in 1825, when unitarist bernardino rivadavia became the governor of the buenos aires province, he held a meeting with representatives from all provinces in argentina. facundo was present as the governor of la rioja. rivadavia was soon overthrown, and manuel dorrego became the new governor. sarmiento contends that dorrego, a federalist, was interested neither in social progress nor in ending barbaric behaviour in argentina by improving the level of civilization and education of its rural inhabitants. in the turmoil that characterized argentine politics at the time, dorrego was assassinated by unitarists and facundo was defeated by unitarist general josé maría paz. facundo escaped to buenos aires and joined the federalist government of juan manuel de rosas. during the ensuing civil war between the two ideologies, facundo conquered the provinces of san luis, cordoba and mendoza.