Juan María Bordaberry | |
|---|---|
 Bordaberry in 1971 | |
| 34thPresident of Uruguay | |
| In office 1 March 1972 – 12 June 1976 | |
| Vice President |
|
| Preceded by | Jorge Pacheco Areco |
| Succeeded by | Alberto Demicheli (interim) |
| 1stPresident of the Civic-Military Dictatorship | |
| In office 27 June 1973 – 12 June 1976 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Alberto Demicheli (interim) |
| Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office 14 October 1969 – 1 February 1972 | |
| President | Jorge Pacheco Areco |
| Preceded by | Jaime Montaner |
| Succeeded by | Héctor Viana Martorell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1928-06-17)17 June 1928 Montevideo,Uruguay |
| Died | 17 July 2011(2011-07-17) (aged 83) Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Resting place | Cemetery Parque Martinelli de Carrasco, Canelones Department |
| Political party | Colorado Party |
| Spouse | Josefina Herrán Puig[1] |
| Children | 9, includingPedro |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Bordaberry family |
| Education | University of Montevideo |
| Occupation | Politician,Stockgrower |
| Criminal details | |
| Conviction(s) | Crimes against humanity |
| Criminal penalty | 30 years |
| Imprisoned at | House arrest |
Juan María Bordaberry Arocena (Spanish:[boɾðaβeˈriaɾoˈsena]; 17 June 1928 – 17 July 2011), was anUruguayan politician and cattle rancher who served as the 34thPresident of Uruguay from 1972 until his resignation in 1976 and the 1stPresident of the Civic-Military Dictatorship from 1973 to 1976. Previously, he was theMinister of Agriculture from 1969 to 1972. He came to office following thePresidential elections of late 1971. In 1973, Bordaberry led a coup where he dissolved theGeneral Assembly and ruled as dictator.[2] He was widely regarded as ruling by decree as a military-sponsored dictator until disagreements with the military led to his being overthrown before his original term of office had expired.
On 17 November 2006, Bordaberry was arrested in a case involving four deaths, including two of members of the General Assembly during the period of civilian-military rule in the 1970s.
Juan María Bordaberry Arocena was born on 17 June 1928 in the capital city ofMontevideo, Uruguay, into the prominentpoliticalBordaberry family. Bordaberry was ofFrench descent. His grandfather, Jacques Bordaberry Oyhamburu, was aBasque native ofPagolle in thePyrénées-Atlantiques department, who moved toDurazno in 1865.[3] His father,Domingo Bordaberry, served in theSenate and inRuralist leadership, and was heir to one of the largest ranches in the country. His mother, Elisa Arocena Folle,[4] was the daughter to Alejo Gregorio Arocena Artagaveytia, a nephew to business magnateRamón F. Artagaveytia Gómez who was one of three Uruguayans wholost their lives during thesinking of the Titanic, and a cousin and second uncle to Emilia Nicanora Artagaveytia Arocena, the paternal grandmother toNational Party senator,Francisco Gallinal. Her aunts were Matilde and Amalia de Arocena Artagaveytía, the latter of which was the mother of foreign ministerEduardo Rodríguez Larreta and paternal grandmother of politicianAlberto Zumarán.[5] Juan María was the second of four children, the oldest of which, Luis Ignacio, was married to Gloria Fontana Etchepare, aunt to politicianLuis Alberto Heber.[6]
Initially, Bordaberry was aligned to theNational Party and was elected to the Senate on the Blanco ticket. In 1964, however, he assumed the leadership ofLiga Nacional de Accion Ruralista (National Rural Action League), and in 1969 joined theColorado Party. That year he was appointed to theCabinet, where he sat from 1969 to 1971 asminister of agriculture in the government of PresidentJorge Pacheco, having had a long association with rural affairs.
Bordaberry was elected president as a Colorado candidate in 1971.[7] He actually won the second-most overall votes, finishing 60,000 votes behindWilson Ferreira Aldunate of theNational Party. However, the combined Colorado vote exceeded the combined National vote by just over 12,000 votes. Under Uruguay'sLey de Lemas system, the highest-finishing candidate of the party that won the most votes was elected president.
Bordaberry took office in 1972 in the midst of an institutional crisis caused by the authoritarian rule of Pacheco and the terrorist threat. Bordaberry, at the time, had been a minor political figure; he had little independent standing as a successor to Pacheco other than being Pacheco's handpicked successor. He continued Pacheco's authoritarian methods, suspending civil liberties, banning labor unions, and imprisoning and killing opposition figures. He appointed military officers to most leading government positions.
Before and after his period of Presidential office, he was identified with schemes for agricultural improvement; his Agriculture minister wasBenito Medero. In personal terms, one of Bordaberry's actions which proved in hindsight to have been disadvantageous was his appointment ofJorge Sapelli asVice President of Uruguay, given the latter's resignation and public repudiation of him in 1973. OnJune 27, 1973, Bordaberry dissolved Congress, suspended the Constitution and gave the military and police the power to take whatever measures it deemed necessary to restore order. For the next three years, he ruled by decree with the assistance of a National Security Council ("COSENA").[8]
There were several important public figures in his cabinet during his administration. During the first year under democratic rule, he assigned roles to the likes ofJosé Antonio Mora,Luis Barrios Tassano, and future-presidentJulio María Sanguinetti. Upon dictatorial rule, he worked withJuan Carlos Blanco Estradé,Néstor Bolentini [es], andAlejandro Végh Villegas.
Gradually, Bordaberry became even more authoritarian than his military partners. In June 1976, he proposed a new,corporatist constitution that would have permanently shuttered the parties and codified a permanent role for the military. This was further than even the military wanted to go, and it forced him to resign.[8] Bordaberry then returned to his ranch.
Bordaberry was married toJosefina Herrán Puig. Together, the couple had nine children:
The nine children bore 19 grandchildren through the Bordaberry-Herrán couple.
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On 17 November 2006, following an order by judgeRoberto Timbal, Bordaberry was placed under arrest along with his former foreign ministerJuan Carlos Blanco Estradé.[9] He was arrested in connection with the 1976 assassination of two legislators, SenatorZelmar Michelini of the Christian Democratic Party and House leaderHéctor Gutiérrez of theNational Party. The assassinations took place inBuenos Aires but the prosecution argued they had been part ofOperation Condor, in which the military regimes of Uruguay andArgentina coordinated actions against dissidents. Timbal ruled that since the killings took place outside Uruguay, they were not covered by anamnesty enacted after the return of civilian rule in 1985.[citation needed]
On 23 January 2007, he was hospitalized inMontevideo with serious respiratory problems. Because of his health problems the judge Paublo Eguern ordered that Bordaberry be transferred to house arrest. From 27 January he served his prison term in the house of one of his sons in Montevideo. On 1 June 2007, anAppellate Court confirmed the continuation of the case of the murders of Michelini and Gutiérrez Ruiz. On 10 September 2007, anotherAppellate Court opened a new case to be tried by Judge Gatti for 10 homicides, for violations of the constitution.[citation needed]
On 7 February 2008, theBPS, Social Security Administration, suspended Bordaberry's retirement payments as ex-president of the country.
Bordaberry's arrest was generally met with satisfaction and regarded as the end of impunity in Uruguay, a country considered by some to have lagged behind other Latin American nations in this matter.[10] However, former PresidentJulio Sanguinetti has been critical of the one-sided prosecution of individuals involved in the conflict, and there has been lively media debate regarding issues surrounding Bordaberry's arrest.
On 5 March 2010, Bordaberry was sentenced to 30 years in prison (the maximum allowed under Uruguayan law) for murder and of being the intellectual author of kidnappings and disappearances of political opponents of the regime, becoming the second former Uruguayan dictator sentenced to a long prison term; in October 2009,Gregorio Conrado Álvarez was sentenced to 25 years. He had also been unsuccessfully tried for violating the constitution in the 1973 coup.[9]
On 17 July 2011, Bordaberry died, aged 83, at his home. He had been suffering from respiratory problems and other illnesses.[11][12] His remains are buried atParque Martinelli de Carrasco.[13]
| Ribbon | Distinction | Country | Date | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Collar of theOrder of the Liberator General San Martín |  Argentina | 1974 | [14] |
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.Hudson, Rex A.; Meditz, Sandra W., eds. (December 1993). "The Military Government, 1973-85".Uruguay: A country study.Federal Research Division,Library of Congress.LCCN 92006702.| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of Uruguay 1972–1976 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
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