Interparty Co-Operation and Uruguay's 1952 Constitution

Abstract

U RUGUAY IS generally thought to be the most democratic of the Latin American nations. There one enjoys the same personal and property freedoms that generally obtain in the United States, and the effect of these is heightened by the fact that its population is about three million. But Uruguay was not always so democratic. The civil peace which is the primary cause of the well-being and contentment of the people was gained after three-quarters of a century of struggle. Although Uruguay became independent in 1828, it was not until 1904 that clear predominance of national over sectional power was achieved. Like many other Latin American nations, Uruguay adopted a first constitution which permitted a continuance of governmental control by representatives of groups similar to those which had been in control during the colonial period. An indirectly elected president who possessed great powers under the Spanish-inherited predilection for highly personalist and absolutist government, was virtually a reincarnation of the absolute monarch.' As such, the office became the goal of many who did not hesitate to employ violence in their pursuit of it. Latin America did not really go though a revolution in the early nineteenth century; as one eminent student of the area has said, it seceded from the Spanish Empire.2 Under these circumstances, became personal organizations little disposed to peaceful rotation in office. Civil war became a substitute for elections. The continual intervention of Argentina and Brazil on behalf of one or the other of the principal Uruguayan political parties perpetuated an already anarchic condition.3 Thus supported, the possessed relatively equal military force. In order to achieve peace, it became the custom, beginning in 1851, to draw treaties or pacts between the principal contenders for power. Thus, in October of that year, a treaty was concluded between the Blancos,