Chaco War - Aftermath

Aftermath

By the time a ceasefire was negotiated for noon June 10, 1935, Paraguay controlled most of the region. In the last half-hour there was a senseless shootout between the armies. This was recognized in a 1938 truce, signed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by which Paraguay was awarded three-quarters of the Chaco Boreal, 20,000 square miles (52,000 km2). Two Paraguayans and three Bolivians died for every square mile. Bolivia did get the remaining territory that bordered Paraguay's River, Puerto Busch. Over the succeeding 70 years no commercial amounts of oil or gas have been discovered in the portion of the Chaco awarded to Paraguay. In fact, oil and gas resources extend from the Villa Montes area and the portion of the Chaco awarded to Bolivia northward along the foothills of the Andes. Today these fields give Bolivia the second largest resources of natural gas in South America after Venezuela.

Paraguay captured 21,000 Bolivian soldiers and 10,000 civilians (1% of the Bolivian population); many chose to stay in Paraguay after the war. In addition, 10,000 Bolivian troops—many of them ill-trained and ill-equipped conscripts—deserted to Argentina or injured or mutilated themselves to avoid combat. Paraguay also captured 2,300 machine guns, 28,000 rifles and ammunition worth $10 million (enough to last 40 years).

Bolivia's stunning military blunders during the Chaco War led to a mass movement known as the Generación del Chaco, away from the traditional order, which was epitomised by the MNR-led Revolution of 1952.

A final treaty clearly marking the boundaries between the two countries was not signed until April 28, 2009, in Buenos Aires.