socialmedian: Book depicting 'Queen of Paraguay' Eliza Lynch prompts calls for Brazilian penitence

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Book depicting 'Queen of Paraguay' Eliza Lynch prompts calls for Brazilian penitence

Source: The Guardian

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

Eliza Lynch was depicted by Brazil as a warmongering manipulator after South America's bloodiest war. Irish authors present a more sympathetic account

When Brazil won the bloodiest war in South America's history it cast itself as the victim and Eliza Lynch as one of the chief villains.

The unofficial "Queen of Paraguay", said the victors, was a gold-digging Irish prostitute who encouraged her adopted country to invade neighbours.

The war ended in 1870 with Brazil battered and Paraguay destroyed: up to 90% of the adult male population were dead, including Francisco Solano López, the demented dictator who had fallen under Lynch's spell and built her a palace.

She escaped execution but not infamy. Brazilian chronicles depicted her as a warmongering manipulator, and the reputation stuck. She featured alongside Lucrezia Borgia in a 1995 book called The World's Wickedest Women.

Now, however, a revisionist history by Irish authors has turned the tables by portraying Lynch as a misunderstood hero and Brazil as a near-genocidal aggressor.

The Lives of Eliza Lynch: Scandal a

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