Death of Francisco Solano López by the River Aquidabán, during the Battle of Cerro Corá

The Battle of Cerro Corá (or Aquidabanigui) was the last battle of the Paraguayan War, fought on 1 March 1870, in the vicinity of Cerro Corá, 454 kilometers northeast of Paraguay's capital Asunción. It is known for being the battle in which Francisco Solano López, Paraguayan president, was killed at the hands of the Imperial Brazilian Army.

The Paraguayan War was dragging on for more than five years and, after numerous battles, the Paraguayan army had been reduced to the elderly, the sick and children. The battle of Acosta Ñu was the last major combat of the war, which from then on was restricted to occasional skirmishes in the final months of 1869 and beginning of 1870. During this period, the Count of Eu, the allied commander-in-chief, organized expeditions in search of Solano López, following the path his column had taken. Along the way, López's and Eu's men made the civilian population suffer, either because of alleged conspiracies against López, or because of the looting and mistreatment inflicted by imperial troops. On 8 February 1870, López and his column reached Cerro Corá.

Conditions in the camp were deplorable, with the five hundred people who accompanied López in extreme hunger. In Cerro Corá, one head of cattle was slaughtered a day to feed everyone. The defensive positions organized by López were deficient, and to this was added the weak armament present. Brazilian troops, with about 2,600 men under the command of general José Antônio Correia da Câmara, approached and surrounded the camp, without López's knowledge. On 1 March they attacked on two sides: from the front and from the rear. The two defensive points, on the Tacuara and Aquidaban streams, quickly fell and the assault on the camp lasted a few minutes, with the resistance dispersing soon after.

López was surrounded by the Brazilians and, after refusing to surrender, was wounded with a spear by corporal Francisco Lacerda, fleeing into the forest soon after. General Câmara followed him and found him close to the Aquidaban stream, where he again refused to surrender, being shot by João Soares. The facts surrounding his death are shrouded in disagreements and inaccuracies. The battle ended soon after, with about 100 Paraguayans killed, 240 captured and seven Brazilians wounded. Time has given rise to interpretations of López's figure, portraying him both as a cruel tyrant and as a great Paraguayan leader. Over the years, the name Cerro Corá would become part of Paraguayan culture, baptizing streets, buildings, the park, in addition to being the title of a feature film from 1978, whose production became an outstanding work in the country.

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  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I just saw an advert on Twitch of a gamer getting a chocolate milk and then doing a fortnite dance...

    Video games were a mistake

    • Dryad [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Twitch has gotta be the worst of g*mer culture. It's just so dire. Whenever I go there I get this intense foreboding feeling, like I start to think "what are you doing with your life" and like alarm sirens start blaring in my ears. I swear it's some kind of eldritch entity designed to devour your soul or something

      • Asa_the_Red [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Its a website specifically designed to commodify friendship by forming parasocial relationships between content creators and children. I mean every social media site does this to some extent, but twitch is on a whole nother level. Like, why would you watch a 4 hour long live webcam video of a person sitting at their computer, unless you felt like you were actually interacting with this person in a meaningful way? No matter what theyre talking about it cannot actually be that interesting.

        Every so often there might be something worth watching, like a special livestream event or fundraiser or whatever, but I cant imagine casually watching someone like Hasan or Keffals every single day without a strong amount of emotional investment within the viewer driving them to do so.

        • CTHlurker [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I use Twitch because I am not allowed to play video games at work and it sort of sates the urge to play. Also because I am shit at most videogames and watching people be really good at something is relaxing and cool. Same reason why I really like watching speedruns :only-good-gamer:

          • Asa_the_Red [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Hey you do you, I just can't see how theres any reason to choose twitch over youtube if all you're doing is watching video game play throughs. The ability for them to edit things down and the viewer to skip parts that drag seems way better than watching it live. Though its definitely better for watching newly released games.

            • CTHlurker [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              I mostly do it because I can't have sound on, and youtube tends to put more emphasis on sound for the edited experience. I'm not exactly allowed to put headphones on and just watch youtube (at least while the boss is looking) and with Twitch I can watch with no sound and let the gameplay play out.