Odaline de la Martinez was born in 1949 in Matanzas and grew up in Jovellanos, a cane-sugar manufacturing town in the same province.
In mid-January 1869, when there is news that Asuncion was invaded by allied forces, Jovellanos returns to Paraguay, at the age of thirty-six, along with Juan B. Gill, Jose Decoud, Juan Antonio Jara, Carlos Loizaga, Benigno Ferreira, Cayo Miltos and other citizens who were considered "expatriates".