July 5, 2007. Copyright 2007, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Uruguayan President Tabare Vasquez steering an independent course
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, July 5, Graphic News:  Ever since Tabare Vasquez was inaugurated president of Uruguay in March 2005, experts have debated just how radical is the countryÕs first ever left-leaning leader. Is he in fact part of the "pink tide" that has swept across Latin American countries in recent years, or does he have a far more moderate agenda in mind?

When the former cancer specialistÕs Broad Front party came to power, it signalled the end of almost two centuries of two-party conservative rule in a country that had also endured a decade of brutal military dictatorship. VasquezÕs election victory was hailed as another coup for the left in a region that counts VenezuelaÕs radical Hugo Chavez and BrazilÕs former union leader Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva among its chief power-brokers.

Since then, however, Vasquez, a former mayor of Montevideo, has demonstrated his political independence as he battles to restore economic stability to a country that is both deeply indebted to the International Monetary Fund, and underwent its worse economic crisis ever at the beginning of the century.

His eagerness to attract foreign investment to spur this recovery has earned him criticism, but he has been praised for his ambitious anti-poverty programme and his determination to investigate the former dictatorshipÕs human rights violations. On social policies, then, the leaders of the regionÕs pink tide can probably count him one of theirs.

Born on January 17, 1940, Vasquez graduated in oncology at the cityÕs medical school in 1972, and later continued his studies in Paris. From 1990-95 he was mayor of the capital, establishing his partyÕs first significant toehold in national political life. He led a successful campaign against the privatization of the state-owned oil company ANCAP.

In 1994 he lost his first attempt on the presidency, winning just under a third of the vote. Three years after he became leader of the Broad Front coalition in 1996, he failed in a second attempt but won more votes. It was third time lucky in October 2005, when Vasquez avoided a runoff ballot and smashed the monopoly of the National and Colorado parties.

Since then his government has focused on nurturing UruguayÕs economic recovery, and on fulfilling his campaign pledges to improve social justice. His PANES plan aims to invest $100 million in programmes that range from building shelters for the homeless to providing more teachers, to sending Uruguayans to Cuba for some forms of medical treatment. The plan has been compared to LulaÕs Zero Poverty initiative in Brazil.

But his readiness to rebuild his country on the back of foreign investment has not gone down so well in some quarters. Uruguay is engaged in a bitter conflict with Argentina over its plans to construct two foreign-built pulp mills on the river that forms their border. Environmentalists have blocked bridges to halt construction work, and Buenos Aires has threatened to take Montevideo to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Although Vasquez eventually decided against another move that seemed sure to upset his neighbours when he opted not to sign a mooted bilateral trade agreement with the United States (The MERCOSUR trade agreement that binds Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil prohibits any member independently signing a trade agreement with an outsider), the fact that he appeared to consider doing so indicates his willingness to go it alone.

Vasquez, a known football fanatic, is married to Maria Auxiliadora Delgado, with whom he has four children.
/ENDS