Goya, History and Passion Around 3,000 BC, various migratory currents arrived in what today is the Argentinian territory. Descendents from the Caribbean Indians -the
Guaraníes- got to the area in question. They would belong to the great
tupi-guaraní linguistic family, which includes a large part of South America. However, they did not occupy vast extensions of land in our country. They settled down in the surroundings of the Paraná, Uruguay and Iguazú Rivers and other water sources in the region, on the easternmost islands of the Delta of the Paraná and in those located closer to its mouth. Also, in the North of the Province of
Corrientes and in a small part of Salta's Chaco. The rainforest would supply them with everything they needed to live: food, clothes, medicine and shelter.
Guaraní means warrior. Tupa was their god. They did not have temples or idols. Tupa was in nature, in the breeze and in the sounds of the rainforest. They loved the music and had good knowledge of zoology, botanics and medicine. The
Guaraníes were half-nomades and polygamous. They did not worship any idols and ate what nature gave them. During the Spanish colonization period, the City of
Goya emerged as a settlement in the XVIII century, motivated by the progressive tasks of commerce through the Paraná River, which was a canal for the significant agricultural and livestock production brought from Paraguay towards the South and arriving in the port of
Buenos Aires, from where it was shipped, that is to say exported, mainly to Europe. This port movement began to summon people, mainly Creole
“paisanos”, who had dwelled non-flooded areas across which the so-called Royal Road had been outlined, with its stops on the way from Buenos Aires to
Corrientes and Asunción. Thus, this village grew little by little and, in time, it would become Goya Port. By pure chance, Bernardo Olivera and his wife Gregoria Morales had resolved to settle down to the South of the Santa Lucía River, in the surroundings of
Reducción de Santa Lucía de los Astos, only civilized and evangelized site in the area in those days. Here, in these latitudes, they built their dwelling right on the banks of the Paraná Miní River. Olivera made himself present before the Royal Town Council to ask to be granted “an empty uncultivated and uninhabited piece of land to be able to raise cattle, in order to support his large family... lands that are located on the other margin, called Santa Lucía, on the banks of the Paraná River (that is to say, Paraná Miní)”. This petition was heard by the Corrientes Town Council, which granted the land requested was granted in “mercy” to one of its subjects till that moment, in August 29, 1771. According to records, Goya was never founded. This means no traditional ceremony of Spanish conquest and colonization was ever fulfilled. It was declared city in 1852 and it was named after the settler mentioned above,
doña Gregoria Morales de Olivera (
doña Goya), who had a general store and was famous for the cheese she made. Some of the historical milestones that have made the City of Goya famous include the story of Camila O’Gorman, who was the protagonist of a famous tragedy during Juan Manuel de Rosas' administration. Daughter of Adolfo O'Gorman y Périchon de Vandeuil, her mother was Juaquina Ximénez y Pinto. Her grandmother was Ana Perichon's, well-known “friend” of Santiago de Liniers', who reconquered Buenos Aires. Camila was born in Buenos Aires in 1828. She was nineteen years old when she met Ladislao Gutiérrez, priest of the
Socorro Church who had arrived from Tucumán. The young lady would sing in the religious services and welcome the priest in her home. Spiritual kin turned into love and the couple resolved to elope in December 11, 1847, towards San Fernando, under the names of Valentina Desan and Maximo Brandier. Once there, with the complicity of a boat owner, they embarked towards Goya, Corrientes, while they were being chased by request of Camila's father. But their fate was written. The forces of the government found them and took them prisoners. In the cold dawn of August 18, 1848, Camila O’Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez were executed. The bodies of the lovers managed to perpetuate a hug whose nature had made them lose their lives.