The Popular Restorer Society was a security agency here with a nickname possibly referring to its use of corncobs for rectal torture.
Foolish investments in a water supply and drainage company in this country nearly bankrupted the English bank Baring Brothers. This country constructed a widely mocked series of trenches named for War Minister Adolfo Alsina, which failed to prevent raids. The Popular Restorer Society was a security agency here with a nickname possibly referring to its use of corncobs for rectal torture. With its western neighbor, this country signed the Pacts of May, which ordered both nations to sell off their newly built (*) European warships. The Mazorca police brutalized this country's population. Numerous indigenous peoples were slaughtered by its general and future president Julio Roca, who, like its western neighbor, targeted the Mapuche. For 10 points, what South American country carried out the 1878 Conquest of the Desert to block Chile from settling Patagonia?
Foolish investments in a water supply and drainage company in this country nearly bankrupted the English bank Baring Brothers.
Argentina [or Argentine Republic]