'Martín Rodríguez' (
Buenos Aires;
1771 —
Montevideo;
1845) was an
Argentine politician and soldier.
Rodríguez studied in Buenos Aires, and later took part in the resistance to the
British incursions of the area during the
Napoleonic Wars. Later, he played a part in the events of the
May Revolution and, with the establishment of the
First Junta which resulted, he was sent to the province of
Entre Ríos to support the activities of
Manuel Belgrano in
Paraguay.
Later, Rodríguez was colonel of a unit of
hussars and organized the militias that later menaced a political meeting in April 1811, in an attempt to support
Cornelio Saavedra. As a result of this, Rodríguez was temporarily imprisoned in
San Juan, Argentina.
The following year Rodríguez intervened in the
Battle of Salta. He was chief of the
general staff of the
Army of the North, and later acted as the president of
Charcas. Rejoining the troops, he participated in the defeats of Venta and Media and the
Battle of Sipe-Sipe.
In
1820 Rodríguez was named governor of Buenos Aires. He appointed
Bernardino Rivadavia as his minister and began a reform of the government, which in
1824 passed to
Juan Gregorio de las Heras.
Actions of Rodríguez's Government