The Story Behind the Uruguayan Elections

The Story Behind the Uruguayan Elections
Monday 09 November 2009

by: Julie R. Butler

The international headlines all read something to this effect, "In Uruguay: Ex-Guerrilla Fighter Headed for Runoff Vote in November." Attention-grabbing as it is, that headline doesn't do justice to the complex story behind this ex-guerrilla fighter being on the verge of becoming Uruguay's next president. This story intertwines plot lines of economic hardship's goad towards anger, social inequity's call to action, violence's inevitable escalation, democracy's slide into dictatorship, impunity's lingerings and a society's tremendous capacity to persevere through it all, heal itself and ultimately advance. This story offers several timely lessons that the world could benefit from learning, as the present economic situation requires an understanding of the links between economic justice, the use of violence and the upholding of, as well as the straying away from, democratic principles.

José Mujica, the leftist Frente Amplio's presidential candidate, won 47.5 percent of the vote on Sunday, October 25, in a nation where voting is obligatory, so this number truly does reflect the will of the people of Uruguay. But the law requires "50 percent + 1 vote" for victory in these elections, so Mujica will face his challenger, Luis Alberto Lacalle, of the National Party, who won 28.5 percent of the vote, in the upcoming runoff election. Supporters of the Colorado Party will likely vote to oust the ruling leftist party, having won 16.7 percent of the votes, while the Independents and "Others" will provide the deciding 7.3 percent of votes. The hurdle is not high for the Frente Amplio, but the numbers are extremely close.

Hurdles were already high, however, for José Mujica to get to the position he has already achieved. He was a farmer when he joined the Tupamaro movement back in the early 1960's. The Tupamaros were a coalition of the Movimiento de Apoyo al Campesino, the Peasant Support Movement and urban trade unions, with the slogan, "Worlds divide us; action unites us." Their initial actions were to rob banks and wealthy businesses and pass the loot out in the poor neighborhoods of Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. They were responding to economic difficulties that had been widening the gap between the wealthy and the working class which had been suffering through the combination of high inflation and mass unemployment since the late 1950's, while student uprisings and labor unrest were failing to bring about any policy initiatives that might help. The band of twentieth-century Robin Hoods grew in power and strength as poverty continued to plague the nation. By 1965, they were so successful at embarrassing the government that the US "Office of Public Safety" (OPS) was brought to Uruguay to help dissipate the civil unrest by training the police and intelligence forces in torture and crowd-control techniques.

In 1967, a new president took actions that exacerbated this situation, planting the seed from which the subsequent 17 years of brutal state repression grew. He first instituted price and wage freezes - trying to combat high inflation - which led to increased labor disputes. This, in turn, led the president to declare a "state of emergency," followed by the repeal of constitutional safeguards, more aggressive repression of demonstrations, imprisonment of political dissidents and the further use of torture during interrogations. It was only after this increase in the level of state brutality that the Tupamaros adopted more violent tactics, such as kidnapping and engaging in armed battle with police forces. The president responded in kind by declaring all-out martial law for nine months, then reimposing it a few months after having ended it when the public response to Nelson Rockefeller's visit to the country turned violent.

In 1971, the Tupamaros and the government declared a truce so that peaceful elections could be held. The Colorado Party president, who was attempting to change the constitution to allow himself to run for a second term, was opposed not only by the National Party, but by a new coalition of left-wing groups, including socialists, communists, trade unions, advocates for the poor and a new political organization created by the Tupamaros. This was the birth of the Frente Amplio, and it represented an effort by guerrilla fighters and other agitators to become legitimized by the democratic process - a turn from violent and destabilizing tactics toward working for peaceful change. This move to lay down their arms was, in fact, a break in a long tradition of political violence, as the Nationals and the Colorados had engaged in two separate wars with each other after the Eastern Republic of Uruguay was established, drawing upon changing alliances with the neighboring nations of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, as well as with Britain and France, even drawing upon the might of the United States in the twentieth century to help them maintain the status quo.

More:
http://www.truthout.org/1109093