Paraguay

Republic of Paraguay

Officially the Republic of Paraguay (República del Paraguay), the landlocked region was colonized by Spain beginning in 1537. Independence was achieved in May 1811.

Paraguay has fought a number of wars with its neighbors, costly both in terms of lives lost and financial expenses. The nation was defeated by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in the War of the Triple Alliance, which lasted from 1864 to 1870. This war is considered the bloodiest in the history of South America, and estimates suggest as many as 300,000 Paraguayans died. In the 1930s, Paraguay fought the Chaco War with its neighbor Bolivia, this time coming out the victor and reclaimint the Chaco region as its own.

The nation was governed by Alfredo Stroessner from 1954 to 1989, who ruled Paraguay as a dictator. Although Stroessner was overthrown, his Colorado party continued to dominate national politics until 2008.

The Armed Forces of Paraguay consist of the Army, Air Force, and Navy (which includes Marines and Naval Aviation).

Camouflage Patterns of Paraguay

• The oldest camouflage pattern worn by Paraguay is a duck hunter design, probably influenced by the early camouflage of Brazil. Unique to Paraguay, the five-color pattern incorporates Dark green, dark olive green, dark brown, and russet spots on a pale green background and was worn throughout the 1980s.

• Beginning in the 1990s, units of the Paraguayan Air Force began wearing copies of the Brazilian Air Force vertical lizard pattern camouflage, which continues to be worn today. A variety of sources have produced the fabric, leading to a wide number of color variations.

• Also in the 1990s, the Army discarded its old duck hunter pattern in favor of a tiger stripe design originally worn by the Taiwanese Marine Corps. Uniforms are locally-made from imported fabric.

• From the late 1990s to the present, the standard combat pattern of the Paraguay Armed Forces has been m81 woodland.

• Operators of the Fuerzas de Operaciones Especiales (FOPE) of the Policia Nacional (National Police) have worn a copy of the US six-color "chocolate chip" camouflage pattern.

• Most recently, the FOPE and other special police units have worn copies of the USMC MARPAT camouflage designs.

• It was announced in 2014 that the Armed Forces would soon be adopted a new pixelated camouflage design and uniform, in part for security reasons, since the woodland pattern heretofore worn for many years was far too easy to fall into the hands of criminals and anti-government forces.

• A variation of the above, with bright green coloration, was adopted by the Comandos del Equipo de Fuerzas Especiales (Special Forces Commando Teams) circa 2014.

• The Grupo Lince (Lynx Group) of the National Police have been issued a kind of "urban pixel" pattern, similar to the US-designed Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) but having darker grey shades incorporated into the design.