Juan Belaieff

Juan Belaieff (Russian: Иван Тимофеевич Беляев, Ivan Timofeyevich Belyaev, 19 April 1875, Saint Petersburg, Russia — 19 January 1957, Asunción, Paraguay) was a Russian and Paraguayan cartographer and soldier, notable for his investigation and mapping of the Gran Chaco region and for his role in the Paraguayan army during the Chaco War.

Juan Belaieff was born as Ivan Belyaev in Saint Petesburg. His father was a military officer from a noble family. Belaieff signed up with the Russian Army in 1892, and graduated from the Michael Artillery School in 1893. He participated in World War I and was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1915, and of a major-general in 1917. He was seriously wounded in 1916 and spent several months in a hospital.

When the Russian Civil War started in 1918, Belaieff joined the Volunteer Army under the command of Pyotr Wrangel. On March 25, 1920 he was evacuated from Novorossiysk to Gallipoli, and from there moved to Bulgaria and eventually in 1923 to Buenos Aires. He was interested in creating a Russian colony in South America. After failing to find enough support of the idea in Argentina, he moved in 1924 to Paraguay, where he was accepted to military service, and managed to relax the conditions for immigration of the former white movement officers who were accepted to Paraguayan military service as well. He was detached to the General Staff and founded the Engineering Department there, where he employed 12 Russian officers who arrived to Paraguay after him. He was also appointed a professor at the Military Academy. In Paraguay, he was known as Juan Belaieff.

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