As part of the country’s 200-year celebrations, Eliza Lynch will feature in seven-part series
THE LIFE of the controversial Cork woman who became Paraguay’s national heroine is to be turned into a major television drama with Paraguay’s president set to launch the project today as part of his country’s celebrations marking 200 years of independence from Spain.
Born in Charleville in 1833, Eliza Lynch was the partner of Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano López who, in 1864, led his country to war against an alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in what became South America’s bloodiest ever conflict.
In her own lifetime Lynch faced accusations she had worked as a courtesan in Paris when she met Solano López and that it was her greed and ambition that pushed him into the war which left his South American country devastated.
The seven-part series will be based on the 2009 biography The Lives of Eliza Lynchby former Irish diplomat Michael Lillis and Ronan Fanning, professor emeritus of modern history at UCD. The first serious study of her life, the book dismisses the accusations that Lynch was responsible for the conflict and finds no grounds for the charge that she had been a courtesan.
“Eliza was glamorous and well educated who deserves her title as Paraguay’s national heroine as she stayed with Solano López right to the end of the war despite being invited by the diplomatic corps to flee,” notes Michael Lillis. “Her story is little known in Europe and the series will be the first time many here will get a chance to see the history of a war that almost wiped out Paraguay’s adult male population and set the country back to the stone age.” Argentina and Uruguay subsequently expressed regret for the devastation wrought on Paraguay’s population by the allies but the topic remains a sensitive one in Brazil, which has not done so.
Mr Lillis was inspired to write Lynch’s biography by Brazilian airline magnate Rolim Amaro, founder of the country’s biggest carrier, Tam. His business dealings in Paraguay had inspired a love of the country’s history and he sought ways of bringing two former enemies closer together. He died in a helicopter crash in 2001 on his way to an academic gathering about Lynch in Paraguay. His son Marco, a Brazilian entrepreneur, is now one of the backers of the series.
Production companies from Paraguay, Ireland and France, among them RTÉ, have signed on to the project. Part of the financing will come from Paraguay’s Sudameris Bank which is owned by Irishman Conor McEnroy. Much of the filming will take place in Paraguay.
While the legacy of the war remains a source of contention between Paraguay and Brazil the two countries were able this week to celebrate an agreement which will see Brazil pay Paraguay three times the previous amount for Paraguay’s surplus electricity from their giant Itaipú dam.
Paraguay had claimed that Brazil was not paying it a fair price for the electricity from the dam, which straddles the Paraná river and in which both sides have a half share. Brazil agreed to up the price in a bid to improve ties. The two governments agreed the deal in 2009 but it was finally approved by the senate on Wednesday night.