Alfeo Brum (22 March 1898 – 25 February 1972) 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 lawyer. He was Vice-President of Uruguay from 1947 to 1951 and 1951 to 1952, noted for being the longest consecutively serving Vice-President in Uruguay's history. Brum was the only person who served two successive terms as Vice President of Uruguay and was the fifth person to hold the office.

Background

Alfeo Brum was born in Salto on 22 March 1898. He was a younger brother of President

Baltasar Brum Baltasar Brum Rodríguez, GCTE (18 June 1883 – 31 March 1933) was a Uruguayan political figure. He was President of Uruguay from 1919 to 1923. Background Brum was born in the Department of Artigas near the city of Salto, where he began his ...

. He studied law, and became a lawyer. From his youth, he was a member of the Colorado Party.

Early political career

Alfeo Brum was elected as Representative from the department of Artigas, and represented Artigas for three consecutive terms starting with 1923 and ending in 1932. On 1 March 1933, he became a Senator. On March 31, President

Gabriel Terra José Luis Gabriel Terra Leivas (August 1, 1873 – September 15, 1942) was a Uruguayan lawyer and statesman who served as the 26th constitutional president of Uruguay from 1931 to 1933 and as dictator until 1938. He led a traditionalist and ...

dissolved the parliament. Former President Baltasar Brum resisted Terra's coup, but when he noticed the indifference of the Uruguayan populace to the coup, he committed suicide on that very same day. His brother Alfeo was with him at the time he committed suicide, and from that moment on he was considered an opponent and an outlaw to Terra's regime. The Brum brothers were followers of the orthodox " Batllismo" faction within the Colorado Party (at the time, the followers of the ideals of President José Batlle y Ordoñez). He was imprisoned at Isla de las Ratas, and later was exiled. He was once again elected a senator in the November 1946 elections, for the 1947–1951 period.

Vice President of Uruguay

The death of President Tomás Berreta, and the succession to the presidency of

Luis Batlle Berres Luis Conrado Batlle y Berres (26 November 1897 – 15 July 1964) was a Uruguayan politician who was President of Uruguay from 1947 to 1951. Background Batlle Berres was a journalist and prominent member of the Uruguayan Colorado Party. He was ...

, determined that Alfeo Brum, the first Senator of the Batllismo faction's Senate list, took over the Vice-Presidency for the rest of the period, until March 1951. In the November 1950 elections, he was the Vice-Presidential candidate of

Andrés Martínez Trueba Andrés Martínez Trueba (11 February 1884 – 19 December 1959) was the President of Uruguay from 1951 to 1955. Background Martínez Trueba was born in Montevideo and grew up in the Peñarol area, graduating from university with a degree in ...

, one of the two presidential candidates of the Batllismo faction. Martínez Trueba and the Colorado Party won the elections, and Alfeo Brum went on to serve as vice president from 1951 to 1952. As vice president, he also served as the President of the Senate of Uruguay.

Post-vice presidency

In 1952 Brum stepped down from the vice presidency and the office of

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 ...

went into abeyance, to be revived again in 1967, within Brum's lifetime. Alfeo Brum died in Montevideo on 25 February 1972.

Background

Early political career

Vice President of Uruguay

Post-vice presidency

References

See also