Juan María Bordaberry Arocena (; 17 June 1928 – 17 July 2011), was an

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an politician and cattle rancher who served as the 34th

President of Uruguay The president of Uruguay (), officially known as the president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (), is the head of state and head of government of Uruguay. The president presides over the Cabinet of Uruguay, Council of Ministers, directing ...

from 1972 until his resignation in 1976 and the 1st President of the Civic-Military Dictatorship from 1973 to 1976. Previously, he was the Minister of Agriculture from 1969 to 1972. He came to office following the Presidential elections of late 1971. In 1973, Bordaberry led a coup where he dissolved the General Assembly and ruled as dictator. 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.

Early life and background

Juan María Bordaberry Arocena was born on 17 June 1928 in the capital city of Montevideo, Uruguay, into the prominent

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

Bordaberry family. Bordaberry was of French descent. His grandfather, Jacques Bordaberry Oyhamburu, was a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

native of Pagolle in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...

department, who moved to Durazno in 1865. His father, Domingo Bordaberry, served in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and in Ruralist leadership, and was heir to one of the largest ranches in the country. His mother, Elisa Arocena Folle, was the daughter to Alejo Gregorio Arocena Artagaveytia, a nephew to business magnate Ramón F. Artagaveytia Gómez who was one of three Uruguayans who lost their lives during the

sinking of the Titanic Titanic, RMS ''Titanic'' sank on 15 April 1912 in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, ''Titanic'' was four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, USA with ...

, and a cousin and second uncle to Emilia Nicanora Artagaveytia Arocena, the paternal grandmother to National Party senator, Francisco Gallinal. Her aunts were Matilde and Amalia de Arocena Artagaveytía, the latter of which was the mother of foreign minister

Eduardo Rodríguez Larreta Eduardo Rodriguez-Larreta (11 December 1888 – 15 August 1973) was a journalist and Uruguayan foreign minister in the 1940s. Noted achievements Mr Rodríguez formulated what is sometimes called the "Larreta Doctrine," which said nations of the Am ...

and paternal grandmother of politician

Alberto Zumarán Alberto Sáenz de Zumarán Ortiz de Taranco, known as Alberto Zumarán (10 October 1940 – 4 August 2020) was a Uruguayan lawyer and politician, belonging to the National Party (Uruguay), National Party. Zumarán was born in Montevideo, the son o ...

. Juan María was the second of four children, the oldest of which, Luis Ignacio, was married to Gloria Fontana Etchepare, aunt to politician Luis Alberto Heber. Initially, Bordaberry was aligned to the National Party and was elected to the Senate on the Blanco ticket. In 1964, however, he assumed the leadership of Liga Nacional de Accion Ruralista (National Rural Action League), and in 1969 joined the Colorado Party. That year he was appointed to the Cabinet, where he sat from 1969 to 1971 as minister of agriculture in the government of President Jorge Pacheco, having had a long association with rural affairs.

President of Uruguay

Bordaberry was elected president as a Colorado candidate in 1971. He actually won the second-most overall votes, finishing 60,000 votes behind

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate Wilson Ferreira Aldunate (1919–1988) was a Uruguayan politician and a historically important member of the National Party. Biography He was Minister of Agriculture during the second National Council of Government (Uruguay) with Blanco major ...

of the National Party. However, the combined Colorado vote exceeded the combined National vote by just over 12,000 votes. Under Uruguay's Ley 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 was Benito Medero. In personal terms, one of Bordaberry's actions which proved in hindsight to have been disadvantageous was his appointment of Jorge Sapelli as

Vice President of Uruguay The vice president of Uruguay is the person with the second highest position in the executive branch of the Uruguayan government, after the President of Uruguay. The vice president replaces the elected President in case of his death or absence. Th ...

, given the latter's resignation and public repudiation of him in 1973. On June 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"). 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 of

José Antonio Mora José Antonio Mora Otero (22 November 1897 – 26 January 1975) was a Uruguayan lawyer and diplomat. Antonio Mora served as the secretary general of the Organization of American States between 16 January 1956 and 18 May 1968. Before retiri ...

, Luis Barrios Tassano, and future-president

Julio María Sanguinetti Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo (; born 6 January 1936) often known by his initials JMS, is a Uruguayan former lawyer, journalist and politician of the Colorado Party (Uruguay), Colorado Party (PC) who served as the President of Uruguay as the ...

. Upon dictatorial rule, he worked with Juan Carlos Blanco Estradé, Néstor Bolentini es">:es:Néstor_Bolentini">es and Alejandro Végh Villegas.

Ousted by military

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. Bordaberry then returned to his ranch.

Family

Bordaberry was married to Josefina Herrán Puig. Together, the couple had nine children: * Ana; a textile designer * Juan Andrés;

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

* Juan Javier; lawyer * Juan María;

agriculturist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the Agricultural science, science, practice, and management of Farming, agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, ...

* Juan Martín;

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

* Juan Pablo; agriculturist * Juan Pedro; current

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

of the Colorado Party and former ministry of tourism under President

Jorge Batlle Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez (; ''Batlle'' locally or ; 25 October 1927 – 24 October 2016) was a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, who served as the 38th president of Uruguay from 2000 to 2005. A member of the Colorado Party (Uruguay), Colorado ...

* María;

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

* Santiago;

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

, livestock and religious activist The nine children bore 19 grandchildren through the Bordaberry-Herrán couple.

Arrest

On 17 November 2006, following an order by judge Roberto Timbal, Bordaberry was placed under arrest along with his former foreign minister Juan Carlos Blanco Estradé. He was arrested in connection with the 1976 assassination of two legislators, Senator Zelmar Michelini of the Christian Democratic Party and House leader Héctor Gutiérrez of the National Party. The assassinations took place in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

but the prosecution argued they had been part of

Operation Condor Operation Condor (; ) was a campaign of political repression by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America, involving intelligence operations, coups, and assassinations of left-wing sympathizers in South America which fo ...

, in which the military regimes of Uruguay and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

coordinated actions against dissidents. Timbal ruled that since the killings took place outside Uruguay, they were not covered by an

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

enacted after the return of civilian rule in 1985. On 23 January 2007, he was hospitalized in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

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, an

Appellate Court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

confirmed the continuation of the case of the murders of Michelini and Gutiérrez Ruiz. On 10 September 2007, another

opened a new case to be tried by Judge Gatti for 10 homicides, for violations of the constitution. On 7 February 2008, the BPS, Social Security Administration, suspended Bordaberry's retirement payments as ex-president of the country.

Opposition and support

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. However, former President Julio 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.

Conviction

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.

Death

On 17 July 2011, Bordaberry died, aged 83, at his home. He had been suffering from respiratory problems and other illnesses. His remains are buried at Parque Martinelli de Carrasco.

Honours and awards

Foreign honours

References

External links

Juan María Bordaberry photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordaberry, Juan Maria 1928 births 2011 deaths Colorado Party (Uruguay) politicians Leaders ousted by a coup Members of the Senate of Uruguay Ministers of livestock, agriculture, and fisheries of Uruguay People convicted of murder by Uruguay Politicians from Montevideo 20th-century presidents of Uruguay Uruguayan cattlemen Uruguayan people convicted of murder Uruguayan people of Basque descent Bordaberry family Critics of Freemasonry Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay Burials at Parque Martinelli de Carrasco Liga Nacional de Accion Ruralista politicians Uruguayan anti-communists Heads of government who were later imprisoned