Background
Fructuoso Rivera was born on 17 October 1784 in Montevideo.
Fructuoso Rivera was born on 17 October 1784 in Montevideo.
When the struggle for independence began, he joined the independence forces. He won quick promotion and was a captain by 1811. He resisted Portuguese attempts to control the country, as well as supporting José Gervasio Artigas’ early efforts to resist Argentine attempts to establish hegemony in Uruguay.
Rivera again led Uruguayan resistance to Portuguese efforts to control Uruguay between 1816 and 1820. After he was defeated, however, he signed an agreement making his native land part of Brazil. By 1824 he was a general and commander of Brazilian forces in Uruguay.
Nevertheless, when Juan Antonio Lavalleju launched another effort to obtain Uruguayan independence in 1825, Rivera again switched sides and soon became the second-in-command of the Uruguayan forces. He objected to Buenos Aires control of Lavalleja’s forces, however, and in 1826 he withdrew from the struggle. He went to the Argentine province of Santa Fe, where he joined forces with the local caudillo Estansilao López and cooperated in a campaign to capture the Brazilian missions region. In the process, he developed an army that was loyal to him. His influence was significant in Brazil’s decision to recognize the independence of Uruguay in 1828.
Rivera was the minister of war in the provisional government first set up by the Uruguayans, and in October 1830 was chosen as first constitutional president of the country. As president and subsequently, Rivera got involved in the politics of both Argentina and Brazil. He sided with opponents of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas and with Rio Grande do Sul rebels against the Brazilian government.
In March 1839 he returned to the presidency. Soon afterward, he declared war on the Rosas regime in Argentine. He defeated an Argentine force late in 1839, but in 1842 and 1845 was defeated by the Argentine-backed forces of his major rival. Manuel Oribe, and took refuge in Brazil. He returned to Uruguay in 1846 to lead a Colorado army. After being forced out of command in the wake of military defeat in 1847, Rivera went to Rio de Janeiro, where he lived for four years.
Rivera attempted to return to Uruguay again in 1851. The Brazilian government put many impediments in his way. and although he was named member of a triumvirate junta in 1853, he died without having reached Montevideo.