Paraguay, Asuncion.
News from the Chaco Region front quickly reached the Paraguayan presidential palace, greatly enraging Paraguay's current president, Gualtieri.
"The Bolivians have gone too far! This time, we must teach them a heavy lesson and let them know that Paraguay is no pushover either!"
At this time, Paraguay clearly could not yield. Since the Paraguayan War of the last century, Paraguay had been left with only 220,000 square kilometers of territory. Only by including the disputed area of North Chaco region under its control did it barely reach more than 300,000 square kilometers.
This meant that the area of North Chaco actually controlled by Paraguay accounted for nearly one-third of Paraguay's territory.
And that was only the part of North Chaco region controlled by Paraguay. The entire North Chaco region covered as much as 260,000 square kilometers, larger even than Paraguay's own 220,000 square kilometers of territory.
Any country facing such a situation would find it difficult to relinquish such enormous interests.
Facing the president's fury, Minister of Defense Jose said, "Mr. President, border clashes between us and Bolivia have already been rather intense over the years. This time, the Bolivians abandoned all martial honor and launched a sneak attack on the North Chaco region under our control."
"If we cannot drive out the invading Bolivians, it will be a disaster for Paraguay. We will lose more than half our territory."
What Minister of Defense Jose meant was naturally to treat the entire 260,000 square kilometers of North Chaco region as Paraguayan territory.
Minister of Finance Patricio also spoke with righteous conviction. "We have obtained relevant intelligence as well. Bolivia's large-scale invasion of Paraguay this time is because they discovered oil in the North Chaco region."
"Therefore, we absolutely cannot easily give up the North Chaco region. If we