The Patagonian Uprising and the Cost of Order

In this episode, we turn our attention to the violent suppression of the 1920–1922 Patagonia Rebelde strikes, a chapter of Argentine history often overshadowed by urban politics. We examine the role of General Héctor Benigno Varela, appointed by President Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear to restore order in the southern ranches. The narrative explores how the Federación Agraria Argentina and anarchist unions like the FORA clashed with powerful estanciero interests over wages and labor rights. Through the lens of the Riglos massacre and the subsequent executions at Puerto San Julián, we uncover the brutal mechanics of state-sanctioned violence used to crush rural organizing. This story challenges the myth of national unity during the early republican period, revealing deep fractures between the wealthy elite and the marginalized workers who lived on the edges of the Pampas.

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