Dorrego, Manuel (1787–1828)
Dorrego, Manuel (1787–1828)
Manuel Dorrego (b. 11 June 1787; d. 13 December 1828), Argentine military officer in the independence struggle and Federalist leader. Though born in Buenos Aires, Dorrego was studying law in Chile when the revolution against Spain began. He actively embraced the patriot cause, first in Chile and then in his own country, joining the 1811 campaign to liberate what later became Bolivia. Later still he fought in Uruguay with the forces of Buenos Aires against those of the Uruguayan leader José Artigas. He gained a reputation as quarrelsome and undisciplined, but he also took a principled stand against the centralism and monarchist intrigues of the government of Juan Martín de Pueyrredón (1816–1819), which exiled him in 1817.
Dorrego spent three years in the United States, an experience that strengthened his Federalist convictions. After his return he held a number of military and other positions and became an active publicist in opposition to the Unitarist regime of Bernardino Rivadavia. At the collapse of Rivadavia's government in 1827, Dorrego became governor of Buenos Aires Province, in which capacity he brought to a close the war fought with Brazil over Uruguay, agreeing to accept Uruguayan independence. In December 1828 he was overthrown by Juan Lavalle, who by executing Dorrego made him a martyr in the eyes of Federalists and unleashed a round of bloody reprisals and counterreprisals between the two parties.
See alsoSpain; Argentina, Movements: Federalists.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A biography is Marcos De Estrada, Una semblanza de Manuel Dorrego (1985). See also the treatment in the biography by John Lynch of his party ally and successor, Argentine Dictator: Juan Manuel de Rosas, 1829–1852 (1981).
Additional Biblography
Orsi, René. Dorrego y la unidad rioplatense. La Plata: Sub-secretaría de Cultura, 1991.
Zuccherino, Ricardo Miguel. "Martín Miguel Juan de la Mata Güemes: el Señor Gaucho: Imagen de Manuel Dorrego: Ideólogo fundamental del federalismo." In Caudillos e intelectuales de la Argentina tradicional, Roberto Fernández Cistac, editor. Mar del Plata: EH, Fondo Editorial "Esto es Historia," 2001.