Juan Bautista Rivarola Matto (12 November 1933 â 14 October 1991) was a Paraguayan journalist, narrator, essayist and playwright who made a great contribution to the culture despite being active during the repressive dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.
He was born in Asunción, on 12 November 1933 in the time of the Chaco War. He was the son of Octaviano Rivarola BogarÃÂn and his wife, Victorina Matto. He was a member of a family of former settlers of Paraguay, very attached to the traditions of the country, which he loved immensely.
He was a student of Juan Pedro Escalada and studied in the Colegio Seminario de San Carlos (San Carlos's Seminary School). He was a member of the armed groups that fought against the dictatorial government of General Alfredo Stroessner in the 1960s.
He studied law and philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires and dedicated a great part of his life to scholarship, focusing in history.
Since childhood he was always involved in riots and revolutions. When he was thirteen years old there was a civil war in 1947, in which he took part on behalf of the revolutionaries. Like many of his generation, he participated in the political activity of the country, and had to live in exile for more than two decades. He returned to Paraguay in 1979 and worked in journalism until he died in 14 October 1991, in Asunción.
In 1979, he returned to Paraguay to stay and started working as a journalist for the newspaper Hoy. In 1980, he co-founded Ediciones NAPA (NAPA Editions) with Alvaro Ayala; the firm closed after four years due to the economic problems in the country. It published forty-two Paraguayan books, opening the gates for Paraguayan writers. He also wrote articles and editorials for the newspaper ABC Color, traveled on several occasions to Europe, where he studied and attended conferences.
Some of his published work:
The latter two were awarded ten days after his death and published later in 1994.