With a population of around 7 million inhabitants, Paraguay is the smallest country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia and is landlocked. The country became independent from Spain in 1811, but it lost more than 50% of its population and 55,000 square miles of its territory in the War of Triple Alliance (1864/1865–1870) against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. After a civil war in 1947, Paraguay was ruled by a dictatorship for 35 years, from 1954 to 1989. Since the return to democracy, Paraguay has experienced times of instability, with the assassination of a vice president, the indictment of two former presidents on corruption charges, and the impeachment of a president in what some called a coup d’état. The former senator ...