African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1470 Paraguayan Mobilization

Asuncion, Paraguay.

News from the front line in the Chaco region soon reached the Paraguayan presidential palace, which caused great anger to Paraguayan current President Gujarri.

"Bolivia has gone too far. We must teach them a heavy lesson this time to let them know that we, Paraguay, are not to be trifled with!"

Paraguay obviously could not give in at this time. Since the Paraguayan War in the last century, Paraguay only had 220,000 square kilometers of land area left. If the disputed controlled area in the Northern Chaco region was included, it barely reached more than 300,000 square kilometers.

This means that the area under Paraguay's actual control in the Northern Chaco accounts for almost one-third of Paraguay's territory.

This is only the Northern Chaco region controlled by Paraguay. The entire Northern Chaco region covers an area of ​​260,000 square kilometers, which is larger than Paraguay's own territory of 220,000 square kilometers.

Faced with such a situation, it would be difficult for any country to give up such huge interests.

In response to the president's anger, Paraguayan Defense Minister Jose said: "President, the border conflicts between us and Bolivia have been quite intense over the years. This time, the Bolivians showed no respect for the moral principles and attacked the North Chaco region under our control."

"If we fail to drive out the invading Bolivians, it will be a disaster for Paraguay. We will lose more than half of our territory."

What Defense Minister Jose meant, of course, was that the entire Northern Chaco region of 260,000 square kilometers would be considered Paraguayan territory.

Finance Minister Patricio also said confidently: "We have also obtained relevant intelligence. This time Bolivia invaded Paraguay because they discovered oil in the North Chaco region."

"Therefore, we must not give up easily on the North Chaco region. If we can effectively develop the local oil resources, it will greatly ease our country's fiscal and energy pressures."

"Paraguay itself is relatively short of energy, lacking resources such as coal mines, and needs to import them from overseas every year. The oil in the Northern Chaco region can greatly make up for our disadvantages in this regard."

"Today, oil has become one of the world's emerging important energy sources, especially in East Africa and the United States, which are industrial powers and automobile industry powers, and have proven the huge role of oil resources in industrial development."

"The development of regions such as Romania, the Soviet Union and Venezuela also shows the huge wealth represented by oil resources. If we can occupy the entire Northern Chaco region, it will not only mean the protection of national security, but also the acquisition of a new and stable source of fiscal revenue."

In 1928, oil consumption accounted for more than percent of the world's primary energy consumption, while coal fell from more than percent to less than percent.

This demonstrates the huge potential of the oil market, and for oil-producing countries such as Romania and Venezuela, oil exports have become their mainstay industry.

Although the Soviet Union was one of the world's superpowers, due to sanctions and blockades by the international community, oil exports became one of its few stable sources of foreign exchange income.

Even Germany had to trade with the Soviet Union because of the oil issue. One must know that the two countries had just ended the war and had irreconcilable contradictions in ideology, geopolitics and other aspects.

However, there is no way. Germany has almost no domestic oil resources, and the only external stable oil resource channel it can rely on is Romania. But even Romania's oil production cannot meet all the needs of Germany's industrial development.

In addition to related industries such as internal combustion engines and automobiles, Germany's chemical industry also has a huge demand for oil.

Therefore, in Patricio's view, as long as the Northern Chaco region is taken over, it will be a sure win, so it is completely worth fighting a battle for it.

Gujari's expression also became serious. He asked, "Minister Patricio, is the news you said reliable?"

Finance Minister Patricio answered affirmatively: "It is very likely true because the news was leaked by someone inside Mobil Oil. According to the information we have learned, Mobil Oil did have relevant exploration activities in the North Chaco region."

"I guess this is also the reason why Bolivia did not hesitate to start a war and invade our territory. They probably sent troops because of the discovery of Mobil Oil Company."

"Otherwise, Bolivia would have taken over the Northern Chaco region at all costs long ago."

President Gujarri and others also believed his judgment. In this case, Paraguay had even more reason to fight.

Now Bolivia has been bullied to the point of being bullied, so let’s settle all the new and old grudges together.

Gujarri said murderously: "Bolivians, we must teach them a lesson. Paraguay is no longer the same as it was when the war just ended last century."

“Even though Paraguay lost the war in the last century, our opponents are big countries like Argentina and Brazil, and even the British.”

“So, President Pelosi and Paraguay were defeated with honor.”

Pelosi the Younger, the "Napoleon of America", did bring heavy disasters to Paraguay, but Paraguay has long since recovered over the years and the scars of war have been healed.

At the same time, the reputation of Pelosi has also changed over time. In the eyes of many Paraguayans today, Pelosi is a hero who safeguards Paraguay's national interests.

Moreover, during the Pelosi era, Paraguay had to take on three other major countries at the same time, including Argentina and Brazil, which in itself was tragic. Even if he failed, people would not doubt Pelosi's military capabilities.

To a certain extent, Pelosi also gave Paraguayans a spiritual encouragement.

Gujari went on to say: "They are Bolivia, not to mention Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile. If they treat us Paraguay as a soft persimmon, they will pay the price for their arrogance!"

In South America, Brazil and Argentina are big countries. Paraguay used to be able to compete with these two countries. In contrast, Bolivia has almost never won any war with neighboring countries. Therefore, Paraguayans have a sense of psychological superiority over Bolivia.

Although he despised his opponent, Gujarri was not too arrogant. He said: "Of course, there is still a huge gap between us and Bolivia, especially in terms of population size and land area. Bolivia has more soldiers than us and its land area is several times larger than ours. This also means that we in Paraguay cannot afford to lose, so we must take this war seriously."

"You can all bring forward any good suggestions now. We must fight this war, but we also need to increase our chances of winning in the end."

In response to Gujari's question, the government and military leaders began to ponder. The foreign minister was the first to speak: "President, for this war, we should first contact East Africa and South America. Wars have always involved games between major powers."

"In every war, the side without the support of a major power always loses miserably, and Paraguay has always been on good terms with East Africa, so we should actively seek help from East Africa."

"Moreover, East Africa has always intended to build the Asuncion-Lima railway. Now Bolivia has started a war, which is a great disrespect to East Africa. I think when East Africans know this news, they will definitely feel dissatisfied with the actions of the Bolivian government."

"At the same time, the discovery of oil in the North Chaco region by the Bolivian government was made possible by the Mobil Oil Company, which shows that the Bolivian government has the support of the United States. If we want to defeat Bolivia, we must involve East Africa."

Gujari naturally agreed with this point. Even if the foreign minister did not say it, Paraguay would have no choice but to ask East Africa for support.

War costs money, especially weapons, equipment and logistics. Without the support of a big country, it is difficult for a small country to defeat a powerful enemy relying solely on its own strength.

The foreign minister went on to say: “In addition to our relationship with East Africa, if we want to develop oil in the North Chaco region, we must also rely on East Africa’s technical support. After all, everyone knows that East Africa and the United States have the strongest oil extraction technology capabilities.”

"Now that the Americans support Bolivia, if we want to develop oil in the North Chaco region in the future, naturally the only option is East Africa."

In fact, the technology of countries like Britain is not bad either, but Paraguay will definitely not put Britain as its first option. After all, there is hatred between the two countries, and the main driving force behind the Paraguayan War was the British.

Gujari affirmed the foreign minister's suggestion: "Not only that, the Asuncion-Lima railway itself is also a project actively promoted by East Africa. We can package the railway and oil projects and hand them over to East Africa to help us develop them."

Paraguay also supports the Asuncion-Lima railway. After all, this railway is of great significance to Paraguay's economy and is an important channel for trade between Paraguay and Pacific countries.

The starting point of this railway is the Port of Asuncion, which will drive the economic development of Asuncion, stimulate the development of western Paraguay, and strengthen trade with countries along the route and Pacific countries.

Of course, given the national strength of South American countries, it is very difficult to build this railway, especially in Bolivia and Peru, where the terrain is mainly plateaus and mountains. It also involves cross-border issues, and these two problems can only be solved by major countries.

Seeking assistance from East Africa is in line with Paraguay's national strategy and can also greatly help the country's economy, so naturally no one objects.

Gujari said: "Now, let's discuss the issue of sending troops. What do you think is the appropriate number of troops we should send?"

Defense Minister Jose said: "President, I think it would be best if we could defeat Bolivia once and for all in this war with Bolivia. Bolivia currently has about 5,000 troops, so we should mobilize at least 10,000."

"Although Bolivia has not had any outstanding achievements over the years, we have to admit that Bolivia is stronger than Paraguay in terms of national strength."

"Therefore, we can never be too careful, and we cannot rule out the possibility of mobilizing more troops in the future, which will require a lot of military support."

Ten thousand troops are already a stretch for Paraguay, after all, the national population of Paraguay is only about 1.5 million. According to this ratio, East Africa can mobilize more than one million troops, and this does not take into account the number of people needed for logistics and other purposes.

Normally, Paraguay's national military strength is maintained at around 8,000 to 9,000 people, so 10,000 troops are almost equivalent to the entire country's strength.

This also means that it is very difficult to support this war relying solely on Paraguay's finances. After all, Paraguay itself is an agricultural country without any outstanding resources.

This is also an important reason why Paraguay has to pay attention to the oil resources in the Northern Chaco region. If it is true as the intelligence says, the Northern Chaco region alone can bring considerable benefits to Paraguay.

However, since it has decided to seek help from East Africa, the Paraguayan government will not feel bad about the necessary military expenditure. At most, it can give more benefits to East Africa after the war. As long as Bolivia can be defeated, all this will not be a problem.

After all, if Paraguay does not seek help from East Africa, not only will it lose the oil in the Northern Chaco region, but it may even lose its core traditional territory. Assuming it loses the war, it will also have to pay a large amount of war reparations.

During the Paraguayan War, Paraguay paid a lot of war reparations to Argentina and Brazil. At that time, Paraguay was so poor that it was almost worth selling its pants.

This is also an important reason why East Africa was able to invest heavily in Paraguay. Without the support of East African capital, it would have been impossible for Paraguay to absorb a large number of immigrants and restore its economy so quickly in the more than 20 years after the war.

Therefore, Gujari said: "In this case, we should first ask East Africa for a war loan. We cannot afford to lose this war."

……

As Paraguay entered a state of war, the country's military forces were mobilized to the west. At the same time, East Africa also responded to Paraguay's request for help, which was to support Paraguay's counterattack against Bolivia.

At the same time, the East African troops stationed in Asuncion, under the authorization of the East African government, also assisted Paraguay. On the west coast of East Africa, a large number of ships carrying military supplies were sailing towards the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

East Africa also has military bases and garrisons in Paraguay. After all, Paraguay is the first South American country that East Africa began to deploy in the last century.

The East African troops stationed in Paraguay are concentrated in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, in order to safeguard the interests of East Africa in the Paraná River basin.

In addition to the garrison, the Paraguayan army itself has a number of East African instructors and advisers, and all of the Paraguayan army's weapons and equipment are imported from East Africa. The two countries have very deep military cooperation.

As for Bolivia, although the United States is their supporter, the Bolivian army took Germany as a model and hired many German officers. At the same time, Bolivia also has certain advantages in military equipment because Bolivia itself is a mining exporter and is financially richer than the Paraguayan government.

In contrast, even with the assistance from East Africa in recent years, Paraguay's military weapons and equipment still have a certain gap with Bolivia.

At the same time, although Paraguay's military strength was once very prominent in South America, they have not fought a war for nearly half a century since the Paraguayan War.

Moreover, the Paraguayan War was extremely brutal, and there were almost no Paraguayan generals left. In the end, Pelosi the Younger had to lead a group of young soldiers to fight guerrilla warfare.

As for Bolivia, the last war was more than 20 years ago, and there are still a large number of generals with rich military experience, which will inevitably have a certain impact on Paraguay.

(End of this chapter)