DELENDA PARAGUAY!

A Semana Illustrada e suas representações sobre os agentes da Guerra do Paraguai

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of the illustrated magazine Semana Illustrada, under the direction of Henrique Fleiuss, as the primary vehicle for propaganda and visual culture during the Paraguayan War (1864–1870). The research demonstrates how the publication used the rhetoric of annihilation ("Delenda Paraguay!") and the power of its cartoons (charges) to build and disseminate a strong patriotic and pro-monarchical ideal, essential for social mobilization, especially following the creation of the Corpos de Voluntários da Pátria. We analyze the representations of national unity (symbolized by the provinces), the call to sacrifice, and the complex social dynamics involved, such as the recruitment of enslaved people in exchange for freedom, and the ambivalent figure of the woman-soldier. The study concludes that while Semana Illustrada was fundamental for the ideological cohesion of the Empire, it also reflected and reinforced the contradictions and hierarchies of gender and class in the Brazilian society of the Second Reign.