Alberto Pedro Demicheli Lizaso (August 7, 1896 – October 12, 1980) was a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Demicheli was a ''de facto''

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

in 1976 as a non-democratically elected authority of the civic-military dictatorship.

Background

He was a noted jurist and economist and previously served as

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

under President

Gabriel Terra José Luis Gabriel Terra Leivas ( Montevideo, 1 August 1873 - Montevideo, 15 September 1942) was a lawyer and politician of batllista origin in Uruguay, and advisor to all Uruguayan governments on diplomatic, Economic and financial issues ...

. A member of the Colorado Party, Demicheli was one of a number of civilians who participated in the civilian-military administration which took office following President

Juan Maria Bordaberry ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

's coup in 1973.

President of Uruguay

He succeeded Bordaberry as

in July 1976. Aged 80 by the end of his brief period as

, he was the oldest ever president of Uruguay. While in office he adopted measures designed to liberalize the economy. Demicheli was a relative moderate within the civilian-military administrations which ruled

between 1973 and 1985, in that, although he was known for measures deemed repressive by

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

advocates opposed to the government, he dissented with his military colleagues regarding the extent to which former political figures should be proscribed from pursuing political activities: this is believed to have hastened the end of his short term of office as

President of Uruguay The president of Uruguay ( es, Presidente del Uruguay), officially known as the president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (), is the head of state and head of government of Uruguay. Their rights are determined in the Constitution of Urugua ...

. Demicheli handed over his Presidential office to

Aparicio Méndez Aparicio Méndez Manfredini (24 August 1904 – 27 June 1988) was a Uruguayan lawyer and political. He was a de facto President of Uruguay from 1976–1981 as a non-democratically elected authority of the civic-military dictatorship. Backgrou ...

in September 1976, who was still serving as President when Demicheli died in 1980.

Historical background

As with his predecessor

, some observers would argue that the close links between leading Colorado party figures such as Demicheli and the military mirror the similar elements present in the Colorado party's founder, the 19th century President and military patriot,

Fructuoso Rivera José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana (17 October 1784 – 13 January 1854) was a Uruguayan general and patriot who fought for the liberation of Banda Oriental from Brazilian rule, twice served as Uruguay's President and was one of the instigators ...

. The preference for rule by decree of nineteenth century Colorado

Venancio Flores Venancio Flores Barrios (18 May 1808 – 19 February 1868) was a Uruguayan political leader and general. Flores was President of Uruguay from 1854 to 1855 (interim) and from 1865 to 1868. Background and early career In 1839, he was made politi ...

would also be a historical case in point, according to this argument. Others would reason that Demicheli was morally repudiating Colorado party ideals in cooperating with the civilian-military administration which took office in 1973. The fact that the

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Demicheli twice in his career exercised ministerial / executive powers at periods when rule by decree was in force arguably illustrates the fact that within the

party there was substantial support for such measures. The tendency of some observers to describe

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

heads of state who ruled by decree as '

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

may be seen in this light. Others would seek to discount Demicheli's association with the

Party.

Spouse

His wife, Sofía Álvarez Vignoli de Demicheli, was noted for her diplomatic activity during the Presidency of

, in whose administration Alberto Demicheli also served.

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003421/http://www.bcu.gub.uy/autoriza/peiees/iees03j3110701.pdf (picture:) * https://web.archive.org/web/20070314012341/http://www.martin.romano.org/wp16/wp16_445.htm * See also :es:Alberto Demicheli (similar Wikipedia article in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Demicheli, Alberto 1896 births 1980 deaths People from Rocha, Uruguay University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Uruguayan jurists Colorado Party (Uruguay) politicians Presidents of Uruguay Interior Ministers of Uruguay Uruguayan football chairmen and investors Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay Uruguayan anti-communists