Tabaré Vázquez

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Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (born 17 January 1940) is the current President of Uruguay. A physician by training, he is a socialist and member of the leftist Broad Front coalition (Frente Amplio in Spanish). Vázquez was elected president on October 31, 2004 and took office on March 1 2005, the first leftist president in Uruguayan history.

Born in the Montevideo neighbourhood of La Teja, Vázquez studied medicine at the Universidad de la República Medical School, graduating as an oncology specialist[[1]] in 1972. In 1976 he received a grant from the French government allowing him to obtain additional training at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Paris.

From 1990 to 1995, Vázquez was the Broad Front coalition's first Mayor of Montevideo. In 1994, he made an unsuccessful run for president as the Frente Amplio candidate, receiving 30.6% of the vote. In 1996, he was elected leader of the Frente Amplio, replacing the historic leader of the left-wing coalition, Liber Seregni. He ran again in 1999, receiving 45.9% percent of the vote in the runoff election, losing to Jorge Batlle. In the 2004 elections, he won 51.7% of the valid votes, with 1,124,761 votes on the first ballot, eliminating the need for a runoff. He became the first Uruguayan president who didn´t belong to the so-called "traditional" parties, the National (Blanco) and Colorado parties.

With his own Frente Amplio holding a majority in Parliament, Vázquez is thought to have few obstacles to start with. He will also have the support of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also a leftist.

Vázquez is a notable football fan. During his ten-year stint (1979-1989) as president of the Club Progreso team, it won the national championship in 1989.

Vázquez is married to María Auxiliadora Delgado and has three children with her (Ignacio, Álvaro and Javier) plus an adopted son, Fabián.

1 Human Rights Policy
2 Cabinet
3 See also
4 External links

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Human Rights Policy

In November 2005 his administration led a profound and significant victory in the investigation of Human Rights violations that had taken place during the military dictatorship. Having appointed a team of anthropologists and forensic investigators, and having ordered the military to cooperate and indicate possible sites for the unmarked graves, his government succeeded in unearthing remains of communists disappeared in the 1970s.

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