Many nations have earned and maintained their independence at the price of blood, but only few have paid as much as Paraguay. Stretched on both banks of the river with the same name (the second major river of the strategic Rio de la Plata Basin), which runs through the center of the country from north to south, Paraguay is sometimes referred to as Corazón de América (Heart of America). Cramped between Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, which more than 100 years have expressed their expansionist tendencies on it, this landlocked country, traditionally isolated and underpopulated, has experienced until recently an endless series of coups and dictatorships, being strained by atrocious wars and haunted by utopian plans.
