Juan Bordaberry Dies at 83; Led Uruguay in Dark Era

[Judi Lynn]

Juan Bordaberry Dies at 83; Led Uruguay in Dark Era
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO and CHARLES NEWBERY
Published: July 17, 2011

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Former President Juan María Bordaberry of Uruguay, who as president participated in a coup in 1973 that ushered in a 12-year military dictatorship, died Sunday in Montevideo. He was 83.

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Mr. Bordaberry had been serving a 30-year sentence under house arrest for orchestrating the coup and for crimes against humanity. He was found guilty of 14 deaths and disappearances related to the dictatorship.

His years as president, between 1971 and 1976, are remembered as perhaps the bleakest in Uruguay’s history, marked by a wave of disappearances, torture and killings intended to wipe out the remnants of the leftist Tupamaro guerrilla movement.

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He filled his administration with civilian and military conservatives. Faced with rising inflation, a weakening economy and opposition from militant groups, he pressed forward with his predecessor’s authoritarian politics, which included the suspension of civil liberties and the imprisonment and killing of opposition figures.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/world/americas/18bordaberry.html?_r=1&ref=world