Dr. Francia Becomes Paraguay’s Supreme Dictator

In October 1814, the general congress meeting in Asuncion named Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia dictator of Paraguay for a fixed term, which sources give as four to five years. The vote ended the shared consulship he had held with Fulgencio Yegros since the republic was proclaimed in October 1813. Later titled El Supremo, Francia had been a leading figure since Paraguay broke away from Spanish rule and from Buenos Aires. By June 1816, another national congress solidified this mandate by electing him dictator for life, beginning an autocratic tenure that endured until his death on September 20, 1840.

Francia studied philosophy and theology in Cordoba, in present-day Argentina, and received his degrees in 1785. He then taught at the Real Colegio y Seminario de San Carlos in Asuncion before practicing law. After Paraguay broke away from Spanish rule in 1811, a governing junta was elected in June of that year with Yegros presiding. When the republic was proclaimed on October 12, 1813, Francia and Yegros formed a consulship, and Francia held that office until the congress of October 1814 made him supreme dictator.