Jose Batlle y Ordonez

José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez (Montevideo, May 21, 1856 - October 20, 1929) was a renowned Uruguayan politician and journalist.

Within his political career, he was President of the Republic during two terms: 1903-1907 and 1911-1915.

Life

Born in Montevideo on May 21, 1856. Statesman reformer, political leader, social leader and journalist. He is the son of Amalia Ordóñez and General Lorenzo Batlle, who was President of the Republic in 1868-72. Upon finishing his primary studies, he began a law degree, which he did not finish.

His political participation in the Colorado Party led him in 1887 to the position of political chief of the department of Mines, and in 1891 deputy for the department of Salto. He later formed part of the Council of State of the ruling Cuestas, and was elected senator in 1898. Being president of the Senate, he temporarily held the presidency of the Republic between February 14 and March 10, 1899.

Journalistic career

José Batlle and Ordóñez towards 1900.

In 1879 he began his journalistic career as an editor in the newspaper "El espíritu nuevo" in which he officiated as a harsh detractor of the militaristic government of Lorenzo Latorre. Around 1880, he made a brief trip to Europe, where he studied and expanded his knowledge in Spain and France. This experience allowed him to come into contact with the political ideas of the moment, something that he took advantage of for his future presidential term. Shortly after his return to Uruguay, he was the founder of the newspaper El Día , from where he dedicated himself to criticizing certain sectors of the government that he considered despotic. His harsh opposition to the management of the government of General Máximo Santos earned him some arrests in jail, due to the highly philosophical and provocative content of many of his speeches. He also participated in the Quebracho Revolution against this president, and in this Marco was taken prisoner and imprisoned in Palmares de Soto in 1886.

First Presidency

José Batlle and Ordóñez towards 1900.

Shortly after his government was installed, in 1903 he had to face the armed uprising led by the white leader Aparicio Saravia. This conflict was avoided with a flimsy peace agreement that lasted only until the following year, leading to the revolution of 1904.

Despite having these confrontations, the government was able to carry out several industrial and infrastructure works. There were also important changes in education and employment.

With the assumption of Claudio Williman, a Batllista government continued.

Political aspects

1903 Rising

Saravia apparition as she left Melo on March 21, 1903, on the eve of the Pact of Nico Pérez.

The agreement between the Colorados and the whites signed on September 18, 1897, called the "Pacto de la Cruz", established, among other things, the co-participation of the two parties in the government, as well as the direction of the whites in six Political Headquarters (current Departmental Intendencies). In this way, this party would govern the Departments of Rivera, Cerro Largo, Treinta y Tres, Maldonado, Flores and San José, whose maximum position would be filled with citizens of white affiliation.

Prior to the election of José Batlle y Ordóñez to the presidency, the whites had tried to cast their votes to elect Juan Carlos Blanco, who headed a red faction, on the condition that the "Pact of the Cross". Despite this, Batlle was able to be elected because the white faction of Eduardo Acevedo Díaz supported him in the Senate, resulting in victory with 55 votes to 33. This would cause the expulsion of Acevedo Díaz from the ranks of his party. At the time of distributing the Political Headquarters, Batlle awarded two of those that corresponded to whites to Acevedo Díaz, which was taken as a violation of the "Pact of the Cross."

As a result of this, Saravia again called for the revolution of the whites, whose forces were mobilized in those Departments. The civil war was avoided, however, by a mission that traveled to meet with Saravia, and on March 22, 1903, the "Pact of Nico Pérez" was finalized, signed in that town in the department of Florida, by which it was established that the political headquarters of five departments would be assigned to white citizens nominated by mutual agreement between the Government and the National Party and in the sixth department a white person would be designated, but without the intervention of the white party authority.

Army artillery in the northern Serbs.

Saravia appearance at the March 30, 1903 military parade in Nico Pérez.

A week after reaching this agreement, also in the town of Nico Pérez, Saravia concentrated and then dispersed some 20,000 men (most of them horsemen), together with the nationalist division commanders, in an impressive parade that represented a show of force that presaged the tension that the country would experience in later months.

In the months that followed the signing of the pact, both sides stocked up on weapons, preparing for a confrontation that was inevitable, given the political and social conditions in Uruguay at that time. Batlle improved the Army, which he equipped with cannons Krupp, Maxim machine guns and Mauser repeating rifles.

The Revolution of 1904

The government army being transported in wagons.

At the request of the political chief of the department of Rivera (who was of white affiliation), the government sent the army to that department for fear of a Brazilian incursion, due to the arrest made by the Rivera Police, and subsequent escape to Brazil, of the brother of the Prefect of Livramento.

Surgical outdoor intervention carried out at the Nationalist Hospital by the surgeon members of the medical guard of Aparicio Saravia: Baldomero Cuencas and Lamas and Bernardino Fonticiolla, during the revolution of 1897.

The whites claimed there was a verbal agreement on the "Nico Pérez Pact" which implied that the government would not send military forces to the departments controlled by them, although the Colorados replied that this clause only referred to the sending of these forces to modify electoral situations. This fact was once again taken as a violation of the agreements entered into, for which reason Saravia proclaimed civil war again on January 1, 1904. This trigger of the 1904 Revolution may seem minor, but in reality it channeled the deep power rivalry between the two parties, and the unstable balance of power that had existed since the "Pact of the Cross", in which in fact there were two governments in Uruguay. One of them was constituted in the central government based in Montevideo maintained by the colorados, and another of white affiliation was established in the "Estancia del Cordobés" in Cerro Largo, where Saravia lived. Both parties considered this situation unfair: the colorados, on the one hand, considered that because they were the elected government, they should have authority over the entire national territory, and the whites, on the other, considered that their political marginalization from the central government was due to the conditions of systematic fraud in which the national elections took place, for which they demanded the purification of the civil registries, greater guarantees for the vote and proportional representation, among other demands of a political nature.

Government army force firing practices.

The opposing sides had very unequal forces. The government for its part prepared an army of 30,000 men, with the weapons that had been accumulating since the uprising of the previous year. Saravia, for its part, had 15,000 men, poorly armed, although with a greater number of horses. In this sense, the nationalists based their strategy on the mobility that this element gave them, betting on generating such a climate in the countryside that would cause the ranchers to pressure the government to agree to a peace, in which the revolutionaries would have an advantage.

Saravista force shooting practices.

The battles that took place in the 9 months that the confrontation lasted were increasingly harsh and bloody, standing out the battles of Mansavillagra, Fray Marcos, Paso del Parque, Tupambaé and finally Masoller, where the nationalist leader Aparicio Saravia he is mortally wounded, dying 9 days later in Brazilian territory. With the disappearance of this figure, the nationalist army did not take long to break up, causing the end of the revolution, and the subsequent signing of the "Peace of Aceguá" on September 24 of that year.

Consequences of the revolution

Cartel that alludes to the end of the 1904 revolution, exalting the figure of Batlle and Ordóñez.

The most important consequences of this revolution were political, although there were also some notable economic effects, such as the destruction of 16,000 km of wire fences, the loss of hundreds of thousands of head of cattle (600,000 cattle, 700,000 sheep and 200,000 horses), and the dispersion of labor, among others.

On the political level, the triumph of the ruling party brought the end of the duality of power between Montevideo and the estancia of Cordobés. From that moment on, the consolidation of the unity of the state implied that the orders issued by the central government were fulfilled throughout the country. Along with the duality of powers, the political co-participation of the two parties also ended, inaugurating a period of exclusivity in the exercise of power of the winning party in the elections. The ideas of Batlle y Ordóñez in this sense are synthesized in the words that he would pronounce years later:

I misrepresent the theory of co-participation policy, according to which the ministries must be partly constituted with men of opinion and tendencies contrary to those of the Executive Power, since it is not possible that there will be a task of encouragement or fruitfulness where the workers responsible for carrying out it will obey different and contradictory plans.

Government Cabinet

Second Presidency

Photograph of his second presidency. From left to right (on foot): Feliciano Viera, Pedro Manini Ríos, Mateo Magariños Solsona, Antonio M. Rodríguez, Felix Laborde, José Serrato and Domingo Arena; from left to right (seated): Claudio Williman, Diego Pons and José Batlle and Ordóñez.

During the second presidency of José Batlle y Ordóñez there were important contributions to the labor rights of workers. The work of minors under 13 years of age was prohibited, the working day was restricted to those under 19, the woman would have 40 days off during pregnancy, the mandatory rest was one day every seven and a maximum of 48 hours per week of work. The working day was established at 8 hours. A law for the payment of compensation for work accidents was also created. Severance pay was established depending on the number of years worked.

An old-age pension was approved that could be used by all people over 65 years of age and of any age in case of absolute disability, who were indigent.

Regarding the economic activity of the State (statization and nationalization), the ideological principle was that essential public services should be in the hands of the State, since this was the representative body of society, that is, from all social classes, and was above their disputes. The State had to intervene where private capital was indecisive or feared losing money, because it was not guided by the desire for profit but by public service; the State had to replace the foreign companies that took the profit outside the borders, thus weakening the country.

It was thus that the Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay was nationalized in 1911 and 1913, the Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay in 1912, and the insurance, which passed from private to state hands with the creation in 1911 from the State Insurance Bank. The Administration of State Railways and Tramways (AFTE) was created in 1915, which managed the lines built by private companies that had failed in their commercial plans, in addition to building or finishing building others that were considered necessary and strategic (such as the branch to km 329) The merger of this state company with the nationalized British railways in 1949 would lead to the creation of the State Railway Administration (AFE) in 1952.

The parliament enacted the divorce law, drafted by Carlos Oneto y Viana, which included the dissolution of the marriage by the sole will of the woman. The secularization of public acts took place, and the consequent division between Church and State.

Government Cabinet

Legacy

Political significance

Characteristic in the popular imagination was Batlle's overcoat, with which he always appeared represented in the photographs.

Influence within the Colorado Party

Street intervention carried out by a colorful group, reminding Batlle and Ordóñez.

The influence that the figure of José Batlle y Ordóñez has had within the Colorado Party is overwhelming. His political development gave rise to a political current called Batllismo, which implies identifying with the main values that the former Colorado president defended during his two presidential terms.

On the other hand, it generated the development of innumerable political sectors known as "Batllistas" or under the name of "Batllismo", such as Batllistas, Batllista Unity, Independent Batllista Colorados, Batllista Pilar, Batllista Passion, Batllista Action, Batllista Vision, Batllista Open, Batllista Proposal, Independent Batllista Current, Uruguay Batllista, etcetera.

On His Honor

Several places bear his name:

• the city of José Batlle and Ordóñez, in Uruguay.
• the park José Batlle and Ordóñez de Montevideo, Uruguay.
• the neighborhood Parque Batlle, also in Montevideo, Uruguay.
• the boulevard José Batlle and Ordóñez, known as "Propios", in Montevideo, Uruguay.
• Avenida Presidente Batlle y Ordóñez en la comuna de Ñuñoa, Santiago de Chile.
• La Rambla Costanera José Batlle y Ordóñez en Mercedes, ciudad de la Costa, Uruguay.
• the José Batlle and Ordóñez Thermoelectric Center in Montevideo, Uruguay.
• The Institute of Secondary Education (Instituto Batlle and Ordóñez) in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay.
• José Pablo Torcuato Batlle and Ordóñez street in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Batlle and Ordóñez Street in Rosario, Argentina.