Gustavo Alberto Salle Lorier (born March 19, 1958) is a Uruguayan lawyer and politician serving as National Representative since February 2025. Founder and leader of the

Sovereign Identity Sovereign Identity () is an anti-establishment political party in Uruguay. Founded in 2022, it is led by the lawyer and confrontational activist Gustavo Salle Lorier. The party entered the Uruguayan parliament for the first time after winning 2 ...

party, he was a presidential candidate in the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

general elections. Graduated from the

University of the Republic The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...

with a law degree, gained notoriety by filing criminal complaints against members of the Broad Front governments and for his activism against the installation of the

UPM-Kymmene UPM-Kymmene Oyj is a Finnish forest industry company. UPM-Kymmene was formed by the merger of Kymmene Corporation with Repola Oy and its subsidiary United Paper Mills Ltd in 1996. UPM consists of six business areas: UPM Fibres, UPM Energy, UPM ...

cellulose production plants in Uruguay. Salle is widely known for his flamboyant personality, aggressive and anti-establishment rhetoric and embrace of conspiracy theories, including the New World Order, that of the so-called "kleptocorporatocracy" or government of the corporations and that of the Judeo-Masonic secret coalition.

Early life and legal career

Salle Lorier was born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

on March 19, 1958, the youngest child of Ariel Salle, an administrative employee at a car importing company, and Esther Lorier, a schoolteacher. His brother Carlos Salle was a professor at the Faculty of Dentistry before he died. He was raised in the

Sayago Sayago is a ''comarca'' (county, but with no administrative role) in the province of Zamora in central Spain. Geography The ''comarca'' is located at the southwest of the Zamora Province. The main geographical characteristic is the isolation ...

neighborhood in a middle-class family and attended public schools. His parents were supporters of the Colorado Party and campaigned for Battlism during the leadership 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 ...

. In 1976 he enrolled at the

and graduated with a law degree in 1982. He gained notoriety for taking several legal actions and making outrageous accusations, such as that former president

Tabaré Vázquez Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (; 17 January 19406 December 2020) was a Uruguayan politician and oncologist who served as the 39th and 41st President of Uruguay from 2005 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2020. During his political career, Vázquez was a ...

was a "

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

agent" and a request for the extradition of former

US Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

for being the "ideologist" of

Operation Condor Operation Condor (; ) was a campaign of political repression by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America, involving intelligence operations, coups, and assassinations of left-wing sympathizers in South America which fo ...

. He also filed charges against high-ranking politicians, such as Vice President

Raúl Fernando Sendic Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

, for "usurpation of a university degree" in 2016, as well as against other government officials during the Broad Front administrations for cases of corruption and mishandling of public funds.

Activist and political career

In his youth, Salle supported the Broad Front, however after the party reached the presidency for the first time, he disaffiliated from it and had approaches to the

Popular Assembly A popular assembly (or people's assembly) is a gathering called to address issues of importance to participants. Popular assemblies tend to be freely open to participation, in contrast to elected assemblies and randomly-selected citizens' as ...

. In addition to his legal career, he has been an anti-imperialist and "anti-corporate" activist. Since the announcement of the installation of a second cellulose pulp plant by the Finnish company UPM-Kymmene Oyj in Uruguay, Salle has staunchly opposed it. In May 2019, he chained himself in

Plaza Independencia is the most important city square in Montevideo, Uruguay, laid out in the 19th century in the area occupied by the Citadel of Montevideo. In its center is a monument to General José Gervasio Artigas, and below it, his mausoleum. Located in ' ...

in front of the

Executive Tower The Executive Tower (Spanish: ''Torre Ejecutiva'') is the official workplace of the President of Uruguay. It is located in front of the Plaza Independencia, in Barrio Centro, Montevideo. History The original project was started in 1965 as a ...

, alleging that the contract that was signed was "null, criminal, and abusive, in addition to having a genocidal projection because it contaminates the water that we give them and they return contamination to us". Salle has been characterized by a radical, aggressive and anti-establishment discourse, even insulting some politicians. For several years, during official events in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

for Independence Day attended by the

president of the Republic The President of the Republic is a title used for heads of state and/or heads of government in countries having republican form of government. Designation In most cases the president of a republic is elected, either: * by direct universal s ...

and government officials, he has appeared with megaphones to protest and to interrupt the speeches. In early 2019, he joined the

Green Animalist Party The Green Animalist Party (, acronym PVA) is a Uruguayan conservative green party established in 2018, which places a particular emphasis on animal rights. On 30 June 2019, its candidates took part in the primary elections and gained the right t ...

(PVA) and launched his presidential campaign. In the June presidential primaries, his candidacy surpassed the electoral threshold of 500 votes, allowing him to participate in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. In the general election, he received 19,392 votes, which represented 0.80% of the electorate, and was not elected to any office. From 2020 to 2022, his media prominence grew due to his activism against health measures implemented during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, as well as his opposition to

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

, which was not mandatory in Uruguay. He also echoed conspiracy theories about the pandemic, dubbing it '' – a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the words 'plan' and 'pandemia' (). In November 2022, he founded the

party, describing it as neither left-wing nor right-wing, and ran for president for a second time. In the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, he received 2.69% of the vote, making him the fourth most-voted candidate, and securing two seats for his party in the Chamber of Representatives.

Controversies

Comments on the Jewish community

His embrace of conspiracy theories, including the Judeo-Masonic one, and his comments in support of them, have sparked controversy. In October 2024, after being elected National Representative, he referred to the Department of Maldonado, home to a significant Jewish population, as 'a territory occupied by

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and an appendix of the government of Israel.' His statements were met with condemnation from institutions of the Jewish community in Uruguay, one of the most prominent in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Another controversy arose when he tweeted that 'it would be necessary to investigate how the Jewish lobby got Cohen into the

GACH Gach (, also Romanized as Gāch; also known as Kāj and Kaj) is a village in Beyhaq Rural District, Sheshtomad District, Sabzevar County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 294, in 103 families. References

,' referring to Dr. Henry Cohen Engelman, an academic and physician who was part of the government's scientific advisory committee (GACH for its acronym in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

) during the

. The Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay and the Uruguayan division of

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International ( ; from ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the se ...

along with figures such as former president

Julio María Sanguinetti Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo (; born 6 January 1936) often known by his initials JMS, is a Uruguayan former lawyer, journalist and politician of the Colorado Party (Uruguay), Colorado Party (PC) who served as the President of Uruguay as the ...

, condemned the comment and even called for official action by the Prosecutor's Office. Salle has also referred to Freemasonry as a "pawn of Judeo-Zionism" and the "top" of B'nai B'rith, and has been accused of being anti-Semitic.

Personal life

Despite being raised Catholic, he is an atheist.

Electoral history

Presidential

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salle, Gustavo Uruguayan lawyers University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Broad Front (Uruguay) politicians Politicians from Montevideo 1958 births Living people Uruguayan atheists Former Roman Catholics