El enemigo unitario en el discurso rosista (1829-1852)

Abstract

During the period in which Juan Manuel de Rosas was the governor of the province of Buenos Aires (1829-1852), the propaganda-makers of his regime constructed a violent discourse against those considered the main enemy within: the unitaries. First of all, this paper describes the characteristics of this discourse, paying attention to the physical and moral features that Rosas ideology attributed to the unitaries, often by opposition to the values defended as their own by the regime. Next, an interpretation that stresses the functions played by the anti-unitary discourse is proposed. Such functions include the symbolic “simplification” of the enemy, the justification of the Rosas regime, the reinforcement of cohesion among the different groups that supported this system and the definition, in negative terms, of a feeling of collective identity.