An Indigenous Leader and his Missionaries: A Biographical Account of the Salesian Mission of Puerto Casado, Paraguay, in the Twentieth Century

This article narrates the history of the Salesian mission of Puerto Casado in the Paraguayan Chaco, from its foundation in the 1920s to the end of the century, by following the life story of René Ramírez, a Maskoy representative and one of the most relevant Paraguayan indigenous leaders of the last decades. In particular, it focuses on how Ramírez emerged as a leader, how he successively negotiated his political power within the mission, and how he finally decided to break his alliance with the church in order to be able to forge a space of political autonomy on the same level as non-indigenous people. Through this specific case study, the article also shows how the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the Barbados Symposium of 1971 implied a fundamental change of direction for the Catholic missionaries in Paraguay in their way of relating to indigenous communities, leading to important struggles and alliances at a local level.