The tyrannical dictatorship of Rosas began, therefore, at the end of ’29, as a simple governorate of Buenos Aires; in 1932 he apparently gave his place to the government of General Juan Ramón Balcarce, glorious remnant of the May revolution, who remained in office until November 1933, and then to that of Viamonte, which lasted another year. At the resignation of these (1834) the Sala de representantes, due to Rosas’ energetic refusals to resume power, he appoints his president, Manuel Vicente Maza, interim governor, who acts as a humble valet to the smart renouncer. But finally, on March 7, 1835, the Chamber, almost unanimously (they vote against only six courageous deputies, who will then be dismissed and excommunicated!) Approves a law that grants Rosas the life-long dictatorship. Actually in his 1st article it was said that the governorship with full powers would last 5 years; but the 3rd article contradicted the first by establishing that “the exercise of this extraordinary power will last as long as is necessary in the judgment of the elected governor”. Rosas, not happy with the vote, because of those few votes against, asks for a plebiscite; but his goal is not to make his appointment legal (which would have been enough for the vote of the House), but to get to know, through a plebiscite vote, the number and names of his opponents – including among these the “abstentionists” – against which he can rage and vent his spirit of revenge. Thus, in ’35, the legalized dictatorship began, which was already in power in ’29, and which will end in ’52: eighteen years of exorbitant tyranny, founded in blood, maintained by blood, drowned in blood.

According to healthinclude.com, in taking possession of his office, Rosas, who already called himself “restorer of the laws”, did not hesitate to ban the war to death against his enemies: “that of this race there is not only one among us… Nothing make us back away… “. Unfortunately, similar intentions followed, even more blind and ferocious. The Mazorca, the tyrant’s praetorian legion, made up of low-level police elements, black criminals and gauchos, carried out political assassinations without ever getting tired. The educated classes and the middle bourgeoisie, who at first gladly renounced freedom, provided that a government capable of dominating the anarchy of the caudillos was established, they soon had to regret their mistake and swelled the emigration that poured into Montevideo or they adapted themselves to the most servile flattery towards the tyrant. Rosas’s struggle against the caudillos – his former allies – was as merciless as that against the unitarians. At the end of ’34, Facundo Quiroga had been murdered, and it seems that Rosas was no stranger to that crime. Nevertheless, he had the killers, Santos Pérez and the Reinafé brothers, fearsome competitors, executed (October 25, 1837). And natural death, a very rare case for those times, freed him, on June 15, 1838, from the most dangerous of his rivals, the powerful caudillo. Stanislao López. Rosas’ xenophobia was also very strong. against foreigners there were acts of cruel violence: as it happened, for example, to the Neapolitan Tiola. Conversely, another Neapolitan, De Angelis, was the official historian of tyranny. In any case, the Italian and French colonies were, overwhelmingly, adherents to the unitary party, in favor of which, in 1929, they had formed a battalion of volunteers. Subsequently, Rosas clashed with more than one foreign power: he stood up to France, which in 1838 blocked Buenos Aires, England, the United States, forbade navigation in Paraná to France and England, causing the new Franco-English block of 1845, of which he, like the previous one, laughed. Indeed, this attitude of his earned him to proclaim himself ” Corta-cabezas (head-cutter) – organized an Argentine team. with which, in December 1842, he moved against Uruguay, and occupied it for the most part, except the capital Montevideo which, for nine years, was rigorously besieged. The events of this long war concern the history of Uruguay (v.). Here it will suffice to recall that, in favor of the Uruguayans, in addition to the Argentine liberals who emigrated there, numerous French and Italians fought, the latter led by a leader who had already given magnificent tests during the revolution in the Rio Grande del Sud and now covered himself with glory. in a hundred actions, especially in the battle of S. Antonio: Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Against the tyrant the hatred increased constantly; there were continual splits in his own federalist party. The number of liberals was steadily increasing. In the provinces, especially those of Corrientes, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, the excitement was enormous. Generals Paz (escaped from Buenos Aires, where he was held prisoner) and Lavalle placed themselves at the head of the liberal army, which was called “liberator”. The start of the campaign was fortunate, but the differences between those two eminent patriots and the inexplicable withdrawal of Lavalle (who died the following year) gave the dictatorial troops the upper hand, and Rosas, who for a moment had had to tremble, intensified persecution and death sentences. The year forty it is the most frightening in Argentine history, for the copy of innocent blood shed. The convulsions of the provinces continued for a decade, until General Urquiza, sent by Rosas to tame the internal situation, turned against his leader, placing himself at the head of the liberating army. He allied himself with Brazil; he proclaimed the urgent need for “the republic to be constituted under the true federal, free and liberal regime”; withdrew the forces besieging Montevideo; he concentrated 22,000 men in Paraná, including 3,000 Brazilians and 2,000 Uruguayans, and with them began the march on Buenos Aires. On February 3, 1852, at Monte Caseros, he fought against the tyrant’s forces, equal in number, and defeated them across the board. Rosas managed to escape, disguised; boarded an English ship and took refuge in Southampton.