During this time, the use of weapons was a fundamental element to settle political and social disputes. The rebellions of Chacho Peñaloza, Felipe Varela, Santos Guayama, López Jordán, the revolutions of 1874 and 1880, or the expedition know as the “Conquest of the Desert”, served as means to express diverse interests from and against a national State still in progress and with the difficulty of creating a national army.

These conflicts brought several consequences: over 300.000 casualties in the Paraguay War (1864-1870) and the propagation of multiple diseases like dysentery, malaria, cholera and yellow fever. This last one was considered one of the deadliest with approximately 14.000 losses, and put to evidence the deficient conditions of housing and the sanitary system. This implied a major challenge in health, urban sanitation, funeral services and transportation systems. In this complex context, the first action derived in the creation of the “Popular Commision of Sanitation”, with a bracelet as its main emblem.