Updated 9:04 PM CST, November 24, 2024

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Left-wing politician Yamandú Orsi is poised to become the next president of Uruguay after his main challenger in the runoff conceded defeat Sunday and even the outgoing leader of the South American country congratulated him.

His victory marks the return of a center-leftist government to Uruguay’s presidency after five years of a conservative administration.

But who is Yamandú Orsi?

From a working-class family to heir of the left

A teacher of history, folk dancer and former mayor, the 57-year-old politician is considered the political heir of former President José Mujica, who accompanied him in his campaign and praised him as a new leader able to find the right balance between the complex dynamics on the social, political and economic chessboard.

Orsi was born on June 13, 1967, in the rural area of the Canelones department. His father was a vineyard farmer and his mother a seamstress.

He has several similarities with his political godfather, such as the love for the countryside and a quiet lifestyle. Throughout the campaign, he was often photographed drinking mate, walking his dog and wearing casual suits. His administration is to take office next March, and like Mujica, he has said that he will not live in the presidential residence.

More:
https://apnews.com/article/uruguay-presidential-election-yamandu-orsi-d3481a8bb23c49dc777cbdeb0db6aa5f

They were trying to gain freedom from a fascist dictatorship.


Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay

The civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay (1973–85), also known as the Uruguayan Dictatorship, was an authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Uruguay for 12 years, from June 27, 1973 (after the 1973 coup d'état) until March 1, 1985. The dictatorship has been the subject of much controversy due to its violations of human rights, use of torture, and the unexplained disappearances of many Uruguayans.[2] The term "civic-military" refers to the military regime's relatively gradual usurpation of power from civilian presidents who continued to serve as head of state,[3] which distinguished it from dictatorships in other South American countries in which senior military officers immediately seized power and directly served as head of state.

The dictatorship was the culmination of an escalation of violence and authoritarianism in a traditionally peaceful and democratic country, and existed within the context of other military dictatorships in the region. It resulted in the suppression of all former political activity, including the traditional political parties. Many people were imprisoned and tortured, especially Uruguayans with left-wing sympathies.[4]

Political situation
The slow road to dictatorship started in the late 1960s. Between 1952 and 1967, the country experimented with a collective presidency. The National Council of Government had nine members, six from the majority party and three from the opposition. It provided weak leadership in the midst of a worsening economic situation.

After the re-establishment of the Presidency, the new President Óscar Diego Gestido of the Colorado Party was unable to improve economic conditions. He died in December 1967, six months after taking office. His constitutional successor, President Jorge Pacheco Areco (1967–1972) banned the Socialist Party of Uruguay, other leftist organizations and their newspapers, purged liberal professors from universities, and suppressed labor unions. His repressive policies, as well as economic crisis and high inflation, fueled social conflict and far-left guerrilla activity; the latter of which manifested in the form of the Tupamaros. On June 13, 1968, Pacheco declared a state of emergency. On August 14, 1968, 28 year old university student Líber Arce became the first student killed by police forces in Uruguay under the Pacheco administration. Another state of emergency was declared in August 1970, after Tupamaros killed US security expert Dan Mitrione. To coordinate their anti-guerrilla activities, the armed forces created the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Junta de Comandantes en Jefe y el Estado Mayor Conjunto) abbreviated as ESMACO. It was granted complete independence from the Ministry of Defense. [5] Another state of emergency was declared in January 1971 when the Tupamaros kidnapped UK ambassador Geoffrey Jackson. On September 9, 1971, more than 100 Tupamaros escaped from jail, prompting Pacheco to order the army to suppress all guerrilla activities.[6]

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic-military_dictatorship_of_Uruguay

URUGUAY:

HOW WE CRUSH NONVIOLENT PROTEST AGAINST A CORRUPT REGIME, USING THE SOA TO UNDERMINE OUR OWN LAWS

(1) The Uruguayan military institutes a totalitarian regime far beyond anything in Eastern Europe.

(2) This is done with full US support, including torture-training from the SOA.

During the 1960s, Uruguay is in the midst of a long-running economic decline under the watch of US corporations and a US-supported anti-democratic regime, with widespread poverty, labor strikes, student demonstrations, and militant street violence, and the largely nonviolent Tupamoros, "[p]erhaps the cleverest, most resourceful and most sophisticated urban guerrillas the world had ever seen," with widespread public support and secret admirers in key positions in the government, banks, universities, professions, military, and police.

"[T]he Tupamoros normally avoid bloodshed when possible. They try instead to create embarrassment for the Government and general disorder." � New York Times, 8/1/70 [E.g., publishing raided files of big private corporations to expose corruption and deceit, or publishing transcripts of trials in "People�s Court" of temporarily kidnapped corrupt public officials.]

The US-armed and US-trained military crush the Tupamoros in 1972, institute 11 years of repressive dictatorship, with "the largest number of political prisoners per capita in the world [about 60,000 people, roughly 2 percent of the population], � each one of them was tortured." � The Guardian (London) 10/19/84, Human Rights Quarterly, 5/82.

In the most extreme case, nine top Tupamoro leaders, following months of the most brutal physical torture, are kept in complete solitary confinement for over a decade. "In over eleven and a half years, I didn�t see the sun for more than eight hours altogether. I forgot colors�there were no colors." � Mauricio Rosencof, who spends his confinement at the bottom of a well.

Families are incorporated into the routine of torture and psychological abuse�children are sometimes permitted to visit their parents once a month, but only if the parent demonstrates no sign of affection.

The military seeks to penetrate and "purify" all aspects of Uruguayan life. Each school receives a new, "politically reliable" director, and each class is given a "teacher�s aide" to take notes on the behavior of students and teachers. A permit is required to hold a birthday party. Elections for captains of amateur soccer teams are supervised by the military, which can veto the results. A public performance of Ravel�s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand is banned because of its sinister title.

More:
https://public.websites.umich.edu/~lormand/poli/soa/uruguay.htm

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TO SAVE DAN MITRIONE NIXON ADMINISTRATION URGED
DEATH THREATS FOR URUGUAYAN PRISONERS

In Response Uruguayan Security Forces Launched Death Squads to Hunt and Kill Insurgents

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 324

By Carlos Osorio and Marianna Enamoneta
With the Collaboration of Clara Aldrighi

Posted – August 11, 2010

Washington, D.C., August 11, 2010 - Documents posted by the National Security Archive on the 40th anniversary of the death of U.S. advisor Dan Mitrione in Uruguay show the Nixon administration recommended a “threat to kill [detained insurgent] Sendic and other key [leftist insurgent] MLN prisoners if Mitrione is killed.” The secret cable from U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers, made public here for the first time, instructed U.S. Ambassador Charles Adair: “If this has not been considered, you should raise it with the Government of Uruguay at once.”

The message to the Uruguayan government, received by the U.S. Embassy at 11:30 am on August 9, 1970, was an attempt to deter Tupamaro insurgents from killing Mitrione at noon on that day. A few minutes later, Ambassador Adair reported back, in another newly-released cable, that “a threat was made to these prisoners that members of the ‘Escuadrón de la Muerte’ [death squad] would take action against the prisoners’ relatives if Mitrione were killed.”

Dan Mitrione, Director of the U.S. AID Office of Public Safety (OPS) in Uruguay and the main American advisor to the Uruguayan police at the time, had been held for ten days by MLN-Tupamaro insurgents demanding the release of some 150 guerrilla prisoners held by the Uruguayan government. Mitrione was found dead the morning of August 10, 1970, killed by the Tupamaros after their demands were not met.

“The documents reveal the U.S. went to the edge of ethics in an effort to save Mitrione—an aspect of the case that remained hidden in secret documents for years,” said Carlos Osorio, who directs the National Security Archive’s Southern Cone project. “There should be a full declassification to set the record straight on U.S. policy to Uruguay in the 1960’s and 1970’s.”

“In the aftermath of Dan Mitrione’s death, the Uruguayan government unleashed the illegal death squads to hunt and kill insurgents,” said Clara Aldrighi, professor of history at Uruguay’s Universidad de la República, and author of “El Caso Mitrione” (Montevideo: Ediciones Trilce, 2007). “The U.S. documents are irrefutable proof that the death squads were a policy of the Uruguayan government, and will serve as key evidence in the death squads cases open now in Uruguay’s courts,” Osorio added. "It is a shame that the U.S. documents are writing Uruguayan history. There should be declassification in Uruguay as well,” stated Aldrighi, who collaborated in the production of this briefing book.

Uruguay, with a long-standing democratic tradition, entered a crisis during most of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The U.S. government feared the strongest Latin American insurgency at the time, the leftist Movimiento Nacional de Liberación (MLN-Tupamaros) would topple a weak Uruguayan government so they therefore supported the Uruguayan Government with economic and security assistance. The U.S. AID Office of Public Safety helped enhance the counterinsurgency techniques of a Uruguayan police renowned for the wide use of torture among prisoners. Under Dan Mitrione, the OPS consolidated the Uruguayan police’s National Directorate for Information and Intelligence (Dirección Nacional de Información e Inteligencia, DNII). It was right at this time that the Tupamaro insurgents kidnapped Mitrione on July 31, 1970, and demanded the release of 150 Tupamaro prisoners.

More:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB324/index.htm

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Wikipedia:
Dan Mitrione

Early life and career
Dan Mitrione was born in Italy, the second son of Joseph and Maria Mitrione. The family emigrated to America soon after Dan's birth, settling in Richmond, Indiana, where Mitrione grew up.[1] Mitrione married Henrietta Lind while serving on a Michigan naval base during World War II, and the couple eventually had nine children.[2] After the war ended, Mitrione became a police officer in Richmond. He started as a patrolman in 1945, rising through the ranks until he was hired as the Richmond chief of police in 1956, a position which he held until 1960.[3]

Career in the Office of Public Safety
In 1960, Mitrione joined the Public Safety program of the International Cooperation Administration (ICA). The program, begun in 1954, provided U.S. aid and training to civilian police in countries around the world. Mitrione's first post was in Belo Horizonte, a large city about 250 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.[4] During the two years Mitrione was posted in Belo Horizonte, ICA was replaced by the United States Agency for International Development, and the police aid program was reorganized into the Office of Public Safety (OPS).

After two years in Belo Horizonte, Mitrione was transferred to Rio de Janeiro in 1962, where he served as a training adviser for another five years. In 1967, he was rotated back to the United States and taught for two years at the OPS International Police Academy in Washington, D.C.[5]

Uruguay

In 1969, Mitrione was appointed the OPS Chief Public Safety Adviser in Montevideo, Uruguay. In this period the Uruguayan government, led by the Colorado Party, had its hands full with a collapsing economy, labor and student strikes, and the Tupamaros, a left-wing urban guerrilla group. On the other hand, Washington feared a possible victory during the elections of the Frente Amplio, a left-wing coalition, on the model of the also-Cuban-supported victory of the Unidad Popular government in Chile, led by Salvador Allende, in 1970.[6] The OPS had been helping the local police since 1965, providing them with weapons and training.

Former Uruguayan police officials and CIA operatives[who?] stated Mitrione had taught torture techniques to Uruguayan police in the cellar of his Montevideo home, including the use of electrical shocks delivered to his victims' mouths and genitals.[7] His credo was "The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect."[8] He also helped train foreign police agents in the United States in the context of the Cold War. In 1978, at the 11th International Youth Festival in Cuba, Manuel Hevia Cosculluela, a Cuban who claimed to have infiltrated the CIA as double agent from 1962 to 1970, stated that Mitrione ordered the abduction of homeless people, so that he could use them as 'guinea pigs' in his torture classes.[9][10][11] He said that attempts would be made to keep each victim alive for multiple torture sessions,[9][11] but that torture would eventually kill them, and that their mutilated bodies would be dumped in the streets. He claimed that Mitrione personally tortured four homeless people to death.[9]

Mitrione's captors may also have believed him to be the inventor of a torture device known as the "Mitrioni vest".[12] This alleged device was described as "an inflatable vest which can be used to increase pressure on the chest during interrogation, sometimes crushing the rib cage."[12]

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Mitrione