Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez (; ''Batlle'' locally or ; 25 October 1927 – 24 October 2016) was a Uruguayan

politician 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, ...

and lawyer, and a member of the Colorado Party. He served as the

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 Urugu ...

from 2000 to 2005. Dr. Jorge Batlle became Uruguayan president on 1 March 2000, after having been elected the previous year by popular vote. He was the fourth Uruguayan President belonging to the Batlle family, one of whom was his own father,

Luis Batlle Berres Luis Conrado Batlle y Berres (26 November 1897 – 15 July 1964) was a Uruguayan political figure. Background Batlle Berres was a journalist and prominent member of the Uruguayan Colorado Party. He was selected — in hindsight, with far- ...

. A name that is closely related to the political history of the country, Batlle began his political career in the 1950s and had served as member of the Uruguayan Congress for the Colorado Party, to which many members of his own family – which came to the River Plate from the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

coast at

Sitges Sitges (, , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Spain, renowned worldwide for its Film Festival, Carnival, and LGBT Culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is known for its beaches, nights ...

, Spain, 200 years ago – had belonged before him.

Early life

Batlle was born in 1927, son of

and Matilde Ibáñez Tálice. He has two siblings, Luis (d. May 25, 2016) and Matilde. His ancestors include the Uruguayan presidents

Jose Batlle y Ordonez Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galil ...

and

Lorenzo Batlle Lorenzo Cristóbal Manuel Batlle y Grau (August 10, 1810 in Montevideo – May 8, 1887 in Montevideo) was the president of Uruguay from 1868 to 1872. Family background and early career He was the son of a wealthy merchant loyal to the Spani ...

. By 1958, when he was first elected Congressman for the Colorado Party, Dr. Batlle – who had obtained his Diploma in Law and Social Sciences from 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 ...

in 1956 - had been active in journalism both in Radio "Ariel" and the newspaper "Acción". He was also by that time a member of the governing body of his Party. He unsuccessfully ran for president in 1966, and was part of a financial scandal in 1968, which was never proven. He ran for president again in 1971, without success. During the period of civilian-military administration in Uruguay (1973–1985), Dr. Batlle did not occupy any legislative or official position, having been banned from political activity by decree. He was detained on several occasions. He did preside over the Legislative General Assembly in February 1985, when the first democratically elected Congress was seated after the military interregnum. He has a very active legislative record. Dr. Batlle was also a leading promoter and drafter of two Constitutional Amendments, one in 1966 and the other more recently in 1996. He was defeated again in the 1989 and 1994 presidential elections, and won the 1999 elections, taking office in 2000.

Presidency

Batlle took office at a particularly difficult moment for Uruguay, as an economic depression led the country

2002 Uruguay banking crisis The Uruguay banking crisis was a major banking crisis that hit Uruguay in July 2002. In this, a massive run on banks by depositors (most of them from neighboring Argentina) caused the government to freeze banking operations. The crisis was caused b ...

and close to

sovereign default A sovereign default is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full when due. Cessation of due payments (or receivables) may either be accompanied by that government's formal declaration that it wi ...

, and a third of the population below the poverty line. Batlle's determination to reduce public spending, aimed at preserving the macroeconomic balance, made it possible for Uruguay to be highly regarded as a country with a sound management of its economic affairs. US president George W. Bush helped him to prevent default with $1.5 billion in credit. His administration had to deal with a

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, follo ...

outbreak, which threatened access of Uruguayan

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

to international markets. Before the end of his term, Uruguay had re-gained disease-free status. Batlle firmly backed

MERCOSUR The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Arge ...

, which he saw as instrumental for an open regional integration into the world economy. He favoured strengthening MERCOSUR by forming associations such as the one envisaged in the so-called "4+1" agreement with the United States. He maintained close diplomatic ties with the US at a time when the

Pink tide The pink tide ( es, marea rosa, pt, onda rosa, french: marée rose), or the turn to the left ( es, giro a la izquierda, link=no, pt, volta à esquerda, link=no, french: tournant à gauche, link=no), is a political wave and perception of a tur ...

in Latin America was marked by several regional governments that distanced themselves from the US. He had a diplomatic conflict with Cuba, as he criticised the human rights record of the Castro's regime. In 2002, he deals with the law on the legalization of prostitution. He proposed the legalization of cocaine, as a way to reduce the political clout of drug cartels. He was also in favour of the creation of the Free Trade Association of the Americas (FTAA). As president, Batlle was firmly set against protectionism and subsidies of any kind; he has been a consistent spokesman for unhampered free trade.

Later life

Jorge Batlle stayed active in politics after the end of his presidency. He criticised the Uruguayan presidents that succeeded him ( Tabaré Vázquez and

José Mujica José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and im ...

) through newspapers columns and social media.

Death

Jorge Batlle fainted and struck his head after he fainted and fell during an event at the Colorado party. He was hospitalized at the Sanatorio Americano hospital, and underwent surgery to stop an intracranial hemorrhage. The operation failed, and he died on 24 October 2016, one day shy of his 89th birthday. Uruguay declared a day of national mourning upon his death.

References

External links