Obdulio Barthe

He completed his primary studies in his hometown of Encarnación, Paraguay. He then completed his secondary and university studies in Asunción. In his youth, he began to commune with the ideals of anarchism, influenced by Rafael Barrett. In 1920, at the age of 17, in the Uruguayan Plaza of Asunción, he made his first political speech in front of a popular demonstration, which earned him his first stay in prison.

In 1928 and 1929, he participated in the foundation of the Popular University and the New National Ideary, respectively. In 1931 he participated in the taking of Encarnación, as part of an attempted anarchist revolution. In 1934, he joined the Paraguayan Communist Party, at the Lobos Congress, and formed part of the Central Committee. In 1936, in the midst of February Revolution, he founded the National Confederation of Workers, which supported the government of Rafael Franco. In the course of the civil war Barthe ordered the execution of prisoners.

From 1940 to 1945, he lived underground and then left the country. In 1946, with the democratic restoration, he returned to the country to once more join in with the activities of the Paraguayan Communist Party. He participated in the civil war of 1947, and then was exiled to the Argentina In the year 1978 he was elected as Secretary-General of the Paraguayan Communist Party, a position he held until his death in 1981, in Buenos Aires.