Paraguay's internal political vacuum had at first been dominated by survivors of the Paraguayan Legion.

This group of exiles, based in Buenos Aires, had regarded Solano Lopéz as a mad tyrant and had fought for the allies during the war.

The group had set up a provisional government in 1869 mainly under Brazilian auspices and had signed the 1870 peace accords, which guaranteed Paraguay's independence and free river navigation.

A constitution was also promulgated in the same year, but it proved ineffective because of the foreign origin of its liberal, democratic tenets.

After the last foreign troops have gone in 1876 and an arbitral award to Paraguay of the area between the Rio Verde and Rio Pilcomayo by an international commission headed by Rutherford B. Hayes, United States president, the era of party politics in Paraguay is free to begin in earnest.

Nonetheless, the evacuation of foreign forces does not mean the end of foreign influence.

Both Brazil and Argentina remain deeply involved in Paraguay because of their connections with Paraguay's rival political forces.

These forces eventually come to be known as the Colorados and the Liberals.