while exiled in chile, sarmiento wrote "facundo" in 1845 as an attack on juan manuel de rosas, the argentine dictator at the time. the book was a critical analysis of argentine culture as he saw it, represented in men such as rosas and the regional leader juan facundo quiroga, a warlord from la rioja. for sarmiento, rosas and quiroga were "caudillos"—strongmen who did not submit to the law. however, if facundo's portrait is linked to the wild nature of the countryside, rosas is depicted as an opportunist who exploits the situation to perpetuate himself in power.