Jorge Sáenz’s Rompan filas (1996): On the Matter of Militarized Masculinity in Paraguay

Abstract

Jorge Sáenz’s (b.1958) photographic study of Paraguayan military schools for conscripts (1990–1996) was subsequently used by the Servicio de Paz y Justicia-Paraguay (SERPAJ-PY) in their political campaign to revise persistent practices of military conscription employed during the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship (1954–1989). This article examines the nature and strategies of those photographs, first published sporadically in the ABC daily and later gathered in the photobook Rompan filas (1996) as part of a more sustained engagement with military reform and the human rights record of (re)democratization in Paraguay.