The Spanish historian Eduardo Tamayo Belda arrived in Paraguay in July 2014 and after almost four years in the country, he ended up very interested in studying Spanish-Paraguayan relations in order to continue to be linked to a society that “he loved”.
Source: EFE
In an interview with EFE in Madrid, the researcher presented the book “Cultural links between Spain and Paraguay from history and literature”, that covers 200 years of Spanish-Paraguayan relationship with different approaches, themes and chronologies.
The text is a collaborative work with intellectuals and university professors who have been part of Spanish academic or research institutions, and did not necessarily have such an impact in the Paraguayan sphere.
“The idea was to try to bring Paraguay to the population of that country, compile all these studies and bring them closer to the people of Paraguay, whether they were in Asunción or outside the capital,” says the historian from the Autonomous University of Madrid.
SPAIN SHOULD BET ON PARAGUAY
Tamayo considers thatt is important for Spain to know about Paraguay for many reasons, mainly due to a question of historical responsibility. “Culturally and academically, Spain has to bet on helping to investigate, disseminate research on the history that unites us or also the history of those spaces.”
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“And, secondly, because Paraguay is also an opportunity for Spain in many ways. In addition, for the South American country it is very important to have a certain migratory, demographic support in Spain, where people can come to work, remittances from the countries are also important, ”says the expert in Political Science.
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PARAGUAY AND SPAIN
Tamayo Belda affirms that Language is the main Spanish-Paraguayan link, but apart from that aspect, something that is similar in both countries is the fact that they are peripheries of their regions and their political spaces.
“Spain is the periphery of Europe, its region, it has been for the last 200 years, and also the periphery of the Atlantic area. Something similar happened to Paraguay, it is a periphery of its region, whether it is Latin America, which is very broad, and even of the region if you take it as South America or the Southern Cone, ”he explains.
In the field of what has been investigated, he adds thathe strongest link is in the cultural sphere, although in contemporary times and, from the field of political history, What brings them closer is that both had a very long dictatorship.
“Paraguay between 1954 and 1989, the Stronista dictatorship lasted 35 years; Spain between 1939 and 1975, the Franco dictatorship with 40 years. That would be another of the elements that most connect them to understand how the two countries have been in the last 30 years ”, is one of his conclusions.
CULTURAL LINK TODAY
Eduardo Tamayo believes that the cultural relationship between the two countries “is going through a good moment”, particularly due to the action of the Embassy of Paraguay in Spain, and “it has always had a good time” in Paraguay with the presence of the Juan de Salazar Cultural Center of Spain.
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“It is a center that was founded in April 1976 and very soon became a cultural reference in the country, also at a time when Paraguay had a dictatorship and that was a space where there was not only a cultural vanguard, but also political dissent. , a part of freedom”, recalls the historian.
Today, “El Salazar”, as the institution is popularly called, is a center that promotes projects that arise from the Paraguayan cultural sphere and are for consumption by that same sector. “I think it is the best example of how a foreign action of a cultural nature can be developed well in a country where there are people interested in going to cultural centers,” concludes Tamayo.
