When we think and study the independence of our country, we refer, unfailingly, to La Casita de Tucumán, on July 9, 1816. However, there were a number of events that made this moment possible. Even the declaration of independence served, too, for the Sanmartinian exercise. In this note we will know in depth the role of San Martín and the Mendoza congressmen in that meeting, which took place in San Miguel.

Two years before the declaration, that is, in 1814, San Martín requested the supreme director, Gervasio Posadas, to transfer him to Mendoza in order to devise his plan of liberation continental.José de San Martín's aspirations were to prepare a properly trained and trained army to face the obstacles posed by the enemy and the Andes Mountains . Then, he would liberate Chile, and continue by sea to Peru, to do the same with the Inca people. However, to complete his feat, he needed the declaration of Independence. That is why, in 1815, San Martín was already in Mendoza serving as governor of Cuyo. In 1816 we became independent and in 1817 the first crossing of the Andestook place.

It is important to understand these concepts because, generally, the declaration of Independence is studied separately from Saint Martin and his liberatingwork. However, as we have explained, these are two facts that are totally interrelated and mutually needed.

Mendocinos in the Casita of Tucumán

The Mendoza congressmen at that historic meeting were Tomás Godoy Cruz and Juan Agustín Maza. The first was a friend, and very close, of St. Martin. On October 23, 1815, he applied for a passport to travel to Tucumán on behalf of Mendoza. Thus, the Liberator had all the precise information, with the immediacy that the time allowed, of everything that happened there. It is thatSaint Martin only got news from his envoy in December of that year when, through a letter, Godoy Cruz told him that he had arrived well and that he had nothing important to tell until that moment.

Although there was still a year before the declaration itself, in Mendoza, and throughout the Argentine territory, it was already breathing in 1815 what was being brewing. In fact, not for nothing San Martín worked tirelessly preparing the army in our province. But it needed Argentina to be officially independent of the Spanish crown.How could he go to liberate other nations if Argentina was not yet independent ?

The Cuyo region played an enormous role in the Congress of 1816. It is that, together with Maza and Godoy Cruz, Francisco Narciso de Laprida traveled (through San Juan, who was the president of the Congress of Tucumán) and Juan Martín de Pueyrredón (by San Luis, who was later appointed as supreme director).Godoy Cruz belonged to one of the most outstanding families in Mendoza and it was he who was most committed to the values of San Martín, thus gaining his trust .

Independence is declared

With the presence of congressmen in Mendoza, finally, on July 9 , 1816, Independence was declared. However, this news arrived in Mendoza on July 19.At that time, San Martín had to travel to Córdoba and, in his representation, it was Bernardo O'Higgins who celebrated the event . The next day, the Chilean liberator decided to do an act with 200 grenadiers from Mendoza, having to ask the population 160 horses, since it only had 40 horses. Already on August 8, with San Martín in Mendoza, it is this who took the oath of Independence from the commanders and generals of the Army and began to be born the crossing of the Andes itself.