The Empress of South America

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The extraordinary, true story of Eliza Lynch, an Irish courtesan in Paris, who destroyed Latin America's wealthiest country -- and became its national heroine. Born in Ireland in the 1840s, Elizabeth Lynch left the country as a young girl, fleeing the potato famine with her parents. As a young woman, she became one of Paris's most celebrated courtesans until she was persuaded by the son of the dictator of Paraguay to leave Paris for South America where he promised he would make her Empress of the entire continent. In Asuncion, they embarked on a program of extravagant building and acquisition (Eliza's collection of jewelry was legendary), entertaining (Eliza was known to attend balls dressed as Elizabeth 1) and, finally, war. Paraguay declared war on a coalition that included not only all the other states in South America, but also the USA, France and Britain. By the time their reign was over, Paraguay's populated had been devastated. Eliza died in poverty in Paris. Buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery, her corpse was dug up at dead of night in 1961 and smuggled back to Paraguay, where general Stroessner planned, despite the condemnation of the Church, to make her the centre of an Evita-style cult. Her body lies there to this day.