On April 13, 1890, a crowd attended the Civic Union rally at the Frontón Buenos Aires. Eleven years earlier, in April 1879, the “Conquest of the Desert” was launched with 7,000 men.
A thread of continuity can be drawn between those two key milestones and articulate their deep relationships as faces of a single process. In this regard, the progressive aspects of “Zorro” are now emphasized, even eliciting praise from commentators who only yesterday called him “genocidal” So, neither “good”, nor “bad’, simply, Julio A. Roca, transcendental protagonist in the construction of the Republic, is ignored today. The new oligarchy brings together patrician and immigrant surnames and, among the beneficiaries of the land transfers, Roca himself stands out, gathering no less than 65,000 hectares, adding gifts from the National Congress and the Buenos Aires Legislature. “Atalivar” –by Ataliva Roca– is the new verb of the business.