paraguay exported a lot to the English... and the English didn't want that type of trade." "They wanted to sell tools, weapons and other things, very expensive... and take Paraguayan goods at very cheap prices." "But the Paraguayans didn't accept this." "Oarlos Antonio López said:" ""No, if you want what I have... bring me the money, and I'll sell it to you"." "But what you want to sell me, I can produce here." "And that was an insult to the English." "This is the bombing at Ourupayti." "Seen probably from this spot." "The first line of trenches." "And the second strong line of trenches at the back." "They reinforced these trenches." "This must be the assault on the third Argentine column at Ourupayti." "Oándido López was marching with this column." "Allegedly this could be him, lying down." "He drew himself lying by a trunk." "Oonvalescing from his hand wound." "But seen this way." "The trench from the Paraguayan side." "This would be seen from..." "probably from here." "The paintings of Oándido López on the assault on Ourupayti... are sequenced as a cinematographic story." "A technique that was more developed than painting and photography in a chronicle of reality." "8... 9... 10..." "and after the battle... 11." "...there is too much vegetation." "Our first objective for the following morning was to locate the place where the "Río de Janeiro" was sunk." "It was a battleship built in England which was part of the Brazilian Imperial Fleet." "This must have been the sunken ship." "This is where we are now." "This is the river where the Río de Janeiro is." "What part would this be?" "This must be the turret." "The turret, the highest part." "The turret was... the water level must have been higher than this." "Possibly at the level where we are standing now." "This is in the middle of the ship so it must be over there, over here." "Must be about 40 meters." "The sinking of the best battleship in the lmperial Fleet... was a bad omen for the allies... determined on advancing towards Ourupayti." "So were the heavy rains that delayed the attack... and allowed the Paraguayans to reinforce their trenches." "At 7 am the Brazilian fleet moved in on Ourupayti." "The Brazilian commander said in two hours... they would destroy the Ourupayti trench." "The war plan was, once the bombing was over... the Argentine and Brazilian armies would advance... but they made such a big mistake... that they didn't destroy a single stretch of the Ourupayti trench." " Why?" " They didn't know the outline" "You see these round trees shown in his paintings." "You only find these trees in this area." "Early on September 22 the Argentine officers were drinking mate... waiting for the moment." "At midday the lmperial Fleet signaled... that the Paraguayan trench had been completely destroyed." "All these weeds were not there at the time." "The horns and drums of all companies repeated the order... and the attack was launched." "Oándido López marches with the third Argentine column." "I found the snake's food." "It is a typical fruit emoirembiu." "For those who don't know these places, it's a yellow fruit." "Oan we get through?" "Unfortunately we can't because it is under water now." "It is flooded and we can't get through." "The Brazilian stopped bombarding... because they thought the Paraguayans were all dead." "They fired over 5000 cannonballs." "They could only see smoke." "The Paraguayan general ordered to stop fire." "To allow the enemy to get closer." "Some 10 meters." "Each should pick his own target." "Make sure each bullet found its target." "The Allied Forces officers wore their ceremonious uniforms... and were picked up by the Paraguayan snipers." "Their inclination towards fancy dressing proved to be fatal." "Thousands of allied soldiers clashed against a firing squad." "The Viscount of Tamandaré, Oommander of the lmperial Fleet... couldn't identify the ship that had begun the suicidal attack... and was discharged by the Emperor." "Oándido López is wounded on his right hand... when he tried to pass the front line of the trenches." ""Battle of Ourupayti." "To the soldiers of Ourupayti worthy sons of the Steel Marshall."" "The Paraguayan defense line was unbreakable and suffered few losses." "It was their biggest and last victory." "Before sundown Mitre ordered the retreat of the allied forces." "Only the last painting is missing." "The only one the painter never saw with his own eyes." "The one after the battle... when the Paraguayan troops took allied prisoners... and took from the dead their weapons, clothes... the pounds sterling they had just been paid with... and the biscuits they carried for lunch." "The siege by the allied forces and the duration of the war were depleting the stock of food and medicine." "Oándido López manages to return to the Argentine camp, wounded." "There, his right hand is amputated." "The doctor responsible, feels he has ended the painter's career." "Brazil wins a World Oup and the Paraguayans they will celebrate it more than the Brazilians." "They love them more." "But if Argentina plays..." "Let me say this, no offense meant." "Let me say this, no offense meant." "The concept we Paraguayans have... not of the Argentines, but of the porteños... who are very conceited and have always looked down on us..." "The gangrene progresses and back in Buenos Aires... they have to amputate Oándido López' right arm." "Once we have finished the tour marked by the paintings... part of the crew went back to Buenos Aires to work on other projects." "Marcelo, the cameraman, left me his camera." "Oirilo Batalla stayed at Humayta, the town where he was born." "When I first bought this, I came here and I almost fell on my back." "Allegedly, they found a treasure here." "There, I keep a sort of museum." "I have put away the most important pieces." "This is grapeshot." "It had a wire mesh and a cover." "When fired from the cannon, it spread like a shotgun." "It was grapeshot that destroyed his right hand." "He started to train his left hand..." "A year later he sent the doctor he'd seen after the battle... his first painting with his left hand." "He then began to turn the sketches made during the campaign, into oils." "This is another house." "You can see the foundations here, the bedroom, the floor." "And this is how it looked after the war." "This was probably a bedroom." "Here was another wall." "My great grandfather came from Buenos Aires... to Oorrientes, my grandfather was born there... and came to Paraguay after the war." "He married Mercedes Hermosa." "She was in the war." "She was very young when the war ended." "She was the sister of Oolonel Hermosa she came from Humayta." "And they returned to Humayta, from Oerro Oorá." "After the five years the war lasted" "She told me about the war." "She was old then, about 80." "And she would tell me, when I was small." "They were rich then, and they lost everything because of the war." "We had many animals, ranches... we had houses and we lost everything in the war." "We had to start all over again." "She told me about that." "Document signed by General Oámara on the murder of Mariscal López." "I don't understand it, I think it's in Portuguese." "Five ships were continually bombarding here." "Some hit the church." "The Paraguayans were playing music so the Allied Forces thought... that they were celebrating the birthday of the Mariscal." "They played music to cover the sounds." "The sounds of oars, of boats." "The next day the Brazilian commander was intrigued by the lack of noise." "He sent soldiers to investigate." "He found they had all left at night." "I never really heard the stories Batalla had to tell." "An image is worth a thousand words." "Oome back soon, and say hi to the porteños for me." "But I once read that the right word at the precise moment... is worth more than a thousand images." "He recommended I take a bus to Pilar and visit the Oontreras." "A family of biologists from Oorrientes... living in Paraguay for many years now... who own the biggest library in the area." "...I don't know what they are here for..." "Oelebrities like Richard Burton... the famous English explorer who found the basin of the River Nile who was here as a journalist and overseer." "There are pictures of him as an old man." "His face scarred by attacks in Africa." "It is tough for the Argentines, because Burton had said that... he saw, at the Argentine presidential residence... furniture pillaged from the presidential palace at Asunción." "There were some 2000 Englishmen working here." "Paraguay brought many foreigners of all professions to teach... and the country wanted to be self sufficient, so much so..." "While Paraguay attempted its own independent development... isolated from the civil war in the River Plate United Provinces..." "Argentina still did not exist as a republic." "Three years before the war broke out... the confederation, centered in Paraná... agrees on a new Oonstitution with the porteños... establishing Buenos Aires as the new capital." "Six months after Bartolomé Mitre takes office as the first president... of Argentina, Venancio Flores, one of his former generals... travels to Uruguay to bring down the two year old government." "The Brazilian Imperial fleet supports Flores and attacks Paysandu... defended by generals, loyal to democratic authorities... who were shot after they surrendered." "On the brink of being overthrown... the Uruguayan government requests through diplomatic channels... the intervention of Paraguay... the last guarantor, in the Plate Basin Free Navigation Treaty." "But when Solano López challenges Mitre and marches on the province of Oorrientes the Triple Alliance had already been formed... and the war on the invading tyrant was the perfect excuse... as a right of passage for the Argentine army." "Once they recovered from the defeat at Ourupayti... and fueled by foreign credit for purchasing equipment... the armies of the Brazilian Empire and the Argentine Republic continue their march on Paraguayan soil." "Under occupation, all people leaders lose their capacity to mobilize the people." "If the people are mobilized, it has to be strongly popular as was depicted by Goya... during the Spanish rebellion against French occupation..." "Far from that expressed by Oándido López." "There were so many Argentine landowners in Paraguay... that there was an association of of Argentine Landowners in Paraguay." "In 1912, with Estanislao Zeballos, among others..." "With Drago, who's related to the Mitres they publish a map of Paraguay to try and recover... their rights as landowners." "Up to here." "This part of Paraguay." "In red you can see the plots... owned by Argentines in the Paraguayan Ohaco." "Frankenheim, Oook and Lumb, Nelson, Eloy Palacios, Bouvier." "The Bouvier family also owns land in Formosa." "The French Bank, Oasado S.A." "The best land was on this strip here." "The ports where tannin was produced were here... an important export generating such fortunes as those of the Oasado and Pinasco families." "Devoto, Villa Devoto belongs to old porteño families." "Three quarters of the Paraguayan Ohaco belong to Argentine investments." "This is one of the results of the war." "But let's be clear:" "The war didn't happen because of this." "This happened later." "Years after the war Oándido Lopez bumped into Emilia Magallanes... the daughter of a landowner he had met before going to war." "Her husband had died due to the yellow fever... and she was alone, with her daughter, Sara." "Hello." "Which is the way to lbicuy?" "Straight that way, where it says Oerro lbicuy." "Is it a paved road?" "Only part of it." "Do I have to turn here?" "Right on the curve, where it says "La Morocha"" "Oándido and Emilia get married three months later... on September 22" "Anniversary of the Battle of Ourupayti." "The war would stay with Oándido López until the end of his life." "I felt I had to continue the trip until the end of the war." "This was a train carriage" "We can tell from this rivet it was from that time." "It was built before the war." "The water was held in a dam upriver..." "Alejandra Peña is a museum expert who took part in the... reconstruction of the ruins of the lbicuy foundry... based on plans from those days." "...and it drove a huge bellows in this place." "And that heated the hopper..." "And this ramp?" "The ramp served to bring the fuel for the hopper." "This material is all original." "Some of these tiles were brought from England made from heat resistant material." "Then they discovered they had good materials here... to produce tiles of similar quality locally." "Some of the tiles we see in the hopper were made here." "Paraguay had no foreign debt... and was not indebted to England." "Paraguay hired English technicians, paid them in cash." "There was no loan, no future debts." "The Ohristian Oannon was one of the last pieces melted at lbicuy... built with the bronze of bells taken from the churches... during the allied siege... prevented the arrival of weapons to reinforce the Paraguayan defenses." "This here was a strange place." "Imagine the economic potential this place... could offer, even to its new owners... those taking over this place." "However, the first thing they did here, was destroy the place." "They put sand in the main wheel... and they made it turn with sand to ruin it." "On January 1st, 1869, almost four years after the war started... the allies arrived on the outskirts of Asunción." "The city was empty." "The capital had been moved, given the enemy's imminent attack." "Furniture, clothes, jewelry, drapery, family belongings... cemetery crosses, Ohrists torn from churches... everything, pillaged by the Brazilian troops who entered the city." "They only left the small treasures people had buried... before abandoning their homes." "When we were about to leave, that's when the accident occurred." "The soil gave away and it fell on top of us... and we fell into the hole." "My partner was completely covered by it... and I was up to here." "My partner and me asked for help... and the owner of the house called the firefighters." "When they arrived at the hole my partner could still speak." " You were getting close." " Yes." "How do you know?" "The closer you get, the stronger the signal." "Out of necessity, ambition or the dream of finding a treasure... still more victims are added to a war that ended over 100 years ago." "Oándido and Emilia left the city and move to the country with their six children." "Adolfo told me that his father told him... that Oándido spent all day painting war paintings in his workshop." "His children were not allowed in and spied through the door." "Any questions?" "I am shocked to find there were children fighting." "Yes, they were 8, 9, 10, 12 year olds... wearing false beards and, as they had no muskets, lances... they made their own with knifes tied to poles... to fight the enemy." "How could he have sketched a battle... where the enemy soldiers were children?" "In that flat land, the Oount D'Eu ordered the field to be burnt... and all children that were still alive there, died." "Between the Yuquiri stream and the Peribebuí..." "President Oirilo Antonio Rivarola had a cross put there." " Paying homage to the children..." " Paying homage to the Brazilian." "How come, the Brazilian?" "He put it in honour of the Brazilian." "He was the first Paraguayan president during the occupation." "This was in 1869." "He was Paraguayan, did he live here?" "He was Paraguayan, but he came here with a Paraguayan Legion." "The Paraguayan Legion..." "Oándido López and his family live in extreme poverty." "But the one armed man from Ourupayti is only willing to sell his paintings... to the Argentine State... as a testimony to history." "40 and the three-roomed, 60..." "It's a deal." "Elisa Lynch was an Irish woman... who Solano López met at the Oourt of Napoleon III... and who'd be the mother of four of his children." "Sian Rees is an English writer who wrote a novel based on her own life." ""Former fighters of the 70's."" "My great grandfather... fought in the big war." "I remember once a French woman came here." "But also... the people and the authorities... of the town don't want it to be known." "Why not?" "They don't want people to find out what happened at Peribebui." "The time he came to see me the local military officer... and the authorities of Don Alicio." "You know too well the history of the war of the 70's." "I have some books... written in Spain, after the war... and some books on the contemporary history of Paraguay." "When visitors come, it's best not to tell them anything." "There is no point in telling people." "Then they never get it right, they say too much, too little." "Then it's better not to tell." "Peribebui was defended by women... who accompanied the Paraguayan army... their husbands and their sons." "Those who planted the fields in the frontline who cooked for the soldiers... and took up their weapons as they began to disappear." "In 1885 Oándido López first exhibits the 29 paintings... he had completed on the war." "The reviews were cruel:" "Not bad for someone with one hand." "If you see them from a distance you don't see the defects so much." "Why did he paint the soil red?" "Because in Paraguay the soil is red." "Some of the scenes he painted more than once." "First from a wide angle lens perspective... getting closer to his subjects." "Some years later, from a more distant point of view." ""Ship built in England, the Ranger, 120 tons."" "If Paraguay hadn't tried to be self sufficient... perhaps there would not have even been a war." "That's the statue of the Mariscal." "Why is it lying there?" "It is too heavy for me." "Olose to the end the Mariscal had some of his closest men shot... any suspicion was enough, they were unfairly accused... those who fought great battles... those who still supported him although they were doomed nonetheless." "Those who formed convoys where his own mother and sisters... were carried in cages, accused of wanting to betray him." "Even his own brother, who fell on the road... and starved to death, like many others during the war." "...they asked him to surrender." "And my dad told me that Panchito López said he'd rather die than surrender." "Would you have surrendered?" "Yes..." "I mean, no." "Why not?" "Because Paraguayans must never surrender." " We are cutting timber for Argentina." " For export." "The owner is Brazilian." "The owner of the lumber yard?" "That's him." "He will charge you for the interview." "There isn't much." "Some Ourupai." "It's tough with wood now." "There isn't much left." "Finally the Argentine State... bought the paintings on the Paraguayan campaign... to exhibit them in the War Ministry." "They were then kept in the vaults of the National History Museum." "The pay was enough for him... to buy a house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires... where he moved with his wife and 12 children." "The people look like ghosts." "Yes, they look like souls, lying there." "Oándido López set up his workshop at the invalids' barracks where he will paint his last paintings." "Hello." "Where is the Hotel de Turismo?" "Pedro Juan Oaballero, free port, the Brazilian border." "Our last stop before Oerro Oorá... the place where the allies finally caught up with López... and his phantasmagoric caravan." "Here, the land in the middle is no man's land." "Paraguay is on the right hand" "Brazil, on the left." "Who fought on the frontline?" "In Brazil the warriors were black men, the natives, slaves... specially the slaves... and the truth is that it wasn't their country." "They didn't have a reason to fight." "They went to war hoping to get land for themselves after the war." "There was a promise for those going to war." "The Emperor had promised they would be freed and be given land." "So they were not fighting against a country." "They were fighting for their own interests." "What happened to the Paraguayan people is very different." "They really loved their land." "They worked the land, they had their own land." "And their government, from the beginning... helped them to work their land." "If people were to talk from their hearts... they would say that the war was a national shame." "Three countries joined forces... to destroy a small country." "If it hadn't been destroyed by the Triple Alliance... nowadays, it would be financing Latin America..." "María Estela Rocha and María Aparecida de Almeida... are teachers from Ponta Porá... who decided to use, during their classes different history manuals from those used normally." "This is where the Mariscal died... on the shore of the Aquidaban mini stream." "The death of the Mariscal put an end to the Triple Alliance war..." "Paraguay against three countries:" "Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay." "That war started on 1865... and it ended here at Oerro Oorá on March 1st, 1870." "This is where Mariscal López was asked to surrender... by Oolonel Oámara, the commander of the Brazilian Army." "He didn't want to surrender, and they had to kill him." "Here, he pronounced his famous phrase: "I die with my country"." "After killing him... the Brazilian soldiers flung themselves on the Mariscal's body cutting his ears, his fingers, mutilating him... before returning him to his companion throughout the entire war..." "Elisa Lynch." "Nobody really knows why the Mariscal chose to hide in these parts." "Nobody knows exactly why." "There are several theories." "During the five year war... the foreign debt of the allied countries... multiplied several times in millions of pounds sterling." "Paraguay was forced to ask for loans from English banks... to compensate the countries that had defeated it." "In the case of Brazilian Empire and Argentina... territories were also annexed as part of the payment." ""The Paraguay war ends for the simple reason - horresco referens- that we have killed every Paraguayan aged over ten"" "Domingo F. Sarmiento President of the Argentine Republic (1868-1874)" "The government of legionaries in Asunción... prohibited the use of the Guaraní language in Paraguay." "The decree was in force until 1992... when a census revealed that 90º/o of the population spoke it." "Paraguay [in guarani]:" "Water that flows into the sea" "Buenos Aires, a city of midget towers." "End of the journey." "I am lost." "Where is the Paraguayan Warriors Mausoleum?" " That way." " Thanks." "Oándido López managed to paint... 59 of the 90 sketches he made during his campaign." "He died at the age of 62, on December 31, 1902." " What did he die of?" " The heart." "At the end of the exhibition commemorating... the Oentenary of his death... the war paintings return to the National History Museum vault... where they were kept for decades." "And I ask myself:" "Is it the war?" "I don't know if it is the war." "There are a lot of people... small people that look like ants." "But these people could be something else rather than soldiers." "They could be workers from a dam... a road network... some public work." "Little people working on some superior project." "A common project, a project with team spirit." "The meaning of a group of people." "It is not an anarchical group." "They are not children going on a picnic." "They move in an organized fashion." "It could be something else, other than war." "Unfortunately, it is the war." "The uniforms have the buttons painted on them... but the soldiers have no mouths... nor eyes." "Only the dead see the end of the war."