Marcial Samaniego López (born September 10, 1910; date of death uncertain) was a Paraguayan general, author, and government official. He served in President

Alfredo Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan army officer and politician who served as President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989. Stroessner led a coup d'état on 4 May 1954 with the ...

's government when Stroessner took office following a 1954 coup d'etat, and continued in various ministerial roles into the 1980s.

Early life and education

Samaniego was born in

San Pedro Department, Paraguay San Pedro () is a department of Paraguay. The capital is the city of San Pedro de Ycuamandiyú. History During the 17th and 18th centuries there was even greater political and population instability than in Concepción. The Mbayá and Payagu ...

, to Juan Alberto Samaniego and his wife, Maria de los Santos López. He entered the

Paraguayan Army To win or to die , march= Marcha al Mariscal Lopez , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= War of the Triple AllianceChaco WarParaguayan People's Army insurgency , anniversaries= 24 of July (Mariscal Lopez Birthday) , decorations= , ba ...

as a cadet in 1929 and trained as a

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...

Career

Samaniego served during the

Chaco War The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko ÑorairõFrancisco López Military College Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

. He was one of Alfredo Stroessner's most loyal supporters and helped Stroessner overthrow the government during the 1954 coup d'etat. He was minister of public works from 1954 to 1956, when he was elevated to minister of defense, serving in that post until 1962 when he was returned to the ministry of public works. In 1975 he was again made minister of defense, holding the office until 1983. Samaniego also served as minister of education. After an unsuccessful putsch against President

Epifanio Méndez Fleitas Epifanio Méndez Fleitas (7 April 1917 – 22 November 1985) was a Paraguayan musician, writer and poet, and twice the president of Central Bank of Paraguay: from 1952 to 1954 and in 1955. He fled Paraguay during the Alfredo Stroessner years and i ...

in 1955, Samaniego was temporarily placed in command of the army's rebellious cavalry division as a stabilizing measure.

Indigenous people

Samaniego was noted for his fascination with the religions of Paraguay's indigenous people, published several scholarly articles on the

Guaraní people Guarani are a group of culturally-related indigenous peoples of South America. They are distinguished from the related Tupi people, Tupi by their use of the Guarani language. The traditional range of the Guarani people is in present-day Paraguay b ...

, and is credited with convincing the government to award 13,000

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of land to protect the Pai Tavytera, the first instance of official support for native land rights in Paraguay. However, he was also criticized for endorsing Vicente Pistilli's book ''Vikings in Paraguay'', which made a controversial historical case for early Nordic settlement in the country and which some have alleged guided the government's discriminatory policies against the

Aché The Aché ( ) are an indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of Paraguay. They are hunter-gatherers living in eastern Paraguay. From the earliest Jesuit accounts of the Aché in the 17th century until their peaceful outside contac ...

Legacy

A high school in

Concepción, Paraguay Concepción () is a city & district in northern Paraguay and capital of the Concepción Department. It lies next to the Paraguay River. Founded by a Spanish Governor, named Agustín Fernado de Pinedo, the town prospered in the early years of the ...

, is named Colegio Nacional Gral. Marcial Samaniego. A Paraguayan highway is named Avenida General Marcial Samaniego.

Personal life

Samaniego's son graduated from the

United States Military Academy at West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

and was later head of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat during the presidency of

Andrés Rodríguez Andrés Rodríguez may refer to: * Andrés Rodríguez (politician) (1923–1997), president of Paraguay * Andrés Rodríguez (basketball) (born 1981), basketball player from Puerto Rico *Andres Rodriguez (show jumper) Andres Rodríguez (11 May ...

Bibliography

* ''The Chaco War'' (1982)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samaniego, Marcial 1910 births Year of death missing Date of death missing Defence ministers of Paraguay Government ministers of Paraguay Paraguayan military personnel People of the Chaco War Paraguayan politicians