Page "History of Paraguay" Paragraph 102

Outside Paraguay, the February revolt seemed to be a paradox because it overthrew the politicians who had won the war.

The soldiers, veterans, students, and others who revolted felt, however, that victory had come despite the Liberal government.

Promising a national and social revolution, the Revolutionary Febrerista Party ( Partido Revolucionario Febrerista, PRF ), more commonly known as the Febreristas, brought Colonel Franco back from exile in Argentina to be president.

The Franco government showed it was serious about social justice by expropriating more than 200, 000 hectares of land and distributing it to 10, 000 peasant families.

In addition, the new government guaranteed workers the right to strike and established an eight-hour work day.

Perhaps the government's most lasting contribution affected national consciousness.

In a gesture calculated to rewrite history and erase seven decades of national shame, Franco declared Solano López a national hero " sin ejemplar " ( without precedent ) because he had stood up to foreign threats, and sent a team to Cerro Corá to find his unmarked grave.

The government buried his remains along with those of his father in a chapel designated the National Pantheon of Heroes, and later erected a monument to him on Asunción's highest hill.