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Juan Manuel de Rosas
Half-length painted portrait of a man with curly hair, long sideburns and blue eyes who wears a heavily embroidered military tunic with high collar, gold braid epaulettes and a red sash of office
Posthumous portrait of Juan Manuel de Rosas wearing the full dress of a brigadier general
17th Governor of Buenos Aires Province
In office
7 March 1835 – 3 February 1852
Preceded by Manuel Vicente Maza
Succeeded by Vicente López y Planes
13th Governor of Buenos Aires Province
In office
6 December 1829 – 5 December 1832
Preceded by Juan José Viamonte
Succeeded by Juan Ramón Balcarce
Personal details
Born
Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas

(1793-03-30)30 March 1793
Buenos Aires, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
Died 14 March 1877(1877-03-14) (aged 83)
Southampton, United Kingdom
Resting place La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires
Nationality Argentine
Political party
  • Unitarian Party (1820–26)
  • Federalist Party (Argentina) (1826–52)
Spouse(s) Encarnación Ezcurra
Children
  • Juan Bautista Ortiz de Rosas
  • Manuela Robustiana Rosas
Signature Cursive signature in ink

Juan Manuel de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was a politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Although born into a wealthy family, Rosas independently amassed a personal fortune, acquiring large tracts of land in the process. Rosas enlisted his workers in a private militia, as was common for rural proprietors, and took part in the disputes that led to numerous civil wars in his country. Victorious in warfare, personally influential, and with vast landholdings and a loyal private army, Rosas became a caudillo, as provincial warlords in the region were known. He eventually reached the rank of brigadier general, the highest in the Argentine Army, and became the undisputed leader of the Federalist Party.

In December 1829, Rosas became governor of the province of Buenos Aires and established a dictatorship backed by state terrorism. In 1831, he signed the Federal Pact, recognising provincial autonomy and creating the Argentine Confederation. When his term of office ended in 1832, Rosas departed to the frontier to wage war on the indigenous peoples. After his supporters launched a coup in Buenos Aires, Rosas was asked to return and once again took office as governor. Rosas reestablished his dictatorship and formed the repressive Mazorca, an armed parapolice that killed thousands of citizens. Elections became a farce, and the legislature and judiciary became docile instruments of his will. Rosas created a cult of personality and his regime became totalitarian in nature, with all aspects of society rigidly controlled.

Rosas faced many threats to his power during the late 1830s and early 1840s. He fought a war against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, endured a blockade by France, faced a revolt in his own province and battled a major rebellion that lasted for years and spread to several Argentine provinces. Rosas persevered and extended his influence in the provinces, exercising effective control over them through direct and indirect means. By 1848, he had extended his power beyond the borders of Buenos Aires and was ruler of all of Argentina. Rosas also attempted to annex the neighbouring nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. France and Great Britain jointly retaliated against Argentine expansionism, blockading Buenos Aires for most of the late 1840s, but were unable to halt Rosas, whose prestige was greatly enhanced by his string of successes.

When the Empire of Brazil began aiding Uruguay in its struggle against Argentina, Rosas declared war in August 1851, starting the Platine War. This short conflict ended with Rosas being defeated and absconding to Britain. His last years were spent in exile living as a tenant farmer until his death in 1877. Rosas garnered an enduring public perception among Argentines as a brutal tyrant. Since the 1930s, an authoritarian, anti-Semitic, and racist political movement in Argentina called Revisionism has tried to improve Rosas's reputation and establish a new dictatorship in the model of his regime. In 1989, his remains were repatriated by the government in an attempt to promote national unity, seeking forgiveness for him and especially for the 1970s military dictatorship. Rosas remains a controversial figure in Argentina in the 21st century.

Images for kids

  • Painting of a group of colorfully dressed men and women sitting in front of an covered wagon and listening to music with horses and cattle in the open plain in the background

    Gauchos resting in the pampas. Oil painting by Johann Moritz Rugendas

  • Painting depicting 2 mounted horsemen wearing tall hats riding toward a group of panicking wild horses

    Gauchos hunting feral horses. They served in the private army of Rosas.

  • Half-length painted portrait depicting a man with dark blond hair wearing a military tunic with gold epaulets, red piping, a red sash and upraised collar bearing cavalry insignia

    Rosas at age 36, 1829

  • "Half length painted portrait of a man with curly auburn hair and sideburns facing left and wearing an elaborate military tunic embroidered in gold with heavy epaulettes, high embroidered collar and a red sash."

    Profile view of Rosas at age 42, 1835; miniature by Fernando García del Molino

  • Engraving depicting a man wearing an ornate military uniform waist-deep in a pile of human skulls and bones with a disembodied hand holding snakes above his head

    An anti-Rosas drawing published in a newspaper in 1841 or 1842

  • "Half-length painted portrait of a clean-shaven, auburn-haired man with long sideburns and wearing a black poncho with bands embroidered in red and gold"

    Rosas in gaucho attire, 1842. Oil painting by Raymond Monvoisin

  • Painting depicting a man in an elaborate military uniform seated before a group of dancers, drummers and other musicians

    Rosas (seated, left) watching a Candomble celebration, 1845

  • Painting depicting a heavy-set man in profile who wears an elaborately embroidered military uniform with sash and large epaulets

    Rosas at age 52, 1845

  • Photograph showing a canal running alongside a grand, white villa

    Rosas' residence in Palermo, 1876

  • Painted half-length portrait depicting a gray-haired man with a thin face dressed in a plain black coat over a red vest and high-collared white shirt and sitting in front of a half-opened drape revealing an avenue with a building in the distance

    An elderly Rosas during his exile

  • Photograph showing a mausoleum building of gray ashlar construction with metal wreaths and plaques attached to the outside walls, a metal barred gate at the entrance and surmounted by a square cupola

    Rosas' family vault at La Recoleta Cemetery

  • ID 076 Vta de Obligado, Monumento de la batalla - CAZ

    Sculpture with the image of Rosas at the Monument to the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado

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