Adolfo Alsina of Buenos Aires

Adolfo Alsina (1829-1877) was a lawyer born in Buenos Aires and was the son of a Unitarian politician. After he finished law school, he joined the Unitarian army in the civil war. Adolfo was elected a deputy in 1862 and he was elected governor of the Buenos Aires Province in 1866. He was vice president to Domingo Sarmiento from 1868-1874.
After the presidency of Sarmiento finished in 1874, Alsina cofounded the National Autonomist Party with Nicolás Avellaneda. Alsina was named the Minister of War and Navy after Avellaneda became the president. He designed the two meter deep, three meter wide trench reinforced with 80 small strongholds and garrisons, in the 1870’s, called zanja de Alsina, to prevent the free movement of horses and stolen cattle during the Conquest of the Desert. Alsina also ordered the creation of forts intercommunicated by telegraph.This monument was erected in Plaza Libertad in Buenos Aires in 1882.