Juan Maria Bordaberry

Juan María Bordaberry Arocena (Montevideo, June 17, 1928-Ib., July 17, 2011) was a Uruguayan politician and rancher. He was constitutional president between 1972 and 1973 and as dictator between 1973 and 1976.

Since November 2006, he had been serving a prison sentence, after being prosecuted for various crimes against humanity, such as forced disappearance of people under his period of dictatorial government, crimes of political homicide and attack on the Constitution in royal reiteration. At first, he served his detention in Uruguayan prison facilities, but since January 2007, due to his state of health, he remained under house arrest until he died.

Biography

Juan María Bordaberry Arocena was born on June 17, 1928 in Montevideo, Uruguay, into a wealthy family of Basque origin and with a colorado and anti-Batllista background. Son of Colorado rancher and politician Domingo Bordaberry Elizondo and Elisa Arocena Folle, he is related to several Uruguayan political figures, such as his maternal great-aunts Matilde and Amalia de Arocena Artagaveytía, who were the mother of journalist Eduardo Rodríguez Larreta and paternal grandmother of the white politician Alberto Zumarán, respectively. His maternal grandfather Alejo was the double cousin and second uncle of Elisa Nicanora Artagaveytía Arocena, paternal grandmother of the former white senator Francisco Gallinal. His brother, Luis Ignacio, was married to Gloria Fontana Etchepare, aunt of the white legislator Luis Alberto Heber. He was also a great-grandnephew of the magnate Ramón Fermín Artagaveytia Gómez, one of the three Uruguayans who lost their lives after the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Educated at the school of the Jesuit Fathers, he became an fundamentalist Catholic and critic of the Second Vatican Council convened by John XXIII. Dedicated from a young age to agricultural activities, his first political activities were carried out within the Federal League of Rural Action led by Benito Nardone. He was elected senator of the National Party for the nationalist-ruralist alliance that triumphed in the 1958 elections, occupying that position between 1963 and 1965. In 1964 he brought together his followers in the Federal League of Ruralist Action, joining in 1969 the Colorado Party. He was Minister of Livestock and Agriculture between 1969 and 1972 during the government of Jorge Pacheco Areco.

Ascendance to the Presidency

In the 1971 elections, the National Re-electionist Union, Pachequista sector of the Colorado Party, nominated him for the Presidency of the Republic, in a formula completed by Jorge Sapelli, in the event that the constitutional reform proposed by said group to enable the re-election of President Jorge Pacheco Areco did not obtain the necessary votes for its approval. As this was what happened, Bordaberry was elected President of the Republic. At the time there were those who affirmed that there would have been irregularities in said election. In particular, that there would have been more votes than qualified voters in some circuits and that these irregularities would have favored Bordaberry, to the detriment of Wilson Ferreira Aldunate, candidate of the National Party.

In this way, Juan María Bordaberry took office as president at a time of particularly intense activities, both by the guerrillas represented by the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros, and by extreme right-wing groups such as the Death Squad and the Juventud Uruguaya de Pie (JUP), all this in the midst of an economic crisis (inflation would not take long to skyrocket) and with multiple prompt security measures in force, which gave an account of how distorted the institutionality and legality were.

He faced the situation by allying himself with the most conservative sectors of the military and civilians, who held the most relevant positions in the government. During the first months, the "Cárcel del Pueblo" where the Tupamara guerrillas had held several hostages; That was the beginning of the end of the guerrilla. Once the guerrillas were broken up, there was a growing military influence, which culminated in the questioning of Bordaberry's authority in February 1973, when the Army and the Air Force did not accept the appointment of General Antonio Francese as Defense Minister. In the face of citizen indifference to his call to "defend the institutions" and the abandonment of his defense by the Navy, Bordaberry ended up giving in and agreeing with the Armed Forces on February 12 in the so-called Boiso Lanza Agreement, in what, for some, was the prologue of the institutional breakdown that would come.

Coup d'état of June 27, 1973

Bordaberry presided over the coup d'état on June 27, 1973. He dissolved Parliament —which he replaced with a Council of State appointed by the executive branch—, social organizations, political parties and suppressed civil liberties. The military then began to hold positions of responsibility in the government in what was called the "civic-military process."

In 1975, he proposed to the military to impose a new constitutional system of fascist and Francoist inspiration, definitively eliminating all political parties that were then illegal and suppressing liberal institutions. In 1976 Bordaberry presented two new political memoranda to the Board of Officers of the Armed Forces. This considered that the proposal to eliminate the political parties was very risky, which is why, on June 12, it decided to dismiss Bordaberry and appoint Alberto Demicheli to replace him, who then held the presidency of the Council of State.

On June 16, the Armed Forces announced their discrepancies with Bordaberry through a statement:

"(...) These discrepancies materialize:

1. In which the President of the Republic does not accept the future functioning of traditional political parties. He took it that they had no place in Uruguay in the future. It proposes in substitution of their validity, the promotion and development of currents of opinion that would ultimately come to occupy the void left by them. Instead, the FF. AA. does not want to share the commitment, historical responsibility, to suppress Traditional Political Parties.
2. The President of the Republic does not accept the popular pronunciation through the vote, because he believes that this practice in the current democracies is somewhat overcome, arguing that the vote should only be required to citizens through the referendum or plebiscite, on specific points or topics that the executive branch deems appropriate. In contrast to this, the FF.AA. argues that sovereignty is based in the Nation and that, among other things, an authentic form of expression of that sovereignty is the popular vote (...)".

Ministers

Bordaberry with the president of Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón. 12/2/1974.

Crimes during the Uruguayan Civic-Military Dictatorship

During the period of the civic-military dictatorship in Uruguay (1973-1985), many Uruguayan citizens and foreigners residing in Uruguay during that period were disappeared, murdered, tortured, exiled, and imprisoned, including the murder of the trade unionist Gerardo Gatti in a clandestine detention center known as Automotores Orletti in the city Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital on June 9, 1976.

In the same year, 1976, the exiled legislators Zelmar Michelini and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, and the MLN-Tupamaros guerrillas Rosario del Carmen Barredo and William Whitelaw Blanco.

In 1975, Ubagesner Chaves Sosa and Fernando Miranda Pérez were assassinated. His remains were found in 2005 during excavations carried out that year. During the course of the dictatorship, 23 citizens were disappeared: Luis E. González, Juan M. Brieba, Carlos Arevalo, Julio Correa, Otermin Montes de Oca, Horacio Gelos Bonilla, José Arpino Vega and Eduardo Pérez Silveira, Luis Eduardo Arigon Castel, Armando Arnone, Andrés Bellizzi, Eduardo Bleier, Ary Cabrera Prates, José Pedro Callaba Piriz, Julio Castro Pérez, Alberto Corchs Laviña, León Duarte, María Emilia Islas Gatti, Miguel Ángel Mato Fagian, Alberto Mechososo Méndez, Omar Paitta, Elena Quinteros and Carlos Rodríguez Mercader, Héctor Castagnetto, Manuel Ramos Filippini and Ibero Gutierrez.

Some minors also suffered disappearances. Among them are: Gatti Casal, Adriana Hernández Hobbas and Beatriz Lourdes Hernández Hobbas, Washington Fernando Severo Barreto and Carlos Baldomiro.

It is estimated that there are about 160 missing persons of oriental nationality, although only 35 of them were missing in Uruguay and the remaining 125 were missing in Argentina.

Link with Carlism

Bordaberry was one of the main exponents of Carlism outside of Spain. He was designated Knight of Proscribed Legitimacy along with other personalities from the Hispanic world on May 3, 2006 in attention to his commitment to Hispanicity and his defense of Carlism.

According to the Traditionalist Communion "his government action applied organic principles, restored authority and fostered the economic and social advancement of the Uruguayans, in such a way that he deserves the recognition of the Carlists and the Spanish in good faith will".

In an article titled "Honor to Carlismo" published in number 3 of the magazine "Custodia de la Tradición Hispánica", Bordaberry maintained that "when Carlos V, first of the Carlist dynasty, rose up against the abolition of the Salic Law that deprived him of his right, he does not do it only by defending this: he does it by defending Catholic Spain. All the misfortunes that came later for Spain, until today, were born there and to prevent them Carlism rose up. He wanted to prevent Spain from ceasing to be Spain & # 34;.

"Custody of Hispanic Tradition" was a continuation publication of the Bulletin of the Society for Traditionalist Studies "Juan Vázquez de Mella", the dissemination organ of the Carlos VII Traditionalist Brotherhood. This brotherhood has members in Argentina and Uruguay. Its prominent member was Álvaro Pacheco Seré, Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic in the Bordaberry government.

In March 2005, Bordaberry was visited by Sixto Enrique de Borbón, who also met with other Uruguayan traditionalist personalities. The Traditionalist Youth of Spain issued a statement supporting Bordaberry and calling for his release after his prosecution for crimes against humanity that occurred during his government.

One of Bordaberry's sons, Santiago Bordaberry, is a religious activist with ties to traditionalist Carlism. Santiago Bordaberry is a member of the Durazno Rural Society Fiscal Commission and, in 2007, he raised his profile in the Uruguayan media following the prosecution of his father.

Processing

Bordaberry was convicted by the Uruguayan justice for crimes against humanity that occurred during the coup d'état and the dictatorship he led, being accused of violating the Constitution and of being the mastermind of kidnappings and disappearances of political opponents of the regime. On November 16, 2006, he was put on trial for these crimes, along with his foreign minister, Juan Carlos Blanco. Judge Roberto Timbal accused him of the murders of legislators Zelmar Michelini and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz that occurred in 1976, when they were refugees in Buenos Aires, and of two former political prisoners who had taken refuge in Argentina, the former Tupamaro guerrillas Rosario del Carmen Barredo and William Whitelaw Blanco., within the framework of the Condor Plan. He was placed in pretrial detention.

On December 20, 2006, Judge Graciela Gatti also subjected him to trial, also imposing preventive detention on him, as accused of the murders of Ubagésner Chaves Sosa and Fernando Miranda Pérez (whose remains were found in 2005 as a result of excavations in military premises ordered by the Executive Power in compliance with article 4 of the Expiration Law), and of Luis E. González, Juan M. Brieba, Carlos Arévalo, Julio Correa, Otermin Montes de Oca, Horacio Gelós Bonilla, José Arpino Vega and Eduardo Pérez Silveira, detainees who are still missing but who the judge understood should be considered deceased for the purposes of this process. All these events occurred during his government period. Judge Gatti declared, however, that the crime of "attacking the Constitution" that he attributed to him, for having perpetrated the coup d'état of June 27, 1973.

On January 23, 2007, he was admitted to a hospital in Montevideo, suffering from serious lung problems. Taking into account his state of health, Judge Pablo Eguren granted him the benefit of house arrest, so that from January 27 he went on to serve his detention at the home of one of his children, located in the Uruguayan capital.

On June 1, 2007, an Appeals Court confirmed the initiation of proceedings against him for the case of the murders of Michelini and Gutiérrez Ruiz. Likewise, on September 10 of the same year, another Court of Appeals confirmed the opening of the process ordered by Judge Gatti for the ten homicides, as well as the statute of limitations for the crime of "attacking the Constitution".

On February 7, 2008, the BPS suspended the retirement he received as former president of the Republic.

On February 9, 2010, Judge Mariana Mota sentenced him to thirty years in prison, fifteen years of security measures, absolute disqualification for six years, and paying the costs of imprisonment. The sentence is for the crimes of attack against the Constitution in real reiteration, nine crimes of forced disappearance and two crimes of political homicide.

On March 5, 2010, prosecutor Mirtha Guianze requested a 30-year prison sentence for Juan María Bordaberry and former foreign minister Juan Carlos Blanco in the case for the murders of Zelmar Michelini, Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Rosario del Carmen Barredo and William Whitelaw Blanco.

Death

Bordaberry passed away in Montevideo on July 17, 2011; His remains lie in the Parque Martinelli de Carrasco Cemetery.

Family

Married to Josefina Herrán, they had 9 children: María (Psychologist), Juan María (Agronomist Engineer), Juan Martín (Businessman), Juan Pedro (Lawyer, politician, former Colorado Party Senator), Santiago Juan (Veterinarian, livestock activist and religious), Juan Pablo (Agronomist), Juan Javier (Lawyer), Juan Andrés (Accountant) and Ana (Textile Designer) born after June 27, 1973. The nine children gave 19 grandchildren to the Bordaberry - Herrán couple.