Francisco Solano López (politician)
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Francisco Solano López (24 July 1826 – 1 March 1870) was president of Paraguay from 1862 until his death in 1870. He was the eldest son of president Carlos Antonio López, whom he succeeded. Considered ambitious, perhaps arrogant, and possibly insane, Solano López is widely regarded as being responsible for the War of the Triple Alliance, which led to his death.
Solano López was born near Asunción. He was made commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan army by his father, in 1846, during the spasmodic hostilities then prevailing with Argentina. He was sent in 1853 as minister plenipotentiary to Britain, France and Italy, and spent a year and a half in Europe. He purchased large quantities of arms and military supplies, together with several steamers, and organized a project for building a railroad and establishing a French colony in Paraguay. In 1853, he met Parisian courtesan Eliza Lynch. López fell in love with her and brought her with him back to Paraguay. There she was his mistress and de-facto first lady till his death, strongly influencing his later ambitious schemes. In Paris he also developed an interest in Napoleon.
Returning to Paraguay, he became Minister of War in 1855. When his father died in 1862, his will stipulated that López assume the reins of government as vice-president. López then called a congress that chose him as president for ten years. In 1864, in his self-styled capacity of protector of the equilibrium of the region, he demanded that Brazil should abandon her armed interference in a revolutionary struggle then in progress in Uruguay. When Brazil did not respond, he seized a Brazilian merchant steamer in the harbour of Asunción and imprisoned the Brazilian governor of the province of Mato Grosso, who was on board. In the following month (December 1864) he dispatched a force to invade Mato Grosso, which seized and sacked its capital Cuiabá and took possession of the province and its diamond mines.
López next sought to send an army to aid the Uruguayan president Atanasio Aguirre against a revolutionary aspirant named Flores, who was supported by Brazilian troops. Because Argentine President Bartolomé Mitre refused to allow this force to cross the intervening province of Corrientes, López decided to wage war on Argentina. A hastily summoned congress composed of López's own nominees bestowed the title of marshal upon him and gave him extraordinary war powers. On 13 April 1865, he declared war, seizing two Argentine war vessels in the Bay of Corrientes. The next day, he occupied the town of Corrientes, instituted a provisional government of his Argentine partisans, and announced that Paraguay had annexed Corrientes Province and Entre Ríos Province. Meanwhile, in Uruguay, Flores' party had gained power and on April 18 united with Argentina to declare war on Paraguay. On 1 May, Brazil joined these two countries in a secret alliance (the Treaty of the Triple Alliance), which stipulated that they should unitedly pursue the war until the existing government of Paraguay was overthrown, "until no arms or elements of war should be left to it." This agreement was literally carried out.
The war which ensued, lasting until 1 March 1870, was carried on with great stubbornness and with alternating fortunes, though López's disasters steadily increased. In 1868, when the allies were pressing him hard, he convinced himself that his Paraguayan supporters had actually formed a conspiracy against his life. Thereupon several hundred prominent Paraguayan citizens were seized and executed by his order, including his brothers and brothers-in-law, cabinet ministers, judges, prefects, military officers, bishops and priests, and nine-tenths of the civil officers, together with more than two hundred foreigners, among them several members of the diplomatic legations (the San Fernando massacres). During this time he also had his mother flogged and ordered her execution, and also attempted to have himself canonized by the local bishops. López was at last driven with a mere handful of troops to the northern frontier of Paraguay, where, in the Battle of Cerro Corá on 1 March 1870, he was surprised by a Brazilian force and killed by a grenadier as he tried to escape by swimming the river Aquidaban.
There is a debate within Paraguay as to whether he was a fearless leader who led his troops to the end, or whether he foolishly led Paraguay into a war which it could never possibly win, and which nearly eliminated the country from the map. This debate was not helped by the revisionist stance taken by the Stroessner regime, regarding national history. Conversely, he is considered by some Latin Americans as a champion for the rights of smaller nations against the aggressions of more powerful neighbours.
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- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
| Preceded by Mariano González |
Vice President of Paraguay 1854-1862 |
Succeeded by Francisco Domingo Sánchez |
| Preceded by Carlos Antonio López |
President of Paraguay 1862-1870 |
Succeeded by Cirilo Antonio Rivarola |
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