Facundo Quiroga - Quiroga's Death and Its Consequences

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 Maza to mediate between the governors of Tucumán and Salta, 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 Yaco, a desolated place between Córdoba and Santiago del Estero, 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.

In 1845, Domingo F. Sarmiento wrote Facundo, Civilization and Barbarism, a book that reviews the influence of caudillo leaders, which he defines as "barbarism", in the Argentine political and social life, but also as a protest to Rosas' regime, and a call for European education and life style. However, Sarmiento told José María Paz that the book contained deliberate inaccuracies, for political reasons. Years after the fall of Rosas, he warned the historian José María Ramos Mejía against using his own writings or other Unitarian pamphlets as impartial documents, as they were laden with political bias.

Quiroga was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.