In terms of wars, few conflagrations have had a proportionally more devastating impact on a country as the War of the Triple Alliance in the 19th century, which killed off upward of 90 percent of Paraguay's male population and set the tone for relations between the landlocked nation and its two main foes in the conflict, Brazil and Argentina. The bloodshed is long in the past, but Paraguay remains caught between its larger neighbors. Its position as a buffer state between them means that it remains largely at the mercy of the governments in Brasilia and Buenos Aires on matters of trade . Now, however, it appears as if the government in Asuncion has found a way to make itself an industrial hub of Latin America's southern cone by encouraging companies from north and south to ditch the comforts of home and set up shop in Paraguay.