Venancio was born in the 18th of May of 1830 in Asunción, being the second of the five children of Paraguayan leader Carlos Antonio López and his wife Juana Pabla Carrillo.

[1] From 1850 onwards he was named commander for the Paraguayan Army troops stationed in the capital (he was 20 years old), until his brother, Francisco Solano López, became president in 1862 in the aftermath of their father's death.

In May 1865, the Marshal named General Vicente Barrios as Minister of War - Venancio went back to Asunción, to once again command its garrison.

Most of the arrested were killed after sham-trials in the San Fernando massacre; according to documents of the time, Venancio was spared for showing regret for his role in the conspiracy.

[4] Venancio was tortured over the following months and, in one of the final deadly marches in the Campaign of the Hills in 1870, mere weeks before the Battle of Cerro Corá (which concluded the war), underfed, exhausted and shackled, he collapsed and was subsequently killed by an unknown Paraguayan officer.