Paraguay and the United States began bilateral diplomacy with a bang, when a naval confrontation prompted Washington to send a large expedition to Paraguay. The encounter led to the establishment of formal ties and set the tone for more than two centuries of bilateral relations that have expanded into cooperation on issues of geopolitics, trade, economic development, and cultural exchange. The two nations maintain embassies in each other's capitals and generally enjoy friendly relations centered on democratic governance and regional stability.[1]
According to Gallup’s Rating World Leaders 2024 survey, 42 percent of Paraguayans approve of U.S. leadership, while 28 percent disapprove and 30 percent express no opinion.[2] The findings represent a 15-percentage-point drop in approval from the previous year. While the reason for this approval decrease is uncertain, intergovernmental tensions rose during the presidency of Joe Biden after the United States applied sanctions on Horacio Cartes, the billionaire leader of the ruling Colorado Party, who served as Paraguay's president from 2013 to 2018.[3] Paraguay formally requested the early departure of U.S. Ambassador Marc Ostfield in August 2024 following new sanctions on Cartes’s tobacco company, but Ostfield did not leave his post until the Biden–Donald Trump presidential transition.[4]
The Trump administration lifted sanctions on Cartes in October 2025, a move publicly welcomed by President Santiago Peña. The State Department said the sanctions were “no longer required to incentivize changes in behavior,” even as Cartes continued to face accusations of bribing legislators and exerting undue influence within Peña’s government.[5] The Paraguayan government described the measures as politically motivated and harmful to national industry; Peña's administration said their suspension represented the end of U.S. "persecution."[6] Peña has sought close ties with Trump since his return to office, expressing admiration for his leadership style and describing him as a “friend of Paraguay.”[7]
History
19th century
Following its independence in 1811, Paraguay practiced strategic isolation[8] from the outside world, maintaining little to no contact with the United States for nearly four decades. The U.S. recognized Paraguay’s independence on April 27, 1852.[9] Bilateral relations began amid regional tensions and a brief episode of hostility that claimed one life.
Over the following century, Paraguay twice waged full-scale wars with neighboring states, amid which the United States participated in peace negotiations and post-war boundary settlements. Both world wars of the 20th century had limited impact on U.S.–Paraguay relations, but during the Cold War the United States expanded its involvement in South America to counter Soviet influence. Since that period, bilateral engagement has focused primarily on supporting free and fair elections, discouraging corruption, and strengthening economic cooperation.
The Water Witch incident
President Carlos Antonio López, first Paraguayan to hold that title, signed several treaties of friendship, commerce, and navigation with world powers in the 1850s.[10] López mistrusted his Latin American neighbors and sought more distant foreign ties to strengthen Paraguay’s nascent economy and defenses.[11]
The U.S. engaged in a form of "gunboat diplomacy"[12] in this early period: Paraguayan troops at Fort Itapirú, near the junction of the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, opened fire on the survey steamer Water Witch on February 1, 1855.[13] The Water Witch had been dispatched from Buenos Aires to map potential trade routes in South America.[14] President Carlos Antonio López ordered the shelling out of fear that the vessel sailed under false pretenses to conduct espionage; he also sought to assert Paraguayan sovereignty.[15]
Samuel Chaney, a Water Witchhelmsman, died instantly after a direct hit by cannon fire. Commanding officer Thomas J. Page recorded no other casualties in his dispatch to Washington.[16] President Franklin Pierce sent a note of protest to López but took no further action.[17]James Buchanan succeeded as U.S. president in 1857 and, after extended preparations, ordered 19 ships carrying some 2,500 U.S. servicemen to sail to Asunción and demand accountability.[18]
Paraguay expressed conciliation after the force's arrival in January 1859. López's government paid an indemnity of $10,000 (about $395,000 in 2025) for Chaney's death as part of a new treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation.[19] The payment served as a mostly symbolic gesture, as the United States expended well over $2 million (more than $70 million in 2025) to fund the expedition.[20]
Plans to appoint a permanent envoy in 1861 fell apart as the American Civil War (1861–1865) sidelined U.S. diplomacy.[21] Relations got back on track in 1869, with the arrival of Martin T. McMahon as the first U.S. minister resident and consul general.
South America's bloodiest conflict
The War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay ensued with Paraguay under the leadership of Francisco Solano López, son of Carlos, devastating Paraguay for generations.[22] From December 1868 through June 1869, McMahon began to advocate for U.S. intervention in the War of the Triple Alliance, having witnessed firsthand the grievous harm it inflicted. By some estimates, as much as half of Paraguay’s prewar population — likely between 400,000 and 500,000 people — had died by the time Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay ended their occupation in the mid-1870s.[23][24]
The Battle of Tuyutí (1866) inflicted massive casualties on both sides. The war dragged on four more years.
The United States regarded victorious Brazil and Emperor Pedro II with particular disfavor. Brazil retained slavery for decades after the U.S. abolished it, and anti-monarchism extant since the end of British rule in the U.S. remained popular.[25][26] Pedro II also welcomed immigrants to Brazil who remained bitter over the Confederates’ defeat in the American Civil War, and who wished to continue owning slaves.[27][28] Brazil sustained heavy casualties and expenditures to invade Paraguay, but finished the effort with a battle-hardened, professional army that challenged U.S. strategic ambitions in the Americas.[29][30]
McMahon described the war in Paraguay as an “extermination” by the allied powers and invoked the Monroe Doctrine as justification for the United States to help end the bloodshed and restrain imperial expansion in South America.[31][32] Using his influence as a senior officer and veteran of the American Civil War, McMahon won sympathetic press coverage and informal hearings in Washington.[33] Nevertheless, President Ulysses S. Grant declined to pursue any diplomatic, economic, or military measures in Paraguay’s favor, wary of foreign entanglements in the Reconstruction era.[34][35]
Rutherford B. Hayes earned Paraguayan naming honors and a national holiday for his decision in the 1878 border dispute with Argentina.
In the war’s aftermath, Paraguay and Argentina had ongoing border disputes. Both nations submitted the matter to arbitration by Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. president from 1877 to 1881, who granted Paraguay most of the contested territory in 1878.[36] Paraguay later named a city, an administrative region, and a national holiday in his honor; it observes November 12 as Día del Laudo Hayes, commemorating the award that preserved its sovereignty.[37]
20th century
After the war's conclusion, Paraguay received little international attention until the Chaco War with Bolivia (1932–1935). U.S. and European firms supplied arms to both sides.[38] Populist politician Huey Long promoted Paraguay's cause on the floor of the U.S. Senate and derided Bolivia, shifting public perception of the war in the U.S. and in Latin America.[39] A peace treaty in 1938 involving U.S. and other neutral diplomats awarded most of the Chaco region to Paraguay.[40]
U.S. supports Stroessner
Washington's influence in Paraguay expanded during World War II with economic and technical assistance.[41] Seeking to counter Axis influence in South America, in 1942 the U.S. funded significant public health, agriculture and infrastructure projects in Paraguay for the first time.[42] Though it severed diplomatic ties with Germany and its allies, Paraguay remained neutral throughout World War II.
Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner maintained close ties with the U.S. until the end of the Cold War.
During the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, the United States supported his anti-communist rule and maintained close security and economic ties.[43] Between 1962 and 1989, the United States provided more than $150 million in direct economic and military assistance to Paraguay under the Stroessner regime.[44]
The United States also indirectly supported the Itaipu Dam, inaugurated in May 1984 by Stroessner and his Brazilian counterpart, the dictator João Figueiredo. More than $2 billion in U.S. aid for Brazil as a whole arrived during this era under the Alliance for Progress, helping to strengthen Brazil's financial and energy sectors and enabling financing for Paraguay's share of Itaipu’s construction.[45]
The restoration of democracy
U.S. relations with Stroessner soured over the next five years, as Washington grew ever more vocal about his regime's human rights abuses.[46] The collapse of Soviet power in the late 1980s also relieved the United States of any strategic interest in propping up anti-communist dictators in Latin America.[47] When Andrés Rodríguez moved to topple Stroessner in February 1989, Washington adopted a cautious stance and subtly departed from its traditional policy of opposing military takeovers in the Americas.[48]
After driving Stroessner into exile and assuming the presidency, Rodríguez pledged to restore democracy in Paraguay, a goal the United States embraced.[49] Rodríguez presided over constitutional changes, including a single-term limit for the presidency that bans re-election after five years of service.[50] Accordingly, he stepped down in 1993 in favor of Juan Carlos Wasmosy, who won what former President Carter and other international observers regarded as Paraguay's first free and fair election in more than 50 years.[51]
21st century
In recent years, the U.S. Agency for International Development has administered most U.S. expenses to assist Paraguay; only about 4 percent of total funding has supported military purposes, compared with 96 percent for economic development.[52] USAID's largest single project, valued at about $1.85 million annually, sought to counter deforestation and encourage better land use and management by improving monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations.[53]
USAID previously oversaw the bulk of all financial backing for Paraguay sent from the United States, but 2025 cuts appear to have curtailed this.
Total U.S. government funding for all agencies operating in Paraguay fell from a peak of $51.3 million in 2010 to about $4.4 million as of October 2025. Analysts have suggested that the downward trend accelerated amid large-scale cuts by the Trump administration to USAID operations worldwide.[54] The Biden Administration funded about $25.4 million in projects in 2022.[52]
Anti-corruption efforts
U.S. diplomats and aid agencies have gradually stepped up initiatives to reduce corruption in Paraguay since the administration of President Barack Obama, when a global survey of public-sector integrity ranked Paraguay 154th out of 180 countries, with 180 representing the worst perceived performance.[55] By 2024, the same index ranked Paraguay 149th out of 180, a marginal improvement over 2009 but reflecting a four-point decline from the previous year’s ranking.[56]
Analysts have attributed the country’s limited progress to the continued dominance of the ruling Colorado Party over legislative, bureaucratic, and law-enforcement institutions, fostering a culture of impunity even after opposition candidate Fernando Lugo won the presidency in 2008.[57] The lifting of sanctions in 2025 on former president Cartes marked the first instance in the 21st century in which Washington reversed a major anti-corruption measure targeting a Paraguayan politician.
Security and defense cooperation
The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) conducts joint training and security-cooperation activities with Paraguay’s armed forces, focusing on counter-narcotics, cyber defense, and regional stability. In 2024, Paraguayan and U.S. Marine forces met in Asunción to plan future bilateral exercises, and a joint cybersecurity review identified foreign espionage threats to Paraguayan networks. President Peña also visited SOUTHCOM headquarters in Florida to discuss these cooperative efforts.[58][59][60]
The United States cooperates with Paraguayan authorities in the Triple Frontier area,[61] where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina converge. U.S. agencies have supported joint investigations targeting narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, and terror financing networks in the region. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned several individuals accused of financing Hezbollah from Ciudad del Este since the early 2000s.[62]
Socioeconomic relations
Trade
In 2024, U.S. goods exports to Paraguay totaled about $3.2 billion, while imports from Paraguay were approximately $356 million, resulting in a U.S. trade surplus of roughly $2.8 billion.[63] Major U.S. multinationals such as Cargill, Millicom (operating as Tigo), and Citibank operate in Paraguay, primarily in the agro-industrial, telecommunications, and financial sectors.
Paraguay’s top export is soy and soy derivatives, which find limited traction in the United States given U.S. dominance in soy production and the cost disadvantages Paraguay faces as a landlocked exporter.[64][65] In contrast, Paraguay’s "meat and edible offal" (predominantly beef) is its second-largest export category.[66] After years of diplomacy, the United States in late 2023 permitted imports of chilled or frozen Paraguayan beef under strict health controls.[67]
In 2023, U.S. beef imports from Paraguay were minimal (approximately 75 tons).[68] In the first half of 2025, that figure climbed to about 19,800 tons (valued at roughly $111.9 million), marking a rapid expansion of market access and demand.[69] The new imports help fulfill U.S. demand in light of lower domestic cattle headcounts, primarily owed to higher production costs.[70]
The U.S.-Paraguay trade imbalance is largely driven by manufactured goods and resources that Paraguay cannot produce domestically. Machinery, such as construction equipment and climate-control systems, accounted for an estimated $542 million in 2024, making it likely the highest-value trade category between the two countries. Mineral fuels, oils, and distillation products generated about $477 million from Paraguay in U.S. enterprises that same year.[71]
Paraguayan president Santiago Peña has often engaged in face-to-face diplomacy in the U.S. and elsewhere since taking office in 2023.
Travel
In the first half of 2023, Paraguay received 8,032 visitors from the United States, according to the Paraguayan National Tourism Secretariat (Senatur).[72] The U.S. Embassy in Asunción issued 10,325 nonimmigrant visas in 2023.[73] As with nearly all countries in Latin America, holders of Paraguayan passports must obtain a visa through the U.S. Department of State to enter the United States for any purpose, including tourism, study, or employment.[74] In contrast, U.S. citizens may enter Paraguay visa-free for up to 90 days.[75]
As of 2025, no direct commercial passenger flights operate between any U.S. airport and landlocked Paraguay. American Airlines and a group using the Eastern Airlines name launched Miami–Asunción service in 2012[76] and 2021[77][78] respectively, but both routes ended within four years. Nearly all scheduled international passenger flights to Paraguay land at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport near Asunción; Flybondi opened a new route from Buenos Aires (Ezeiza) to Encarnación in August 2025. In light of Paranair’s suspension of service to the Ciudad del Este area in May 2025, it is no longer possible to travel within Paraguay on a scheduled commercial passenger flight.[79]
No sitting U.S. president has ever visited Paraguay; former President Jimmy Carter visited in 1993 to observe elections in the wake of Alfredo Stroessner's downfall.[80] President Peña has made several trips to the United States since taking office in August 2023, most recently in September 2025.[81] Peña travels on a business jet operated by the Paraguayan Air Force, sometimes drawing public criticism over cost.[82]
Cultural exchange
United Nations data indicate that about 13.7 percent — roughly 890,000 people — of all Paraguayans were living abroad as of 2020, including approximately 46,000 in the United States.[83] Conversely, there is no clear indication of how many U.S. citizens currently reside in Paraguay; the U.S. Department of State estimated “more than 3,000” as of 2017.[84] According to U.S. Census and ACS data, large concentrations of Paraguayan-born U.S. residents have existed in New York, Florida, and New Jersey.[85] Programs such as Fulbright Paraguay and EducationUSA provide scholarships and advising for Paraguayan students pursuing studies in the U.S, who numbered about 732 in 2023.[86][87] The Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano (CCPA), established in 1942, hosts English-language instruction, art exhibitions, and cultural events promoting mutual understanding between Paraguay and the U.S.[88]
The U.S. maintains an embassy in Asunción. The United States opened a new embassy complex on June 29, 2023, on the same 14-acre site as the previous buildings.[90] The position of United States Ambassador to Paraguay is currently vacant. Amir P. Masliyah serves as the Chargé d’affaires following the conclusion of Marc Ostfield’s tenure in January2025.[91][92] No one has yet been nominated to replace Ostfield.
Outside of the embassy complex in Asunción, the United States operates the Margaret Knight American Corner in Ciudad del Este, an office for cultural and educational programming about the U.S.[93] Consular services such as visa applications require an embassy visit in Asunción.[94]
↑ Hanratty, Dennis M. (1990). Hanratty, Dennis M. (ed.). Paraguay: A Country Study(PDF). Library of Congress Federal Research Division. pp.39–40. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
↑ Williams, John Hoyt (1979). The Rise and Fall of the Paraguayan Republic, 1800–1870. University of Texas Press. pp.54–56.
↑ Whigham, Thomas L. (1987). "The Paraguayan War: Causes and Early Conduct". Latin American Research Review. 22 (2): 47–74. JSTOR2503439.
↑ Bowlin, James B. (1859). Correspondence on the Paraguay Expedition. House Executive Documents. Vol.2. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp.24–27. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
↑ Hughes, Edward (2014). "Gunboat Diplomacy on the Paraguay River". Naval History. 28 (4): 22–29.
↑ Whigham, Thomas L. (2015). The Paraguayan War: Causes and Early Conduct. University of Nebraska Press. pp.425–427.
↑ Kolinski, Charles J. (1965). Independence or Death: The Story of the Paraguayan War. University of Florida Press. pp.247–250.
↑ Needell, Jeffrey D. (2020). The Sacred Cause: The Abolitionist Movement, Afro-Brazilian Mobilization, and Imperial Politics in Rio de Janeiro, 1861–1888. Stanford University Press. pp.5–8.
↑ Smith, Joseph A. (1979). The United States and Brazil: A History. University of Georgia Press. pp.58–61.
↑ Viotti da Costa, Emília (2000). The Brazilian Empire: Myths and Histories. University of Chicago Press. pp.182–184.
↑ Levine, Robert M. (1993). Confederate Exiles in Brazil. University Press of Florida. pp.41–45.
↑ Whigham, Thomas L. (2017). The Road to Armageddon: Paraguay versus the Triple Alliance, 1866–1870. University of Calgary Press. pp.529–532.
↑ Bethell, Leslie (1986). "Brazil in the International System 1870–1889". In Bethell, Leslie (ed.). The Cambridge History of Latin America, Volume 5: c. 1870 to 1930. Cambridge University Press. pp.762–765.
↑ McMahon, Martin T. (April 1870). "The War in Paraguay". Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Vol.40, no.238. pp.641–654.
↑ Whigham, Thomas L. (2017). The Road to Armageddon: Paraguay versus the Triple Alliance, 1866–1870. University of Calgary Press. pp.512–514.
↑ Mora, Frank O. (2006). Paraguay and the United States: Distant Allies. University of Georgia Press. pp.20–22.
↑ Williams, John Hoyt (1985). "Foreign Policy and the Paraguayan War". In Bethell, Leslie (ed.). The Cambridge History of Latin America, Volume 3: From Independence to c. 1870. Cambridge University Press. pp.723–725.
↑ Perkins, Dexter (1955). A History of the Monroe Doctrine. Little, Brown and Company. pp.169–172.
↑ "General Stroessner's Final Days". Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. U.S. Foreign Service Oral History Project. January 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2025. By the late 1980s, our relations with Stroessner were very poor. The United States was prepared to see him go, having grown increasingly critical of his government's corruption and human rights abuses.
↑ "Paraguay's El Tigre: Rodriguez Proves Wily in the Ways of Power". Los Angeles Times. February 12, 1989. Retrieved October 23, 2025. The United States, more worried in the 1950s about finding anti-communist allies, now says it seeks to entrench democracy as a bulwark against communism.
↑ "PARAGUAY (1989) – HRW Worldwide". Human Rights Watch. 1989. Retrieved October 23, 2025. "On the day of the coup … State Department spokesman Charles Redman said, 'We would welcome any genuine movement toward a more democratic form of government in that country.'"
↑ "Ruling Party Wins in Paraguay". The Washington Post. May 11, 1993. Retrieved October 23, 2025. "There is no doubt that this election marks a turning-point … We would call it free and fair and democratic and successful," former President Jimmy Carter said.
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