Tabaré Vázquez

For other uses, see Tabaré.

In this Spanish name, the family name is Vázquez.

His Excellency Tabaré Vázquez
File:Visita Oficial del Presidente de Uruguay 2 (cropped).jpg
39th and 41st President of Uruguay
In office 1 March 2015 – 1 March 2020
Vice President	Raúl Sendic Lucía Topolansky
Preceded by	José Mujica
Succeeded by	Luis Lacalle Pou
In office 1 March 2005 – 1 March 2010
Vice President	Rodolfo Nin
Preceded by	Jorge Batlle
Succeeded by	José Mujica
President pro tempore of UNASUR
In office 1 March 2015 – 23 April 2016
Preceded by	José Mujica
Succeeded by	Nicolás Maduro
Intendant of Montevideo
In office 5 May 1990 – 5 May 1994
Preceded by	Eduardo Fabini Jiménez
Succeeded by	Tabaré González
Personal details
Born	Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (1940-01-17)17 January 1940 Montevideo, Uruguay
Died	Montevideo, Uruguay
Resting place	Cementerio de La Teja, Montevideo
Political party	Socialist Party
Other political affiliations	Broad Front
Spouse(s)	María Auxiliadora Delgado (m. 1968; d. 2019)
Children	4
Education	University of the Republic
Signature	Tabaré Vázquez's signature

Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (Spanish pronunciation: [taβaˈɾe raˈmom ˈbaskez ˈrosas]; 17 January 1940 – 6 December 2020) was a Uruguayan politician who served as the 41st President of Uruguay from 2015 to 2020. He previously served as President from 2005 to 2010 as the 39th officeholder. A physician (oncologist), he was a member of the leftist Broad Front coalition.

Before his first presidential term, Vázquez was president of the Club Progreso team and made two unsuccessful presidential bids in 1994 and 1999. He served as Intendant of Montevideo between 1990 to 1994 shortly before his first presidential campaign.

Vázquez was first elected President on 31 October 2004, took office on 1 March 2005. He was the first socialist president of the country. His first presidency was remembered for his diplomatic relationships with Brazil and Argentina while being criticized from his party over his anti-abortion views. After leaving the presidency in 2010, Vázquez successfully ran for a second term in 2015.

Early life

Vázquez was born in the Montevideo neighbourhood of La Teja on 17 January 1940, the fourth child of the marriage between Héctor Vázquez, a worker of ANCAP, and Elena Rosas. He had Galician ancenstry as his grandparents were originally from Ourense and Santiago de Compostela, in Spain. He studied medicine at the Universidad de la República Medical School, graduating as an oncologist in 1972. In 1976, he received a grant from the French government, allowing him to obtain additional training at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Paris.

Early career and Intendant of Montevideo

Vázquez, a football fanatic, was president of the Club Progreso team from 1979 to 1989.

From 1990 to 1995, Vázquez was the Frente Amplio coalition's first Mayor of Montevideo. In 1994, he made an unsuccessful run for president as the Frente Amplio candidate.

In 1996, he was elected leader of the Frente Amplio, replacing the historic leader of the left-wing coalition, Liber Seregni. He ran again unsuccessfully for president in 1999.

First presidency of Uruguay (2005–2010)

President Tabaré Vázquez with Vice President Rodolfo Nin Novoa

In the 2004 elections, he won 50.45% of the valid votes, enough to win the presidency in a single round. He became the country's first president from a left-wing party, and thus the first one since the 1830s who was not a member of the National (Blanco) or Colorado parties. He also had the support of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, likewise a centre-left democratic socialist.

Tabaré Vázquez receives U.S. President George W. Bush with asado a la parrilla

Among the most complex issues that dominated his administration was an ongoing conflict with Argentina over potential contamination from pulp mills being built on the Uruguayan side of the Uruguay River.

Vázquez was the first President of Uruguay to visit New Zealand and South Korea, and he established contacts with other countries in Southeast Asia. While he maintained cordial relations with the United States, hosting U.S. President George W. Bush, Vázquez did not sign Bush's failed Free Trade Area of the Americas.

This visit attracted a measure of censure from the opposition, from Pedro Bordaberry and others, who were critical of Vázquez for having chosen to be in Cuba during a commemoration – which Vázquez himself initiated – for the victims of the 1973–1985 dictatorship; Bordaberry's father, Juan María Bordaberry, established the dictatorship with a 1973 decree dissolving Congress.

In 2007 the loading of Iranian arms onto a Uruguayan Navy vessel visiting Venezuela, in contravention of a UN-sponsored arms embargo, provoked international comment. The domestic controversy regarding this event was centred on protests against Vázquez's Government by the opposition National Party.

In June 2008 President Vázquez visited Cuba. While in Cuba, Vázquez and the Presidential party engaged in a number of high-profile events, including a summit with President Raúl Castro.

In June 2009 President Vázquez, who had been courting diplomatically the Bolivian President Evo Morales, announced his support for the delisting of coca leaves from the category of a 'dangerous drug'.

In February 2010 the Vázquez Government was cooperating with an investigation to explain how two Northrop F-5E jet engines valued at many millions of US dollars had surfaced in Uruguay.

Popularity

File:Vazquez y Kirchner crean Comisión Binacional por celulosa.jpg

Vázquez with Argentine President Néstor Kirchner

File:Tabaré Vázquez with Hugo Chávez.jpg

Vázquez with Hugo Chávez

According to an Equipos/MORI opinion poll his approval had fallen to 44% by April 2007, a level below the electoral support he received in the 2004 elections. His approval later recovered, however, reaching 80% by his last term in office.

In October 2006, President Vázquez was still personally more popular than his government with a 62% approval rating. However, a considerable drop in the government's popularity was registered by an Equipos/MORI poll in late April 2007, showing that 44% of Uruguayans approved of his administration. A new poll by Factum showed a 57% approval by June 2008, however, indicating a significant recovery from a year earlier.

2009 presidential election

In January 2008, members of the ruling coalition made proposals to reform the Constitution of Uruguay, focusing on the possibility of allowing Vázquez to run again in 2009, however Vázquez ruled out a 2009 run. Jose Mujica was elected in November 2009 as President and Vázquez was offered to resume the presidency of the Frente Amplio but he declined. Vázquez went on to be the Frente Amplio candidate for Presidency in 2014.

On 4 December 2008, Vázquez resigned his leadership posts at the Socialist Party due to controversy over his opposition to abortion rights.

Second presidency of Uruguay (2015–2020)

Vázquez left office in 2010, at the end of his five-year presidential term, with an 80% approval rating, a record in Uruguay. He formally announced his candidacy for the 2014 election in November 2013.

Renominated by the Broad Front for the presidency with running mate Raúl Fernando Sendic on 1 June, he came up just a few thousand votes short of winning the presidency outright in 26 October election. He was returned to office in the 30 November runoff, defeating right-wing candidate Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou of the National Party by 53% to 41% in the second round. Vázquez took office on 1 March 2015, succeeding José Mujica.

On 9 September 2017, his running mate and Vice President Raús Fernando Sendic resigned after he was accused allegedly of misusing public funds while heading state oil company Ancap. Sendic's bad image began with a scandal over his non-existent degree in Human Genetics in 2016, and deeply damaged the image of Vázquez and his government which already suffered from historically low approval.

Personal life and death

File:Tabmar.jpg

Vázquez and his wife, María Auxiliadora Delgado.

Vázquez married María Auxiliadora Delgado on 23 October 1964 in the Montevideo parish of Los Vascos. She died of a heart attack on 31 July 2019. They had three biological children together and an adopted son.

On 20 August 2019, President Vázquez revealed that he suffered from a lung nodule with malignant appearance. Nevertheless he announced his intention of finishing his presidential term on 1 March 2020 as planned. At mid-November, it was confirmed by authorities of the Public Health Ministry that his lung cancer was cured. On 27 November 2020, the rumor spread of his worsening state of health and a Republica journalist announced that his cancer had metastasized to the pancreas. That day, his son reported that his father was in home hospitalization after suffering an acute thrombosis in his left leg, but was recovering.

He ultimately died of his lung cancer in Montevideo on 6 December 2020, at age 80. President Luis Lacalle Pou declared three days of national mourning following his death and said that Uruguay "lost a prominent scientist and a citizen defender of human rights". His funeral will be held in "intimacy" due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be buried at Cementerio de La Teja in Montevideo alongside his wife.

Honours and awards

Award or decoration		Country	Date	Place	Note	Ref
	Order of Merit	Qatar	2 May 2007	Doha	Highest Qatari decoration.
80px	Grand Collar of the National Order of San Lorenzo	Ecuador	7 September 2010	Quito	Highest Ecuadorian order of merit.

WHO recognition

Vázquez was awarded the World Health Organization Director-General's Award in 2006 in recognition of his leadership on tobacco control in Uruguay, which has implemented some of the most stringent tobacco control measures in the world.

See also

• Pink tide

External links

• Site of President of Uruguay
• Electoral site of Tabaré Vázquez
• Biography by CIDOB
• New leftist cabinet launched in Uruguay (Xinhua News Agency)
• Uruguay inaugurates first leftist president (The Globe and Mail)
• Left-wing Uruguay leader sworn in (BBC News)
• Uruguay joys over new president (BBC News)
• El Espectador: Tax Reform
• Leftist Chief Is Installed in Uruguay and Gets Busy on Agenda (The New York Times)
• Links for Plan de Emergencia Nacional

Political offices
Preceded by Eduardo Fabini Jiménez	Intendant of Montevideo 1990–1994	Succeeded by Tabaré González
Preceded by Jorge Batlle	President of Uruguay 2005–2010	Succeeded by José Mujica
Preceded by José Mujica	President of Uruguay 2015–2020	Succeeded by Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou
Party political offices
Preceded by Liber Seregni	Leader of the Broad Front 1996–1999	Succeeded by Jorge Brovetto