Contrasena

Question

I can't seem to understand what this sentence is trying to say. I understand all the words, but the part that throws me off is " impusieron una contraseña en idioma..." I know that contrasena means password, but to say that they imposed a password on the guarani language doesn't make sense to me. Please help!

Cuenta la historia que cuando los revolucionarios paraguayos declararon la independencia de ese país de España, el 14 de mayo de 1811, impusieron una contraseña en idioma guaraní para permitir el ingreso a la residencia donde se conspiró contra el dominio español (ahora conocido como la Casa de la Independencia).

Interesting article though, here is the link if you're interested:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2011/05/110513_paraguay_guarani_idioma_dominante_independencia_jrg.shtml

Answer 1

They thought up a "Guarani" password to prohibit unauthorised entry to the residence.

Ha! I guess the way I was reading it was confusing me. But that totally cleared it up. Thanks eddy! - la-araña-discoteca, May 14, 2011