Lebanese Paraguayans

The arrival of immigrants of Lebanese origin to Paraguay consisted of many people who have settled in this country, bringing their customs and way of life. Many were the reasons which prompted these people to leave their native Lebanon and migrate to several Latin American countries, with the aim to seek a better quality of life after the World War I and the Second World War. In modern day, the large amount of Lebanese immigrants to Paraguay reside in Ciudad del Este, alongside neighbor city Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil, which has a large population of Lebanese immigrants. Lebanon has an embassy in the city of Asunción, whilst Paraguay has an embassy in the city of Beirut.

After the First World War it passed to the hands of the French, from which it gained its independence on October 22, 1943, even though it declared its independence, the actions of the Second World War did not allow that this were fully effective until 1946. The intervention of Lebanon in the Arab-Israeli War 1948, its moral support to the Arabs in the Arab-Israeli War of Six Days (1967) and the arrival in the country of many Palestinians, have meant a constant hostility with neighboring Israel, first in 1970 and then in 1982, triggering the latter occasion in a bout in Beirut, which did not cease until the departure from Lebanon of Palestinian guerrillas. This situation resulted from immigration of many Lebanese in the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the century in search of a better perspective of life.

Their first destination was the harbour of Buenos Aires Argentina where they arrived without even speaking Spanish and without knowing its customs. But they did not take much to adapt and strive to rebuild a decent life, forming households and having children without forgetting their roots. They were organized in groups and communities, in order to find the best place to settle. Following trips by rivers or on trains until they came to Paraguay and then distributed in various places of the country where trade could be a prominent occupation. They settle in Asunción, the country's capital, and also in Concepción, Villa del Rosario, Villarrica, Itacurubí del Rosario, Itacurubí de la Cordillera, Encarnación, San Estanislao, Pedro Juan Caballero, Caraguatay and other cities. Mixing with Paraguayan society and after much effort and work they could open shops, factories or cultivate the land.

The majority of Lebanese-Paraguayans are Christians who belong to the Maronite Church, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Melkite Catholic. A scant number are Muslims. In addition to being of Lebanese descent, there are Paraguayans of Syrian and Palestinian origin as well. From the 1970s, Sunni Muslim Arabs moved to the Ciudad del Este. This changed in the 1980s to Shia Muslim Arabs from South Lebanon.