Guido Manini Ríos Stratta (born 8 December 1958) is an Uruguayan politician and retired

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

who served as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, serving in this post from 1 February 2015 until being sacked by the president on 12 March 2019. In 2019, he joined the newly founded

Open Cabildo The open cabildo (Spanish: ''cabildo abierto'') is a traditional Hispanic American political assembly for convening citizens to deliberate policy. Originating in Spanish America as an iteration of the ''cabildo'', it also spread to Spain. His ...

party. He ran for president and Senator in the

2019 Uruguayan general election General elections were held in Uruguay on Sunday, 27 October 2019 to elect the President of Uruguay, President and General Assembly of Uruguay, General Assembly. As no presidential candidate received a majority in the first round of voting, a ru ...

Family and education

Manini is a grandson of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

politician Pedro Manini Ríos who was a senator, a diputate and Minister of the Interior. He is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and has Italian origins. He attended his primary and secondary studies at the Lycée Français de Montevideo. In 1973 he enrolled in the Liceo Militar General Artigas and two years later he entered the Military School. He also has a degree in history from the

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

Military career

He served on official missions in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

between 1988 and 1989 as a member of the United Nations Military Observer Group (UNIIMOG). Between 1993 and 1994 he joined an observation group in

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. The next year he was conferred the degree of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. In 1996 he joined a delegation of the Military Institute of Higher Studies (IMES) where he received instruction in the United States, he returned in 2010, as a

Military Attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

attached to the Uruguayan Embassy in that country and as an Advisor to the Inter-American College defense. He received the rank of lieutenant colonel and

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in 1999 and 2003 respectively and was promoted to general in 2011.

Commander-in-Chief of the Uruguayan Army

In February 2015 he was promoted to the position of commander-in-chief of the army. In September 2018, he was punished for public statements in which he criticized the approval of a reform of the pension system of the military. This sanction was the toughest imposed on a general since the end of the dictatorship in 1985. In March 2019, the decision of the court of honor created in the armed forces to analyze the human rights violations of retired military personnel Jorge "Pajarito" Silveira Quesada, José Nino Gavazzo and Luis Alfredo Maurente Mata committed during the dictatorship was made public. As a result, Manini criticized the Uruguayan court. This was the reason why President Tabaré Vázquez decided to dismiss him.

Political career

In April 2019, he was announced as running for president by the Open Cabildo party. In the 2019 presidential primaries, Manini obtained 49,485 votes, being the fourth most voted political force. In the October general election he won a seat 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 ...

. He obtained 268.736 votes, 11,04 %. He assumed as Senator on February 15, 2020, at the beginning of the XLIX Legislature.

Awards

* Order of Aeronautical Merit (Brazil)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manini Stratta, Guido 1958 births Living people Uruguayan National Army generals Catholic University of Uruguay alumni Uruguayan politicians Right-wing populism in South America Open Cabildo (Uruguay) politicians Candidates for President of Uruguay Uruguayan people of Italian descent