Domingo Cullen

Who was Domingo Cullen?

Domingo Cullen was the governor of province of Santa Fe, Argentina during 1838.

Cullen was born in Tenerife, Canary Islands, but moved to Argentina in the 1820s after establishing commercial activities in the area. He met Santa Fe's caudillo Estanislao López when serving as a deputy of the Cabildo of Montevideo. After being involved in activism related to the independence of Uruguay and the resistance against Brazil, he returned to Santa Fe, settled in a ranch, and married Joaquina Rodríguez del Fresno, the young widow of Pedro Aldao and sister-in-law of López. In 1828 he became a counselor of López, and his Minister of Government in 1833.

At the time of López's death on 15 June 1838, Cullen was in Buenos Aires as representative of Santa Fe, trying to find a peaceful solution to the ongoing French blockade of the port. Cullen argued that the blockade was the result of a provincial law and therefore the other provinces were not bound to help Buenos Aires. Juan Manuel de Rosas, the powerful governor of Buenos Aires, contended that this violated the Federal Pact.