Juan Facundo Quiroga (1788 – February 16, 1835) was an
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
caudilloCaudillo is a Spanish word usually describing a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. It is usually translated into English as "leader" or "chief," or more pejoratively as warlord, "dictator" or "strongman". Caudillo was the term used to refer the charismatic populist...
(charismatic leader) who supported
federalismA federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
at the time when the country was still in formation.
Early years
Quiroga was born in San Antonio, La Rioja, the son of a traditional but impoverished Riojan family of cattle breeders. He was sent at a young age to
San JuanSan Juan is the capital city of the Argentine province of San Juan in the Cuyo region, located in the Tulúm Valley, west of the San Juan River, at above mean sea level, with a population of around 112,000 as per the ....
to be educated. Early in his life, he became a problem child, and escaped from school. During his wandering in the desert between San Juan and La Rioja, he encountered and successfully killed a Cougar, thus earning him the nickname
El Tigre de los Llanos ("the Tiger of the Plains", after the Riojan region of birth).
After the
May RevolutionThe May Revolution was a series of revolutionary political and social events that took place during the early nineteenth century in the city of Buenos Aires, capitol of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a colony of the Spanish Crown which at the time contained the present-day nations of...
proclaimed the self-rule of the country, Quiroga tried to enter the independentist army, and with this in mind, he travelled to
San LuisSan Luis is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan.-History:...
to enter the
Granaderos a Caballo Regiment, led by General
José de San MartínJosé Francisco de San Martín Matorras, also known as José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain....
, which was recruiting there, but he was imprisoned and eventually expelled due to his bad temper.
He moved back to La Rioja and became a businessman, until 1820, when the central government of
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
fell and the province became autonomous.
Ruler of La Rioja and federalist leader
Quiroga entered the provincial army and quickly rose to its command, gaining control of the government through his
charismaThe word charisma refers to a trait found in persons whose personalities are characterized by a personal charm and magnetism , along with innate and powerfully sophisticated abilities of interpersonal communication and persuasion...
. During the time of the Constitutional Congress of 1824, Quiroga led its forces through the
AndeanThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
provinces to oppose the centralist tendencies of
PresidentThe President of Argentina is the head of state of Argentina...
Bernardino RivadaviaBernardino de la Trinidad Gónzalez Rivadavia y Rivadavia was the first president of Argentina, from February 8 1826 to July 7 1827....
and the officers of the National Army, which were carring away a compulsory levy for the upcoming
Argentina-Brazil WarThe Argentina-Brazil War was an armed conflict over an area known as Banda Oriental or "Eastern Strip" in the 1820s between the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and Empire of Brazil in the aftermath of the United Provinces' emancipation from Spain.-Background:Against the background of...
(1825–1827). Thus, under the flag of
Religión o Muerte (Religion or Death), he overthrew the centralist government of San Juan shortly after the central government signed a treaty with
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
by which religious freedom was established.
After the Brazilian war, the officers of the returning army (of centralist tendencies, known as
unitarios) deposed the federalist governments in an attempt to restore the centralised rule of
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. General
José María PazGeneral Brigadier José María Paz y Haedo was an Argentine military figure, notable in the independence of Argentina.-Childhood:...
took over its province of Córdoba and his officers campaigned through the interior provinces. Quiroga tried to oppose them, but without success, and after defeat in the Battle of La Tablada, he went into self-imposed exile in Buenos Aires. From there, where the coup was quickly defeated, Quiroga led an army towards Córdoba but was defeated in the Battle of Oncativo by Paz's more disciplined forces. Quiroga decided not to give up and tried a more ambitious attempt, marching through territories still occupied by native aboriginals, in order to bypass Córdoba, and attack directly
MendozaMendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...
, where it succeeded. He took his campaign north along the Andean provinces, until he finally defeated General
Gregorio Aráoz de LamadridComandante General Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid was an Argentine military leader and, briefly, governor of several provinces like Córdoba, Mendoza and his native province of Tucumán.Lamadrid fought beside General Belgrano and General San Martín during the Argentine War of Independence, as a prominent...
, who led the last remaining unitary forces, in
SaltaSalta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...
.
After the war, Quiroga established himself as one of the leaders of federalism in Argentina (along with
Juan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de Rosas , was a conservative Argentine politician who governed the Buenos Aires Province from 1829 to 1832 and again, from 1835 to 1852...
and the caudillo of
Santa FeThe Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe, is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
,
Estanislao LópezEstanislao López was a governor and caudillo of the , between 1818 and 1838, a hero of provincial federalism and an ally of Juan Manuel de Rosas....
), although he declared in his correspondence with Rosas that his ideas were in fact unitarian, but that he became a champion of federalism because people wanted federalism.
Quiroga's death and its consequences
In 1834, Quiroga was appointed by the governor of Buenos Aires (and Representative of Foreign Relations of the Argentine Confederation)
Manuel Vicente MazaManuel Vicente Maza was an Argentine lawyer and federal politician.Even though Maza was born in Buenos Aires, he finished his university studies in Law at the Universidad de Santiago in Chile....
to mediate between the governors of
TucumánFor the city of Tucumán, capital of the province, see: San Miguel de TucumánTucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring...
and
SaltaSalta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...
, but Salta governor De la Torre died before Quiroga could arrive. He was advised that there were plans to murder him on his way back, but Quiroga, disregarding the advice, returned to Buenos Aires through the same way. At
Barranca YacoThe Barranca de Yaco or Barranca Yaco is a geographical feature in the ancient camino real of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, located between Villa Tulumba and Sinsacate, in Argentina....
, a desolated place between Córdoba and
Santiago del EsteroSantiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:...
, a party of gunmen stopped the carriage in which he travelled. Quiroga, confident in his charisma and that his mere presence and resolution would discourage the attackers, appeared through the carriage door and shouted at the gunmen, frightening most of them. Their leader, Santos Pérez, however, shot him dead.
The political crime created a huge crisis in all the Confederation, forcing Maza to resign, and led to the establishment of Rosas' government. Rosas, as the Confederation leader, led the criminal investigation that ended with the prosecution of the governor of Córdoba José Vicente Reinafé, and his brother as the intellectual perpetrators of the crime. They were hanged along with Santos Pérez in Buenos Aires.
Today, some historians believe that the actual person responsible for Quiroga's death was Rosas himself, who used the crime to return to power. However, other historians state that there is no proof of that, and that Quiroga's death did not help Rosas at all.
In 1845,
Domingo F. SarmientoDomingo Faustino Sarmiento Albarracín was an Argentine activist, intellectual, and writer, and the seventh President of Argentina. His writing spanned a wide range of genres and topics, from journalism to autobiography, to political philosophy and history...
wrote
Facundo, Civilization and BarbarismFacundo: Civilization and Barbarism is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the seventh president of Argentina...
, a book that reviews the influence of
caudillo leaders, which he defines as "
barbarism- * Barbarism , the condition to which a society or civilization may be reduced after a societal collapse, relative to an earlier period of cultural or technological advancement; the term may also be used pejoratively to describe another society or civilization which is deemed inferior in some...
", in the Argentine political and social life, but also as a protest to Rosas' regime, and a call for
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an education and life style.
Quiroga was buried in
La Recoleta CemeteryLa Recoleta Cemetery is a famous cemetery located in the exclusive Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The layout of the cemetery was designed by the French engineer Próspero Catelin, and was remodeled in 1881, while Torcuato de Alvear was mayor of the city, by the Italian architect...
in
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
External links