This is an informative report about Puerto Casado, a small town located in Paraguay. A brief narration of the story of this town as well as some personal observations about the social problem that reigns in that place are found in the next paragraphs.

Carlos Casado del Alisal was born in 1833 in Villada, Spain. At the age of 24 he moved to Argentina where he soon became the greatest wheat exporter of that country. In 1865 he founded the "Casado" Bank in Rosario, Arg. and inverted his incomes in rail business. In 1887, Mr. Casado sold his bank and used the money to buy lands in the Paraguayan Chaco where he purchased about 7.500.000 acres.

"Both, Puerto Casado and the Mennonite Colonies established in lands that belonged to the Casado Company, served as bridges and support pillars to the Paraguayan army during the Chaco War, were Paraguay fought against Bolivia from 1932 to 1935. During this war, the trains, with more than 250 Km railroad tracks, made possible the transportation of 243.621 officials, troops, prisoners and 2.408 trucks." (Extract from an article published by ABC Color - a newspaper from Paraguay)
"Puerto Casado" served as an immigration gate for the Mennonites of the three colonies located in the Paraguayan Chaco. These people used to travel with trains up to "Punta Riel" (Fred Engen) situated in the Km 145, and from there, they had to continue their trip on trucks. The roads were all unpaved at that time; therefore the trip lasted many hours.
“Don Carlos”, as people called him in his town, was in many ways a brilliant employer. He paid his employees well, who at the same time, inverted their money in the business. For Don Carlos it was very important that his employees had insurance, and so, all the staff had the opportunity to have a medical insurance. Up to now, in Puerto Casado operates an IPS Hospital (Instituto de Previsión Social) and most of the inhabitants of that place receive a fair pension after a long working life.
Carlos Casado had several ranches. In his slaughterhouse, animals for his employees were slaughtered. Don Carlos also built ponds in order to raise fish and crustacean. He believed in the self-support ideal, so he used the swampy lands to cultivate rice. Between the cemetery and the ponds is found the airport. Don Carlos’ family and his closer collaborators used to travel in airplanes.
The Argentinean-Spaniard entrepreneur and founder of the town raised in 1889 a tannin factory. The tannin is a natural product that is mainly found in the Quebracho Colorado, and it is used to tan leather. This factory was a golden opportunity for the town because it brought along prosperity both to Carlos Casado and to the people.
But the story changed when suddenly, almost overnight, the tannin lost its economic value due to the fact that another chemical product with the same function was discovered and this one was cheaper. It was then when Puerto Casado went to a declination period.

Don Carlos was aware of his bankrupt and he certainly knew that this would bring severe consequences to the inhabitants of Puerto Casado.

After the abrupt drop of the tannin value, the machinery used in the factories was hard to sell and the buildings were abandoned. The situation was getting worse as time went by until one day, a last opportunity arose. There was a group of people that offered Don Carlos to buy his lands, so he decided to sell approximately 700.000 acres to these people who belong to the “Moon Sect”. Don Carlos knew that this chance was going to help his business situation but he also knew that doing so, he was passing on the social problem of this town to someone else. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Puerto Casado realized they needed to wake up soon. They found a guilty person for their misery and immediately accused the “Moon Sect” of buying their lands without their permission. The inhabitants of this town claimed what they thought were their rights before the Parliament of Asunción. In order to succeed in this procedure, they created a Committee named “Comision Pro – Tierra” (Pro – Land Committee) which was leaded by a man called Franzisco Dick.

The Parliament then, threatened the Moon Sect to take their land away, but before they did it, this sect decided to donate 30.000 acres on which the historical residencies are. However, there was a problem concerning the transaction of the land in terms of the title of ownership, since the inhabitants did not have an organization properly settled. Considering the problem, the residents founded the “Cooperativa Puerto Casado Poty Ltda.” and the lands were now property of this Cooperative. After this, people plundered every abandoned installation and sold iron pieces used before in the factories and everything else like doors, windows, tiles, etc. The Hotel facilities of Puerto Casado used to be beautiful, with stunning pillars at the main entrance, but this Hotel was plundered too. Windows and doors, as well as the minimal details were stolen and sold. Nowadays, animals dwell in what used to be the Hotel. Only the former house of the directors of the factory is still intact with furniture which reveals the glorious past of this town. Even the quarters of the Paraguayan Major, Jose Felix Estigarriba, was totally plundered to which our tourist guide simply said: “Yes, they took everything left here”.

Thanks to our tourist guide, we had the chance to visit the tannin factory, the railway and the cemetery where we saw lots of Mennonite graves including the one of Mr. Fred Engen. But unfortunately, the graveyard is located in a very low terrain that floods whenever the Paraguay River swells.

Meanwhile we were visiting and doing some research about this town, new disturbances raised. The inhabitants of Puerto Casado were going through financial crisis again, in spite of the lands they have already obtained. In order to gain some profits, they created a new Committee called “Comisión Pro-Trabajo” which had the task to generate solutions to the indigence.

The Moon Sect was no longer considered as an enemy due to their generous donation of 30.000 acres, so the residents of the Puerto Casado needed a new target to attack, which was quickly found: The Municipality of Puerto Casado. This entity promised a lot but there is still nothing being done. It is sad to see that the beautiful and historical buildings are being destroyed without any type of protection.

In my opinion, neither the “Comision Pro-Tierra” nor the “Comisión Pro Trabajo” will solve the problem. If I am asked about a possible solution, I would definitely suggest tourism, since Puerto Casado still exhales a bit of its exciting history.

Heinz Wiebe