The war crimes of the Count D'eu. The evolution of Paraguayan criminal law in the punishment of crimes against humanity

Abstract

It was the year 1869, four years of war pitted Paraguay against the Triple Alliance formed by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. With the occupation of Asunción by his forces, the Duke of Caxias, ends the war and leaves the theater of operations. With the arrival of the new commander in chief of the allied armies, Gastón de Orleans, Count D'Eu –appointed by Emperor Pedro II– the conflict entered a new stage. So, the horrors of the war exceed those experienced in the previous 4 years. In order to hunt down Marshal López and his last forces, an allied army of twenty thousand men reached Piribebuy, designated as the third capital of the Republic. The Paraguayan garrison of 1,600 soldiers under the command of Commander Pedro Pablo Caballero, is intimidated into surrendering and gets the answer: "I am here to fight and if necessary to die, but not to surrender", starting a fierce battle. that lasted all day. At the climax, General Mena Barreto, leading the allied troops, is shot down by a Paraguayan sniper. This article is just an intellectual exercise that seeks to study events that occurred during the War of the Triple Alliance (1864 to 1870) in the light of modern criminal law and international criminal law, born during the Nuremberg trials and that has seen its development childhood and adolescence in war crimes trials in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.