Juan Belaieff

[2] When the Russian Civil War started in 1918, Belaieff joined the Volunteer Army under the command of Pyotr Wrangel.

[3] He was detached to the General Staff and founded the Engineering Department there, where he employed 12 Russian officers who arrived to Paraguay after him.

In October 1924, Belaieff was sent on a mission to the Gran Chaco, a vast and sparsely populated area on the west bank of the Paraguay river, which needed to be explored and mapped.

In total, Beliaeff led 13 expeditions to the Gran Chaco, which he mapped, and he also established good relations with the local indigenous Maká people population who held him in high esteem.

According to his will, after the memorial service his body was transported to the west bank of the Paraguay river, where the Gran Chaco region begins, and buried in a mausoleum inside a Maká reservation.