Gondra, Manuel (1871-1927)
Manuel Gondra Pereira was the president of Paraguay from 25 November 1910 to 11 January 1911 and again from 15 August 1920 to 31 October 1921. During his second tenure, and in close collaboration with Senator Eusebio Ayala, he extended an invitation to conservative Canadian Mennonites looking for a new homeland and oversaw the political process whereby the Paraguayan congress guaranteed Mennonites special group privileges. These developments were essential to the immigration, in 1926-27, of the 1785 Canadian Mennonites who founded Menno Colony, itself an important factor to the coming of many Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union in 1930-32 and 1947-48.
Gondra’s dealings with Mennonites began on a three-week steamship journey from New York to Buenos Aires after his election as president on 28 June 1920 but before he was sworn in on 15 August 1920, when he, along with Senator Ayalo, by chance met with the financier General Samuel McRoberts, who had just been commissioned by the Old Colony Mennonites of Canada for assistance in seeking out a new homeland. McRoberts told the Paraguayan officials about his mission and both officials expressed enthusiasm about welcoming the Mennonites. Between 1881 and 1921, millions of people had flocked to Paraguay’s neigbours, but Paraguay itself had received only thousands. Gondra wanted immigrants to help his country develop economically and especially to secure its northern border with Bolivia by settling the severely underpopulated Gran Chaco. At this point, McRoberts was proceeding to Argentina and was not looking at Paraguay as a settlement option, but Gondra made a case for his country and extended an invitation to McRoberts should his calculations change.
McRoberts soon learned that Argentina was not receptive to the Mennonites’ request for special privileges and then received a report from his associate, Fred Engen, that the Paraguayan Chaco looked promising for settlement. He thereupon took up Gondra’s offer, visiting him in Paraguay at the end of August. Gondra did his utmost to impress McRoberts, providing a large feast in his honour and taking him and Engen on a two day tour up the Paraguayan River on the presidential yacht. Both Gondra and Ayala assured McRoberts that they would gladly grant the Mennonites’ request for special privileges.
By this time, the Old Colony Mennonites who had first contacted McRoberts had decided to move to Mexico, but McRoberts was able to interest a coalition of Bergthal Mennonites who were also looking to leave Canada. They dispatched a land-seeking delegation, which arrived in Asunción at the end of March. Gondra made a good impression on the delegation with a magnanimous and friendly greeting. He also assured them that his country would grant them all the privileges they requested.
The delegation met again with Gondra after their tour of the Chaco. They were enthusiastic about the prospects of settling there, but had two concerns. First, they were worried about the indigenous people still living in the area. Gondra assured them that they were unlikely to be a problem because they were nomadic, but if necessary could always be moved into reservations. Second, the delegation stipulated that a railway to their lands would be essential to any settlement effort. The Mennonites came away from the meeting convinced that a railway would be built; however, they found this was not the case when they arrived in Paraguay five years later, a reality which caused great suffering among the new immigrants. It is not clear whether miscommunication, bad faith negotations, or incompetence and political instability led to this broken promise. It may not have been clear whether the Paraguayan government or the Casado Company, which owned the land in the Chaco, was responsible for building the railway.
Shortly after the delegation left Paraguay, Bill 514, guaranteeing the Mennonites their requested special privileges, passed through the Paraguayan parliament with a thirteen to five vote.
The Paraguayan Civil War forced Gondra to resign from office on 31 October 1921. He died on 8 March 1927.
See Also
- Canadian Mennonite Land-Seeking Delegations, 1919-1922
- Emigration from Canada to Mexico and Paraguay in the 1920s
- Ayala, Eusebio (1875-1942)
Bibliography
Friesen, M.W. Canadian Mennonites Conquer a Wilderness: The Beginning and Development of the Menno Colony, First Mennonite Settlement in South America. Translated by Christel Wiebe. Historical Committee of the Menno Colony, 2009. Pp. 13-19
Fretz, Joseph W. Pilgrims in Paraguay: The Story of Mennonite Colonization in South America. Scottdate: Herald Press, 1953. Pp. 13-15.
Loewen, Royden. Village among Nations: "Canadian" Mennonites in a Transnational World, 1916-2006. University of Toronto Press, 2013. Pp. 33-39.
Mullenbach, Mark et al. "Western Hemisphere Region: 6. Paraguay (1904-Present)." Part of the Dynamic Analysis of Dispute Management (DADM) Project at the University of Central Arkansas, Department of Government, Public Service, and International Studies. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024. Link
Quiring, Walter. “The Canadian Mennonite Immigration into the Paraguayan Chaco, 1926-27.” The Mennonite Quarterly Review 8, no. 1 (January 1934): 32-42.
Stoesz, Edgar. Like a Mustard Seed: Mennonites in Paraguay. Scottdate: Herald Press, 2008. Pp. 29-33.
Stoesz, Edgar and Muriel T. Stackley. Garden in the Wilderness: Mennonite Communities in the Paraguayan Chaco, 1927-1997. Winnipeg: CMBC Publications, 1999. Pp. 7-27.
| Author(s) | Gerald Ens |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 2025 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Ens, Gerald. "Gondra, Manuel (1871-1927)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 2025. Web. 26 Apr 2025. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gondra,_Manuel_(1871-1927)&oldid=180477.
APA style
Ens, Gerald. (2025). Gondra, Manuel (1871-1927). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 26 April 2025, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gondra,_Manuel_(1871-1927)&oldid=180477.
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