Aimé Bonpland was a French explorer who in 1821 came to Paraguay and created his own colony growing and harvesting yerba maté, the herb used to make the national drink of Paraguay. The leader at the time feared his colony would eventually have great success in Paraguay so at the end of the same year he was arrested on suspicion of being a spy and was imprisoned in Santa Maria for 10 years.
Many students from the whole district attended the meeting where numerous people gave speeches on this topic.
