Lebanese migration to Paraguay
| اللبنانية في باراغواي | |
|---|---|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ciudad del Este, Asunción | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish, Arabic, French | |
| Religion | |
| Majority: Christianity; Minorities: Islam |
The arrival of immigrants of Lebanese origin to Paraguay consisted of a large number of people who have settled in this country, bringing their customs and way of life. Many were the reasons which prompted these people to leave their native Lebanon and migrate to several Latin American countries, with the aim to seek a better quality of life after the World War I and the Second World War. In modern day, the large amount of Lebanese immigrants to Paraguay reside in Ciudad del Este, alongside neighbor city Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil, which has a large population of Lebanese immigrants. Lebanon has an embassy in the city of Asunción, whilst Paraguay has an embassy in the city of Beirut.
After the First World War it passed to the hands of the French, from which it gained its independence on October 22, 1943, even though it declared its independence, the actions of the Second World War did not allow that this were fully effective until 1946. The intervention of Lebanon in the Arab-Israeli War 1948, its moral support to the Arabs in the Arab-Israeli War of Six Days (1967) and the arrival in the country of many Palestinians, have meant a constant hostility with neighboring Israel, first in 1970 and then in 1982, triggering the latter occasion in a bout in Beirut, which did not cease until the departure from Lebanon of Palestinian guerrillas. This situation resulted from immigration of many Lebanese in the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the century in search of a better perspective of life. With effort they managed to succeed in a different society from their culture. The immigration of the Lebanese to Paraguay can be divided into two eras: ancient and modern. Among the reasons which prompted the uprooting are included both the political reason, and also the economic one. The political reason responds to the need to escape the troubled relations that have emerged during the Ottoman Empire in the region. The economic reason lies in the many disappointments and poverty, the consequences of World War I. The strategic position of Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea has meant ongoing invasions. It was part of Syria and the Ottoman Empire until 1918. In a second term after the Second World War, where thousands of people, mostly men, took the decision to leave the mother homeland because of the havoc that the war had caused. In this journey towards finding a better future, they had to undertake long voyages in boats, often without knowing where they embark and disembark where it was even worse. In these trips they had to deal with many troubles, diseases and nostalgia. They were forced to withstand natural disasters of all kinds in the middle of the sea.
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