PLAZA DE ARMAS

This vast square seems completely abandoned. It is often occupied by encampments of destitute families (landless peasants, indigenous people or people displaced from the bañados, neighborhoods regularly flooded by the river). The place, which is more striking than truly dangerous, shows a very sad side of Paraguay, just a stone's throw from Congress and the presidential palace! The square is framed by the cathedral and the brick building of the Universidad Católica to the east; the central post office and police headquarters (a colonnaded building dating from 1854) to the south; the Cabildo and the Chacarita district to the north; and finally, Congress to the west. In front of the Cabildo, a statue of Juan Salazar de Espinoza, the founder of Asunción (August 15, 1537). Towards the Congress, Hermann Guggiari's tree-trunk sculpture pays homage to the "Mother of Cities". North of the Congress, a statue of Mariscal López on horseback, surrounded by the cannons of the War of the Triple Alliance. The square is nicknamed the Plaza del Marzo Paraguayo, because it was here that, on March 23, 1999, a huge citizens' demonstration took place in defense of justice and democracy, in response to the political assassination of the Vice-President of the Republic, Luis María Argaña. The demonstration ended in a bloodbath, with 8 dead and 700 wounded, the demonstrators falling under the bullets of ex-general Lino Oviedo's snipers (located at the top of the building where a large advertising billboard is installed on the roof).