Jose Maria Rosa

José María Rosa (Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 20, 1906 - Ibid, July 2, 1991), better known as Pepe Rosa, was an Argentine lawyer, judge, university professor, historian and diplomat. The founder of Linea Magazine, he was one of the most representative historians of historical revisionism in that country.

Biography

Origins

He was born in Buenos Aires on August 20, 1906, into a traditional family whose great-grandfather, Vicente Rosa, had arrived from Spain in 1828. His grandfather, José María, a prestigious lawyer, was Minister of Finance of the administration of Julio Roca and Roque Sáenz Peña. His father, also called José María Rosa, was a military man who served as de facto federal controller of the province of Mendoza after the 1930 revolution.

He graduated as a lawyer at the early age of 20 and after a brief stint in the profession and then as an investigating judge he dedicated himself to teaching, both in university and secondary schools. From his experience as a Judge in Santa Fe comes his first book & # 34; Beyond the Code & # 34;.

In 1931, he married María Luisa Julia Delfina Bunge, with whom they had three sons and a daughter, named José María, Eduardo Manuel, Juan Ignacio and Lucila.

Political militancy

He completed his studies with a doctorate with the thesis "Mystical origins of the state" which is also the subject of his second book, from 1936: & # 34; Religious Interpretation of History & # 34;, where he examines history as Society in time , discarding institutional visions, racial, journalistic or epic.

He lived in Santa Fe, where he taught at the Faculty of Law, in chairs of History of Institutions. In that city, together with other history scholars, he founded in 1938 the "Institute of Federalist Studies", from where conferences were given, ties were established with similar entities in the country and abroad and through them a vigorous stream of those seeking to "revise" history and above all look at it from a social angle. In 1942 his first book on Argentine history came out, "Defense and Loss of our Economic Independence" beginning of a long series of publications, some of which are recounted in these pages.

Transfer to Buenos Aires

In 1945, already added to the nascent nationalist current of thought and political action, he had to move to Buenos Aires due to misunderstandings with the rectory and some student centers, the result of his political and historical militancy. He then centers his activity at the University of La Plata, also teaching in secondary schools. At that time he published & # 34; Nos Los Representantes del Pueblo & # 34;, & # 34; La Misión García ante Lord Strangford & # 34; and "The Blind Condor".

José María Rosa was president of the Juan Manuel de Rosas Historical Research Institute in 1951, which he approached in 1941 and a contributor to the magazine of that institution. After the establishment of the dictatorship called the Liberating Revolution in 1955, he was dismissed from his posts and the following year, during the dictatorship of Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, he had to seek asylum in Uruguay and Spain. It was in exile that he investigated foreign archives and libraries.

Prison and exile

The dictatorship calling itself the "Revolución Libertadora" He is fired and jailed for the arrest of his friend John W. Cooke, whom he had sheltered in his house. After several months in prison, he left for the military, now more actively and decisively, enlisting in the failed and tragic attempt by General Valle on June 9, 1956. He managed to go to Montevideo and from there, accepting an invitation from the Institute of Hispanic Culture, who promises him the publication of his book "La Caída de Rosas" He travels to Spain where he remains until 1958, practicing journalism and giving lectures in different fields. He returns to survive from the little that his publications and articles and eventual history courses produce, which he permanently gives in unions throughout the country. Between 1955 and 1970 he published in the nationalist weekly & # 34; Azul y Blanco & # 34; and "Second Republic" directed by Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Ricardo Curutchet and Luis Rivet, and whose editorial staff worked in the studio of Dr. Jorge Ramos Mejía at 684 Charcas Street in the City of Buenos Aires.

His activity is framed by the Juan Manuel de Rosas Historical Research Institute, an entity of which he was president on several occasions. From that time are his books & # 34; Rivadavia and Financial Imperialism & # 34; and "The Paraguayan War and the Argentine Montoneras". As a result of this last publication, his name becomes well known in Paraguay, where he is permanently invited to give lectures or attend events related to the Paraguayan greatest hero. Meanwhile, he actively participates in what was called the Peronist Resistance, becoming one of its most respected and beloved references. It is in this period that the Peronist movement, previously indifferent, enthusiastically takes the revisionist banners and makes them its own. Rosa would be part of the procession of notables that went to look for Perón on the famous charter flight of 11-17-72.

By then his HISTORIA ARGENTINA had already been published. work in 13 volumes to which four more were added after his death. General Perón ordered him to take charge of the embassy in Asunción, considering that his prestige in Paraguay could be positive for national interests given that at that time the feasibility of building the Corpus dam was at stake at the heights of the Corpus dam. Yacireta.

Years in Greece

After Perón died, he had misunderstandings with Foreign Minister Vignes and opted to accept the embassy in Athens, where he remained until the military coup in 1976. He returned to Buenos Aires, where his books were withdrawn from libraries and his name was placed on a & #34;mute icon". He then founded the magazine & # 34; Line & # 34; (for pretending to cover all the thought of the national line), "the voice of those who have no voice".

The purpose was to keep alive the flame of national thought and show that another Argentina called to be reborn lay behind it. The military could not accuse Pepe Rosa of being a guerrilla just because his figure was too visible and well known. But they sought all means to silence him, from the seizure of the magazine to the innumerable lawsuits filed against him.

Meanwhile, he continued with the publication of books and articles in some media that little by little were encouraged to express themselves. His last battle, which cost him the removal of some friends & # 34; nationalists & # 34; it was on the issue of the dispute with Chile over possession of the Beagle Channel, which had almost brought Argentina and Chile to war. He passed away on July 2, 1991.

José María Rosa in 1981

Works

His work belongs to the Argentine revisionist current that opposes the official history of that country. At his request, November 20, in commemoration of the Battle of the Vuelta de Obligado, is declared National Sovereignty Day . He founded the Revista Línea (& # 34; the voice of those who have no voice & # 34;) which opposed the military dictatorship of 1976-1983. Among his most outstanding works on Argentine and Spanish-American history are: "Religious Interpretation of History" (1936); "Defense and loss of our economic independence" (1943); "The Garcia mission of 1815 before Lord Strangford" (1951); "The blind condor" (1952); "We the Representatives of the People" (1955); "The fall of Rosas" (1958); "From the Indian municipality to the Argentine province" (1958); "The Paraguayan War and the Argentine Montoneras" (1954); "Rivadavia and financial imperialism" (1964) and "Argentine History" (1964-1980) in 13 volumes.

Some of his works are:

• Beyond the code (1933)
• Defense and loss of our economic independence (1943)
• Artigas, procer of nationality (1949)
• The Garcia Mission to Lord Strangford (1951)
• The blind condor. The strange death of Lavalle (1952)
• We, the representatives of the people (1955)
• From the Indian municipality to the Argentine province (1958)
• The Fall of Roses (1958)
• The pronouncement of Urquiza (1960)
• Artigas, the May Revolution and the Hispanic-American Unity (1960)
• Revisionism responds (1964)
• Rivadavia and financial imperialism (1964)
• The war of Paraguay and the Argentinean mountains (1965)
• Doctors, military and English in national independence (1968)
• History of revisionism (1968)
• Rosas, our contemporary (1970)
• The fetish of the constitution (1984)
• History of Argentina13 Tomos
• Perón. 30 years of the Argentine policy (1987)

Family ties

Not to be confused with:

• his grandfather, José María Rosa (father), who served twice as Minister of Finance of Presidents Julio A. Roca (1898-1904) and Roque Sáenz Peña (1910-1914);
• his father, José María Rosa (son), who served as a federal interventor of Mendoza and was a shareholder of the newspaper El Pampero.

In 1931, he married María Luisa Julia Delfina Bunge, with whom they had three sons and a daughter, named José María, Eduardo Manuel, Juan Ignacio and Lucila.

In 1954, he married Ana María Rocca, with whom he had a son named Vicente, who was born on February 14, 1958 in Madrid, Spain. He returned to Argentina after his father's exile, eventually holding a prominent position at Aerolíneas Argentinas.