Juan Manuel de Rosas

Rosas married Encarnación Ezcurra on March 16, 1813. She played an important part in shaping Rosas’ career and was probably her husband’s most trusted lieutenant. The couple had a son named Juan Bautista and a daughter named Manuela. Both the children followed their father into exile.

In England Rosas became a tenant farmer and lived in moderate comfort. He died on March 14, 1877 from an attack of pneumonia and was buried in Southampton. He was at that time, the most hated person in Argentina. Later a Revisionist movement tried unsuccessfully to improve his image.

Further attempt to improve his image was made in 1980s. His remains were not only repatriated to Argentina in 1989 and buried in a family vault, his images too began to appear on bank notes and postage stamps. He now has a monument and a railway station named after him.

Juan Manuel de Rosas was born on March 30, 1793 in Buenos Aires. His father León Ortiz de Rosas was a military officer; he also owned large tract of land. His mother Agustina López de Osornio was a strong willed woman from a wealthy family.

Juan, who was the eldest of the couple’s twelve children, was greatly influenced by his mother. In the beginning, he was educated at home. At the age of eight, he was enrolled at a private school. However, he was not a very studious boy; but he did take interest in French absolutism.

In 1806, British force sinvaded Argentina to take control of the basin of the Rio de Plata (River Plate) and occupied Buenos Aires for forty six days. At that time Juan was thirteen years old. Too young to take direct part in the battle, Juan took the job of distributing ammunitions to the soldiers.

Although the British were defeated in this war they again attacked in 1807. This time, Juan was assigned to the Caballería de los Migueletes; however, there was no record of his taking active duty. This time too, the British were repelled.

After the war, the Rosas family, who had hitherto been living at Buenos Aires, shifted to their ranch. Here he mixed freely with the ‘gauchos’ who worked in their estancia and often dressed like them; but he never let them forget that he was their boss.

Juan Manual de Rosa first opened a meat salting plant called Los Cerrillos. His organizational skills as well as use of non traditional approach in labor management resulted in early success. He next began to acquire land and very soon became a landowner in his own right.

By now, Argentine War of Independence had begun and in July 1816, all ties with Spain were severed. However, a unified Argentina was still a far cry. A civil war broke out between the Province of Buenos Aires and the rest over provincial autonomy. It was actually a struggle between the Unitarians and Federalists.

In 1820, Rosas along with his gauchos enlisted in the Unitarian army of Buenos Aires as the Fifth Regiment of Militia. Because of their red uniform, they began to be known as Colorados del Monte. They were able to repulse the approaching provincial army and save Buenos Aires.

After the war, Rosas went back to his estancia. Thankful for his service, the government promoted him to cavalry colonel and also gifted him more land. Very soon, he created a powerbase of his own and began to be considered a caudillo.

Meanwhile, he continued acquiring more land and by 1830, he became one of the ten largest landholders in the province. He now owned 420,000 acres and had a vast army of loyal gauchos under his command.

As Rosas began to gain influence, struggle between the Unitarians and the Federalists began to intensify. Although he had earlier fought with the Unitarians, in 1826, he joined the Federalist Party.

In 1827, he instigated a revolt against the Unitarian government established at Buenos Aires, because he felt that government policies were detrimental to the interests of Buenos Aires. He was of the opinion that the Federalist, which advocated provincial autonomy, would be beneficial for the province.

In the same year, Rosas played an important part in appointing Federalist leader Manuel Dorrego as the governor of Buenos Aires. In return, Rosas was promoted to the post of General Commander of the rural militia. It increased his influence even further.

In 1828, Dorrego was killed by a Unitarian coup and with that vacuum was created in the Federalist leadership. Rosas stepped in immediately to fill the space.

He next allied with other influential caudillos and in April 1829, defeated the Unitarian leader Lavalle at the Battle of Márquez Bridge. In November 1829, he entered the city of Buenos Aires amid great welcome and on December 6, 1829, he was elected Governor of the province by its House of Representatives.