Francisco Solano López led Paraguay into the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay — a conflict that killed an estimated 60–70% of Paraguay's total population and over 90% of its adult male population, leaving the country effectively depopulated. That López was commemorated on a coin at all reflects the nationalist rehabilitation of his image under the Stroessner dictatorship, which cast him as a martyred patriot rather than the architect of national catastrophe.
Francisco Solano López led Paraguay into the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay — a conflict that killed an estimated 60–70% of Paraguay's total population and over 90% of its adult male population, leaving the country effectively depopulated. That López was commemorated on a coin at all reflects the nationalist rehabilitation of his image under the Stroessner dictatorship, which cast him as a martyred patriot rather than the architect of national catastrophe.