Politician. Juan Manuel de Rosa was the Governor of Buenos Aires with full powers between 1829 to 1834 and 1835 to 1852. Governing as a dictator, his years of power were marked with many wars, killing many citizens. He supported the Federalist party. He was born into a wealthy family, married into wealth, and as a shrewd businessman, parlayed his money into greater funds by investment in more property, working his lands and organizing his holdings for profit. He formed his workers into a militia, participating in the civil wars in the country. Successful in these wars, influential due to his standing and wealth, and with great landholdings and a private army, he became a provincial warlord. He was promoted to brigadier general, the highest rank in the Argentine Army, and became the leader of the Federalist Party. In December of 1829, he became governor of the province of Buenos Aires and established a dictatorship. In 1831, he signed a pact creating the Argentine Confederation. When his term of office ended in 1832, he went to the frontier to wage war, the Desert Campaign of 1833 to 1834, against the various indigenous people, who would not submit to the Spanish colonial administration. Returning as a hero, he claimed that his army had killed 3,200 indigenous people during the campaign while destroying their villages. The Spanish had been at war with the indigenous people since 1821. In 1835, his supporters launched a coup in Buenos Aires, and he returned to the office of governor. He reestablished his dictatorship and formed an armed force that killed thousands of citizens. He ruled the country as a dictator, and the other branches of government became powerless. He faced many threats during the late 1830s and early 1840s, including a war against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, a blockade by France, a revolt in his own province and a major rebellion that spread to several Argentine provinces. By 1848, he was ruler of all of Argentina, and attempted to annex the nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. When Brazil began aiding Uruguay against Argentina, he declared war in August of 1851, starting the Platine War. When Argentina was defeated, he fled to England, where he had a farm. He spent his last years in exile until his death. He was originally buried in Old Southampton Cemetery in England, but in 1989, his remains were repatriated to Argentina to be buried in the family vault. His grandson remains are still buried in Southampton Cemetery. He married on March 16, 1813 and had three children. Some historians call him a heroic statesman while others a brutal dictator.