Home > Bernardino Caballero

Born in Ybycuí , he joined the Paraguay Army while still young and fought in the War of the Triple Alliance. During the war, he became the assistant of President Francisco Solano López, in Humaitá and remaining loyal, rose through the ranks. He became an increasingly important leader of rearguard action s, eventually becoming a General.

After the death of Juan Bautista Gill in 1877, he helped ensure his friend Cándido Barreiro gained the presidency. Soon after Barreiro's death he organised a coup and took the presidency for himself, during which period he privatised much of the land in Paraguay to raise money.

Caballero rigged the 1886 election to ensure the victory Patricio Escobar , his favoured candidate. In response, his opponents founded the Liberal Party and he then founded the Colorado Party. Out of office, Caballero maintained a large degree of control as he remained commander of the army. His favoured candidates controlled the country until 1894Events January 8 A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago causes a good deal of damage. January 9 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard ( Lexington, Massachusetts). February 15 04:51 GMT, when Juan Bautista Eguzquiza overthrew Juan Gualberto González . Caballero helped to organise another coup in 1902Events January-April January 28 The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie. France, Loisy's L'evangile et l'Eglise which inaugurates the Modernist Crisis February 11 Police beat up universal suffrage, putting Juan Antonio Escurra in power, but after Escurra's overthrow by the Argentinean Army , the Liberals took power.

The Paraguayan town of General Bernadino Caballero is named for him.