Early life and studies

Venancio was born in Asunción in 1862, to Venancio López Carrillo and Manuela Otazú Machaín. His father Venancio was Carlos Antonio López's son, and Francisco Solano López's brother; between them, the last two were Paraguay's heads of state between 1841 and 1870.^[1]

In 1864, the Triple Alliance War started, pitting Paraguay versus the much larger and populous nations of Brazil, Uruguay and, from 1865 onwards, Argentina. The conflict was mostly fought on Paraguayan soil and led to great destruction for the country; it ended in 1870, but the foreign occupation lasted until 1876, when the final border agreement with Argentina was signed.

His father Venancio died during the war. In the conflict's aftermath, his mother Manuela took him and his brothers, Ercilia and Carlos, to Buenos Aires, where he was educated, eventually becoming a Juris Doctor through the University of Buenos Aires' Faculty of Law.^[1]

Return to Asunción

Coming back to Paraguay in the late 1890s, he ended up marrying ex-president Higinio Uriarte's daughter, María del Carmen Uriarte Velilla; when she died, he remarried, taking as his spouse Victorina Viera.

He joined the Colorado Party soon after returning; it concentrated most of those who had been on Solano López' side during the war. During Juan Gualberto González's government, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held between 1890 and 1894;^[2] he also had held a seat in the Supreme Court between 1887 and 1888, and taught in the Universidad Nacional de Asunción.

Briefly, in 1899, he was made Minister of Justice, Religion and Education in Emilio Aceval's cabinet.^[3]

Later life and death

He died in 1927 in Buenos Aires.