Mario Esteban Bergara Duque (born 4 May 1965 in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

) is a Uruguayan economist, public accountant, professor and politician of the Broad Front. He served as President of the

Central Bank of Uruguay The Central Bank of Uruguay ( es, Banco Central del Uruguay, BCU) is the central bank of the Uruguay. History The Central Bank of Uruguay was established on July 6, 1967 as an autonomous state entity ( es, Ente Autónomo), with the passing of t ...

from 2008 to 2013 and from 2015 to 2018. He also served as Minister of Economy and Finance (2013-2015) and as Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance (2005-2008). Since February 15, 2020, he has served as

Senator of the Republic 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 ...

for the 49th Legislature.

Biography

Education

Bergara graduated as an Economist (1987) and Public Accountant (1990) at the

University of the Republic The University of the Republic ( es, Universidad de la República, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is Uruguay's oldest public university. It is by far the country's largest university, as well as the second largest public university in South America and t ...

. He later obtained an MA (1997) and a PhD (1998) in Economics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

He worked at the

Banco de la República The Bank of the Republic ( es, Banco de la República) is the central bank of Colombia. It was initially established under the regeneration era in 1880. Its main modern functions, under the new Colombian constitution were detailed by Congress ...

and at the

Banco Central Banco Central Hispano was a Spanish bank. In 1999 it was merged with Banco Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santande ...

. He was head of the Department of Economic Studies of the Central Bank from 2001 to 2005 he was director of the Communications Services Regulatory Unit. Bergara's beginnings in the Broad Front were as a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, but later, with his breakup from 1989 and upon returning from his graduate studies in the US, he frequented the surroundings of one of its founders,

Líber Seregni Líber Seregni Mosquera (13 December 1916 – 31 July 2004) was a Uruguayan military officer and politician. In his youth he was a member of the Colorado Party. Under successive governments of that party, he had a successful military career u ...

. During the General's last years of life, he became one of his trusted men. After the electoral victory of

Tabaré Vázquez Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (; ''Vázquez Rosas'' locally ; 17 January 19406 December 2020) was a Uruguayan politician who served as the 41st president of Uruguay from 2015 to 2020. He previously served from 2005 to 2010 as the 39th presiden ...

in the 2004 elections, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, accompanying Minister

Danilo Astori Danilo Ángel Astori Saragosa (born April 23, 1940) is a Uruguayan retired social democratic politician who served as the 15th vice president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 under President José Mujica. A member of Uruguay Assembly– Broad Front, ...

. He resigned his position in the ministry at the same time that Danilo Astori did. On November 11, 2008, he assumed as President of the Central Bank of Uruguay, a position he held until December 26, 2013. In that moment he was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance, replacing Fernando Lorenzo. He returned to the post of president of the Central Bank in April 2015.

Participation in elections

In 2019, Bergara was a candidate in the Broad Front primaries election. However, he was defeated by Daniel Martínez, who represented the party in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of the same year. After the primary result of the primary elections Bergara obtained a total vote of 23,688 corresponding to 9.28% of the total votes received by the Broad Front. In the 2019 general election, he was elected

for the 49th Legislature, a position he accessed on February 15, 2020.

Personal life

Bergara maintains a relationship with the journalist and anchorperson Blanca Rodríguez.

Bibliography

References

External links

CV of Mario Bergara, PhD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergara, Mario 1965 births People from Montevideo University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Uruguayan economists Broad Front (Uruguay) politicians Presidents of the Central Bank of Uruguay Ministers of Economics and Finance of Uruguay Living people