Gregorio Alvarez

Gregorio Conrado Álvarez Armelino (Lavalleja, November 26, 1925-Montevideo, December 28, 2016) was a Uruguayan military man. He was dictator of Uruguay between September 1, 1981 and February 12, 1985.

In mid-2015 he suffered a stroke, and in December 2016 a heart attack for which he was admitted to the Military Hospital of Montevideo, where he died at the end of that year.

Biography

He was the son and grandson of military generals. His father was General Gregorio Álvarez Lezama, the son of another general, who served as aide-de-camp to President Gabriel Terra. He entered the National Military Academy in 1940, from which he graduated as an officer of the Cavalry Regiment (1946-1959). He spent a good part of his career in the 7th Cavalry Regiment, based in Santa Clara de Olimar, department of Treinta y Tres. From 1960 to 1962 he was head of Cavalry Operations at the Military Instruction School and, between 1962 and 1969, of the Montevideo Republican Guard.

In December 1970, he won first place in the contest held to be promoted to general and the Senate of the Republic granted him permission so that, from February 1, 1971, he would wear that rank. On December 16, 1971, the Board of Commanders-in-Chief (JCJ) and the Joint Staff (Smaco) of the Armed Forces were created "on an experimental basis." Álvarez was appointed Chief of the Esmaco, an organization that depended directly on the Board of Commanders in Chief and carried out the study, advice, coordination and planning of anti-guerrilla actions.

The Smacus had three functions: that of "coordinator" —"information tasks, advice and planning of operations of the Armed Forces as a whole"—, of "specialist" —"teaching, mobilization, civil defense, statistics, history, civic action”— and “personal”—administrative—. Smaco's activities were carried out in conjunction with the Information and Defense Service (SID), directed at the time by Colonel Ramón Trabal, Álvarez's cavalry partner. Although the operations were carried out by the Organo Coordinador de Operaciones Antisubversivas (OCOA), it is estimated that Álvarez had knowledge of everything that was done in terms of the fight against subversiveness.

On February 23, 1973, after the so-called "Boiso Lanza Agreement", the National Security Council (Cosena), an advisory body to the Executive Power, was created. Álvarez was appointed permanent secretary of said Council, a position he held until he was appointed commander of the 4th Division of the Army in 1974 based in Minas, department of Lavalleja. In 1975 he chaired the Commission for Political Affairs of the Armed Forces (Comaspo). In 1978 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army, a position he held until his retirement on February 1, 1979.

His promotion to the Army Command generated internal divisions in the weapon. On March 3, 1978, he issued Service Order No. 7738 by which the actions of the Information and Defense Service (SID) were subordinated to his command. The refusal of the director of the SID, General Amaury Prantl, to such subordination led to the issuance of a new Order, No. 7777, on July 3, 1978, for which he was responsible for "having given the first order" as head of the Smaco, if there was "any activity at odds with human rights." General Amaury Prantl and his lieutenant, José Nino Gavazzo, paid for their confrontation with the new commander-in-chief with 60 days in prison. On August 24, 1978, by resolution No. 53/495, they were retired.

After the 1980 plebiscite, where the will of the Uruguayan citizens to return to democratic life is clear, Lieutenant General Álvarez was reluctant to accept this verdict, for which he forced the so-called Council of the Nation, which the On September 1, 1981, he handed over the presidency of the Republic, thus postponing the return to democracy. Álvarez continued with the repression until finally, forced by the advance of the opposition political sectors in the internal elections of 1982 and, after having lost much of the support of the Armed Forces to continue with the dictatorial regime, he agreed to negotiate an electoral schedule. which ended with the legislative and presidential elections of November 1984.

At that time his adversary within the Army was General Hugo Medina, who was more inclined to transfer power to civilians. Once the elections were won by Julio María Sanguinetti, the Colorado Party candidate, Álvarez resigned on February 12, 1985, ceding power to the then president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Rafael Addiego Bruno.

During the Álvarez government, the repression focused on political activists in the country and in Argentina, committing crimes against humanity in barracks and clandestine bases. The whereabouts of the disappeared are currently being investigated, and the remains of five of them have been found to date, after lengthy archaeological work on the grounds of military dependencies.

Prosecution and sentencing

Alvarez (right) together with the Argentine president de facto Reynaldo Bignone, during the inauguration of the last of the 14 turbines of the binational hydroelectric complex of Salto Grande on March 27, 1983.

On December 17, 2007, Judge Luis Charles put him on trial for co-perpetrator of "repeated crimes of forced disappearance" for the clandestine transfers from Argentina of at least 18 people in 1978, who would later have been murdered. He was subjected to preventive detention, being held in a new special prison built for soldiers involved in crimes against humanity, located on Domingo Arena street and Zapadores corner in Montevideo.

On February 7, 2008, the BPS suspended the retirement he received as former president of the Republic. The suspension of the assets was automatically executed immediately after their processing, by the liquidation offices of the BPS.

On October 23, 2008, the 2nd Criminal Court of Appeals ratified his prosecution for participation in the clandestine transfers of detainees from Argentina in 1978. However, it decided to change the title of the "repeated crimes" file of forced disappearance" to "repeated crimes of homicide, very particularly aggravated".

A year later, on October 22, 2009, Álvarez was finally convicted of the murder of 37 people during his time as Army commander. The prosecution argued that he should be aware of the transfers of political prisoners between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, whose remains have not been found.In addition to Gregorio Álvarez, ex-marine Juan Carlos Larcebeau was also convicted of 29 homicides.

On March 24, 2010, Álvarez was prosecuted for "very particularly aggravated homicide" in the case of the militant of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros Roberto Luzardo, who died in 1973. The militant was shot in August 1972 and died ten months later in the Military Hospital, two weeks before the coup. At the time, Álvarez was the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Army and, according to lawyers for the Luzardo family, ordered that he not be given medical attention. Luzardo, as a member of the MLN-Tupamaros, allegedly participated in an armed action that resulted in the death of Colonel Artigas Álvarez, brother of the defendant. However, in October 2013 the Supreme Court of Justice declared him innocent of this crime, establishing that "there is no proven point that indicates the existence of sufficient evidence" to prosecute him.

In mid-2015 he suffered a stroke while incarcerated, for which he was transferred to the Central Hospital of the Armed Forces. At that time, he had a paralysis that prevented him from giving statements in the legal cases against him. On December 14 of the following year, he was admitted again, this time for heart problems. He passed away in the same hospital on December 28, 2016, at the age of 91.

De facto ministers