“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

Ríos or by ship to Montero’s outpost in Curuzú-Cuatiá. 58 The then twenty-eight year-old
merchant continually expanded the partnership’s small fleet of trading vessels. He further
established a commercial enterprise to supply horses across the river in the Estado Oriental.
As his business ventures prospered, he plunged his profits into land. He purchased a large
tract in Entre Ríos in 1829 for some 10,000 pesos. Montero and his other trading partners
would drive cattle there. Urquiza then marketed them to overseas exporters. The entrerriano
merchant used the proceeds to purchase further imports, completing an ever-expanding
commercial cycle. By the 1830s, Urquiza possessed trading ties to communities throughout
the borderlands. 59
As Guarch had deepened his ties with Rivera and the colorados in Uruguay and the
Farrapos in Brazil throughout the 1830s in order to secure commercial opportunities and
political protection, Urquiza used his growing trade network to foster cross-border alliances
with Oribe’s blancos. During Rivera’s 1838 campaign, Urquiza funneled munitions and
supplies to Oribe and his blanco allies. When Rivera’s victory threatened his rivertine
commercial operations, Urquiza joined the federalist military campaign against the colorados.
In this way, Urquiza’s personal wealth increasingly became intertwined with military service.
Rosas’ control over customs revenues in Buenos Aires allowed him to sustain a rudimentary
state and militia. Elsewhere, weak provincial governments simply lacked the resources to
fund repeated military ventures. This left financing for borderlands armies in private hands.
Already one of the wealthiest rivertine traders, Urquiza could use his commercial enterprises
to support his political ambitions. Conversely, Urquiza’s ability to summon an army offered
a means for him to secure his trading chains along the Uruguay, protect his personal allies
58 Ibid., 23.
59 Ibid.
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