Ramírez, Francisco (1786–1821)

Francisco Ramírez (b. 13 March 1786; d. 10 July 1821), Argentine caudillo of Entre Ríos and leader of provincial federalism against Buenos Aires. Born in Concepción del Uruguay, into the colonial elite of land and office, he joined the independence movement in 1810. The following year he supported José Gervasio Artigas against the Spanish regime in Uruguay, and in 1816 against Portuguese invaders from Brazil. But Ramírez represented the interests of the estancieros of Entre Ríos and distanced himself from the agrarian populism of Artigas. He also resisted the centralism of Buenos Aires and its demands for resources. In 1819 he joined the caudillo Estanislao López of Santa Fe, and in 1820 he led a force of federalist montoneros (gaucho cavalry) to victory over Buenos Aires at the battle of Cepeda; Buenos Aires was forced to agree to the Treaty of Pilar (23 February 1820), which recognized the jurisdiction of the provinces in a loose federal structure. In a decree of 29 September 1820 Ramírez styled himself jefe supremo of the Republic of Entre Ríos. The caudillo alliance was short-lived. Disputes between Ramírez and López over political leadership in the Littoral and strategy toward the Portuguese in Uruguay caused violent conflict which culminated in the defeat of Ramírez at Río Seco in July 1821. Returning to rescue his woman, the legendary Delfina, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy, Ramírez was killed. His head was exhibited in public by López.

See alsoBuenos Aires; Entre Ríos.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tulio Halperín Donghi, Politics, Economics, and Society in Argentina in the Revolutionary Period (1975).

John Lynch, Caudillos in Spanish America 1800–1850 (1992).

Additional Bibliography

Salduna, Horacio. La muerte romántica del general Ramírez. Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 1998.

                                          John Lynch