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Uruguay The Opposition and the Reemergence of Parties, 1980-84
After the electoral defeat of the military's
constitution,
retired Lieutenant General Gregorio Alvarez Armelino
(1981-85),
one of the leaders of the coup, became president, and
political
dialogue was slowly restored. The 1982 Political Parties
Law was
enacted to regulate the election of political leaders, the
functioning of political conventions, and the preparation
of
political platforms. Its aim was the controlled
regeneration and
democratization of the political system, but it excluded
the left
to avoid a return to the situation prior to 1973. In 1982
the
officials of the National Party, the Colorado Party, and
the
Civic Union (Unión Cívica--UC; created in 1971), a small
conservative Catholic party, were elected. Once again,
election
results were a blow to the military. Sectors opposing the
dictatorship won overwhelmingly in both traditional
parties. A
divided left, although officially banned, also
participated: some
cast blank ballots, while others believed it would be more
useful
to back the democratic sectors of traditional parties.
The dialogue between politicians and the military
gathered
momentum but was marked by advances and setbacks and
accompanied
by increasing civil resistance. Uruguay was now
experiencing its
worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. In 1983
the
Interunion Workers' Assembly (or Plenum) (Plenario
Intersindical
de Trabajadores--PIT) reclaimed the banner of the CNT and
was
authorized to hold a public demonstration on May 1; it
later
assumed the name PIT-CNT to show its link with the earlier
organization. Students--united under the Students' Social
and
Cultural Association for Public Education (Asociación
Social y
Cultural de Estudiantes de la Enseñanza Pública--ASCEEP),
heir to
the banned student organizations--were allowed to march
through
the streets of Montevideo. In November all opposition
parties
including the left staged a massive political rally,
demanding
elections with full restoration of democratic norms and
without
political proscriptions.
Data as of December 1990
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