Roque Ferreyra
Encyclopedia
Roque Ferreyra was an Argentine
politician, twice Governor
of Córdoba Province
.
and a prosperous businessman. He supported the revolution of 1840 against governor Manuel López and was arrested, but benefited from an amnesty and did not involve himself in politics until the fall of López in 1852.
From 1852 he was a provincial legislator and earned the respect of the provincial governor Alejo del Carmen Guzmán, becoming president of the legislature.
. On 16 August a new provincial constitution
was approved, based on the constitutions of Mendoza Province
and Chile
. It was ratified by the Confederation's Congress on 19 September and instituted on 30 November 1855.
One important measure was the institution of a municipal reorganization in September 1856, augmenting the number of departments
in the province to give the administration more efficiency in governing and managing, the Punilla Department
was divided in two, giving origin to the Cruz del Eje Department
(1856).
The following year local authorities were elected, and the Capital's municipal government was put in place on 9 July 1857, with its first president Juan Posse. On 3 January 1858 the Municipality of Río Cuarto
was organized, with its new president Adolfo Ortiz.
Governor Ferreyra organized the civilian night guards corps in the provincial capital, and the first police force, separated from the army. He was preoccupied on the interior of the province and its affairs, travelling there on numerous occasions, leaving governmental control to his seconds Gumersindo Asúnsulo, José Alejo Román and Tomás Garzón.
Córdoba Province had big population growth during his tenure. The census
of March 1857 showed a total of 137,079 inhabitants in the province, 26,540 more than in the 1852 census.
Reaching the end of his term as governor there were many disputes between the main political factions increasing daily to nominate a successor. On 23 May 1858, the provincial congress nominated Mariano Fragueiro as governor.
, along with Manuel D. Pizarro, Félix de la Peña
and Justiniano Posse. With the fall or Fragueiro in 1860, victim of his double play of support and opposition to the federal government, Posse took control of the province, and tilted the government to a decided support of the policies of Buenos Aires
. Even after the federal intervention of President Santiago Derqui
, his group reached power with Posse, after the Battle of Pavón
and the short tenure of Marcos Paz
.
Ferreyra did not show himself in the forefront of local politics until Posse's resignation, in June 1863, victim of the confrontations between federals and Unitarians in the province. Córdoba's federalism was not finally defeated until the end of the 1860s; and then it did not disappear, but joined some other minority factions to form the National Autonomist Party
, which would govern without opposition until 1916.
After Posse's resignation, the legislature elected his minister Benigno Ocampo in his place, which overtook Ferreyra by one vote.
In March 1865 there was a unitarian revolution instigated by Posse. It was quickly defeated and Posse was arrested and an officer who was not certain of final victory had him shot. As the opposition, and also the government accused Ferreyra of having caused Posse's death, he requested the visit of the federal Interior Minister, Guillermo Rawson
, to testify for his innocence. Rawson instead asked for Ferreyra's resignation, not for considering guilty, but for thinking him a strong ally of president Mitre
. Ferreyra refused to resign.
Soon after the war with Paraguay
started and he sent several battalions to the front. While the unitarians had enlisted voluntarily, the opposition to the war by the federalists caused several units to rebel along the way to the front. The battalion that protected the government in the provincial capital also mutinied and refused to go to war. It was then dissolved and its soldiers forced to march with other units, some of them in chains.
In July 1866, the provincial army commander, Simón Luengo, led a revolution that deposed Ferreyra.
– and the governor Mateo Luque provoked the military intervention of the province by federal troops, and at the end of 1867 the unitarians would return to power, with governor Félix de la Peña
.
In his last years in politics, Ferreyra joined the Autonomist Party, which reached power with governor Enrique Rodríguez. Ferreyra, disenchanted with him, left politics altogether, and died in Córdoba in 1885.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
politician, twice Governor
Governor of Córdoba
This is a list of the Governors of Córdoba. The Governor of the Argentine province of Córdoba is the highest executive officer of the province.-See also:*Politics of Argentina*Córdoba Province...
of Córdoba Province
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
.
Biography
Ferreyra was a member of the Federal PartyFederales (Argentina)
Federales was the name under which the supporters of federalism in Argentina were known, opposing the Unitarios that claimed a centralised government of Buenos Aires Province, with no participation of the other provinces of the custom taxes benefits of the Buenos Aires port...
and a prosperous businessman. He supported the revolution of 1840 against governor Manuel López and was arrested, but benefited from an amnesty and did not involve himself in politics until the fall of López in 1852.
From 1852 he was a provincial legislator and earned the respect of the provincial governor Alejo del Carmen Guzmán, becoming president of the legislature.
First term as governor
On 17 June 1855 he was elected Governor of Córdoba Province, assuming the post on 21 June. One of the first tasks he had to take was to maintain institutional order in the province in the midst of a civil warArgentine Civil War
The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of internecine wars that took place in Argentina from 1814 to 1876. These conflicts were separate from the Argentine War of Independence , though they first arose during this period....
. On 16 August a new provincial constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
was approved, based on the constitutions of Mendoza Province
Mendoza Province
The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. It was ratified by the Confederation's Congress on 19 September and instituted on 30 November 1855.
One important measure was the institution of a municipal reorganization in September 1856, augmenting the number of departments
Departments of Argentina
Departments form the second level of administrative division in the provinces of Argentina. There are no departments in the city of Buenos Aires, which has so far been divided into neighbourhoods as its administrative divisions, but is to be divided now into communes by a recently passed local act...
in the province to give the administration more efficiency in governing and managing, the Punilla Department
Punilla Department
The Punilla Department is an administrative division of the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Its has over 155,000 inhabitants, with a population density of almost 60 inhabitants/km².-Settlements:*Bialet Massé*Cabalango*Capilla del Monte*Casa Grande...
was divided in two, giving origin to the Cruz del Eje Department
Cruz del Eje Department
Cruz del Eje Department is a department of Córdoba Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 52,172 inhabitants in an area of 6,653 km², and its capital city is Cruz del Eje, which is located around 861 km from Capital Federal.-Settlements:* Alto de Los Quebrachos*...
(1856).
The following year local authorities were elected, and the Capital's municipal government was put in place on 9 July 1857, with its first president Juan Posse. On 3 January 1858 the Municipality of Río Cuarto
Río Cuarto, Córdoba
-References:* - Official website....
was organized, with its new president Adolfo Ortiz.
Governor Ferreyra organized the civilian night guards corps in the provincial capital, and the first police force, separated from the army. He was preoccupied on the interior of the province and its affairs, travelling there on numerous occasions, leaving governmental control to his seconds Gumersindo Asúnsulo, José Alejo Román and Tomás Garzón.
Córdoba Province had big population growth during his tenure. The census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of March 1857 showed a total of 137,079 inhabitants in the province, 26,540 more than in the 1852 census.
Reaching the end of his term as governor there were many disputes between the main political factions increasing daily to nominate a successor. On 23 May 1858, the provincial congress nominated Mariano Fragueiro as governor.
Provincial crisis
In the years that followed, he was one of the most prominent leaders of Córdoba's UnitarianismUnitarian Party
Unitarianists or Unitarians were the proponents of the concept of a Unitary state in Buenos Aires during the civil wars which shortly followed the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816. They were opposed to the Argentine Federalists, who wanted a federation of independent provinces...
, along with Manuel D. Pizarro, Félix de la Peña
Félix de la Peña
Félix de la Peña was an Argentine politician, and governor of Córdoba Province, Argentina.After accepting the resignation of Mariano Fragueiro, the Córdoba lower house of representatives named Félix de la Peña as interim governor on July 24, 1860, and a while later confirmed him to the post...
and Justiniano Posse. With the fall or Fragueiro in 1860, victim of his double play of support and opposition to the federal government, Posse took control of the province, and tilted the government to a decided support of the policies of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Even after the federal intervention of President Santiago Derqui
Santiago Derqui
Santiago Rafael Luis Manuel José María Derqui Rodríguez was president of Argentina from March 5, 1860 to November 5, 1861. He was featured on the 10 Australes note, which is now obsolete....
, his group reached power with Posse, after the Battle of Pavón
Battle of Pavón
The Battle of Pavón was a key battle of the Argentine civil wars fought in Pavón, in Santa Fé Province, Argentina, on September 17, 1861, between the Army of Buenos Aires, commanded by Bartolomé Mitre, and the National Army, commanded by Justo José de Urquiza...
and the short tenure of Marcos Paz
Marcos Paz
Marcos Paz was Governor of Córdoba and Tucumán Provinces, an Argentine Senator, and Vice President of Argentina from October 12, 1862 until his death in 1868.-Biography:...
.
Ferreyra did not show himself in the forefront of local politics until Posse's resignation, in June 1863, victim of the confrontations between federals and Unitarians in the province. Córdoba's federalism was not finally defeated until the end of the 1860s; and then it did not disappear, but joined some other minority factions to form the National Autonomist Party
National Autonomist Party
The National Autonomist Party was an Argentine political party during the 1874-1916 period. Created on March 15, 1874 by the union of the Autonomist Party of Adolfo Alsina and the National Party of Nicolás Avellaneda...
, which would govern without opposition until 1916.
After Posse's resignation, the legislature elected his minister Benigno Ocampo in his place, which overtook Ferreyra by one vote.
Second term as governor
After a short while Ocampo also resigned, and Ferreyra was elected governor for the second time, counting with the support of the federals, which only asked in return, distancing from Posse. The latter made enemies with the governor, reelected temporarily in March. In February Ferreyra was victorious in stopping a federal revolution, and had pardoned the people responsible, with he hoped to obtain their political support.In March 1865 there was a unitarian revolution instigated by Posse. It was quickly defeated and Posse was arrested and an officer who was not certain of final victory had him shot. As the opposition, and also the government accused Ferreyra of having caused Posse's death, he requested the visit of the federal Interior Minister, Guillermo Rawson
Guillermo Rawson
Dr. Guillermo Rawson was a medical doctor and politician in nineteenth-century Argentina. As Interior Minister in 1862 he met Captain Love Jones-Parry and Lewis Jones who were on their way to Patagonia to investigate whether it was suitable for the creation of a Welsh settlement there...
, to testify for his innocence. Rawson instead asked for Ferreyra's resignation, not for considering guilty, but for thinking him a strong ally of president Mitre
Bartolomé Mitre
Bartolomé Mitre Martínez was an Argentine statesman, military figure, and author. He was the President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868.-Life and times:...
. Ferreyra refused to resign.
Soon after the war with Paraguay
War of the Triple Alliance
The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...
started and he sent several battalions to the front. While the unitarians had enlisted voluntarily, the opposition to the war by the federalists caused several units to rebel along the way to the front. The battalion that protected the government in the provincial capital also mutinied and refused to go to war. It was then dissolved and its soldiers forced to march with other units, some of them in chains.
In July 1866, the provincial army commander, Simón Luengo, led a revolution that deposed Ferreyra.
Last years
For more than a year, the federalists took power for the last time, but the differences between Luengo – future assassin of general UrquizaJusto José de Urquiza
Justo José de Urquiza y García was an Argentine general and politician. He was president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860.He was governor of Entre Ríos during the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires with powers delegated from the other provinces...
– and the governor Mateo Luque provoked the military intervention of the province by federal troops, and at the end of 1867 the unitarians would return to power, with governor Félix de la Peña
Félix de la Peña
Félix de la Peña was an Argentine politician, and governor of Córdoba Province, Argentina.After accepting the resignation of Mariano Fragueiro, the Córdoba lower house of representatives named Félix de la Peña as interim governor on July 24, 1860, and a while later confirmed him to the post...
.
In his last years in politics, Ferreyra joined the Autonomist Party, which reached power with governor Enrique Rodríguez. Ferreyra, disenchanted with him, left politics altogether, and died in Córdoba in 1885.