After the
Batlle of Cepeda
, on 1 February 1820, where the
caudillo
of Santa Fe Province,
Estanislao Lopez
and
Francisco Ramirez
from
Entre Rios Province
arrived in Buenos Aires to demand the dissolution of the national government and the end of
Buenos Aires centralism
. The victory allowed the provincial states that formed part of the
United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata
to separate themselves from the central government, obtaining each of them "Provincial Autonomy".
On October 1
Martin Rodriguez
was elected Governor of Buenos Aires Province, and achieved order in the province.
Martin Rodriguez established a peace accord between the factions. Lopez accepted the mediation of
Juan Bautista Bustos
, Governor of
Cordoba
, with the aim of signing a new peace treaty with Buenos Aires.
Rodriguez decided to try to end the war with Santa Fe, to try to re-establish peace and security in the countryside.
Estanislao Lopez
accepted to be in the negotiations, and to that end he had to quit the alliance with the
Chilean
caudillo
Carreras.
Representatives of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba met at the ranch of
Jose Tiburcio Benegas
, to reach an accord to end the war and agree to convene a congress in Cordoba. Lopez wanted Buenos Aires to give him a monetary reward for the losses in his province during the war, but Martin Rodriguez could not promise to pay it.
Juan Manuel de Rosas
was the leader who ultimately agreed giving him 25,000 head of cattle.
Ramirez was not invited to the treaty, which brought an enmity and a later confrontation between the provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Rios.
The treaty stipulated:
- Peace, harmony and good relations between the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe.
- A call for a National Congress in the city of
Cordoba
, with the objective to organize the country politically.
- The removal of all obstacles to peace.
Articles of the Treaty of Benegas
edit
Article 1: There will be peace, harmony, and good relations between Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and their governments, leaving them in the current state; with their respective demands and rights to be discussed at the upcoming National Congress.
Article 2: The signatories will work towards the successful meeting of a Congress within the span of two months, sending their representatives to the City of Cordoba for now, until in agreement and unity they decide the permanent location for said Congress in the future.
Article 3: Commerce of arms and munitions will be free between the signatories.
Article 4: All prisoners of the respective provinces will be freed and sent to their neighbors.
Article 5: The Governments are required to remove from their territories all obstacles to peace, abiding by this treaty with all the measures and precautions needed to strengthen the ties of reconciliation and friendship between the signatories.
Article 6: This treaty will be approved and signed by their Excellencies, the Governors on this day, and within the following eight days it will be ratified by the respective Honorable Representative bodies.
Article 7: The Province of Cordoba acts as a guarantor, accepted by both parties; and so sign their representatives who have contributed to this accomplishment.
Written and sanctioned at the Estancia of the late Don Tiburcio Benegas at the side of
Arroyo del Medio
on the 24th of November of the year 1820, II° of the Freedom of South America.
- Rins, Cristina E.; Winter, Maria Felisa (1996).
La Argentina, una historia para pensar 1776-1996
. Kapelusz.
ISBN
950-13-2569-5
.