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Uruguay Latin America
Sanguinetti favored the formation of a bloc of debtor
countries in Latin America to renegotiate the foreign
debt. To
that end, in the late 1980s Uruguay joined the Cartagena
Consensus (of which Iglesias was secretary) on the foreign
debt.
Uruguay hosted the temporary secretariat of the Cartagena
Consensus follow-up committee, a group of Latin America's
eleven
most indebted countries.
Uruguay also participated in the Group of Eight, a
permanent
mechanism for consultation and political coordination that
succeeded the Contadora Support Group in December 1986.
Like the
Contadora Support Group, the Group of Eight advocated
democracy
and a negotiated solution to the Central American
insurgency. It
consisted of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama,
Peru,
Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Sanguinetti government
advocated a
diplomatic solution to the insurgency in Central America
based on
the Caraballeda Declaration, a document drawn up on
January 12,
1986, by the Contadora Support Group.
The Sanguinetti administration, after direct
negotiations
with Cuba, resumed Uruguay's commercial and cultural ties
with
the island nation in April 1985 and diplomatic and
consular
relations on October 17, 1985. It also reestablished
diplomatic
relations with Nicaragua. Uruguay had discontinued its
diplomatic
and consular relations with Cuba on September 8, 1964, in
compliance with the decision of the OAS General Assembly,
which
sought to isolate the regime of Fidel Castro Ruz.
The Sanguinetti government's differences with Cuba's
political, social, and economic system, as well as with
some
foreign policy issues, remained. For example, Sanguinetti
disagreed with Castro's proposal to discontinue payment on
the
Latin American foreign debt. Sanguinetti believed that the
resulting financial and commercial isolation would provoke
much
worse problems. In his view, the Cartagena Consensus,
rather than
a meeting in Havana, was the appropriate forum in which to
discuss the debt issue. Both countries strengthened
bilateral
relations, however, by signing commercial agreements in
May 1986
and March 1987 and by signing a five-year economic,
industrial,
scientific, and technical cooperation agreement on the
latter
occasion.
Sanguinetti considered regional integration in the Río
de la
Plata Basin the key to Uruguay's foreign policy. Uruguay's
efforts at promoting integration were aided in the late
1980s by
the emergence of democratic governments in Argentina,
Bolivia,
Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Paraguay. Sanguinetti sought a
closer
relationship with Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay in the
belief
that Uruguay's future was closely linked to the
possibility of
the integration of the Río de la Plata Basin. Although the
Sanguinetti government supported Argentina's claim to
sovereignty
over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), it adopted a
neutral
stance in the conflict between Argentina and Britain
(which waged
the South Atlantic War over the islands from April to June
1982)
and made known its desire that military bases and other
facilities not be installed in the South Atlantic. In May
1985,
Argentina and Uruguay signed the Declaration of Colonia,
which
established the framework for promoting economic and
social
integration between the two countries.
Sanguinetti initiated a similar program of integration
with
Brazil. In August 1985, the Brazilian and Uruguayan
presidents
strengthened bilateral relations by holding the first
meeting of
the General Coordinating Commission and signing thirteen
bilateral accords. The presidents of Argentina, Brazil,
and
Uruguay met in Brasilia in 1986 to advance their
integration
process. In January 1990, Sanguinetti hosted an official
visit by
the Paraguayan president, Army General Andrés Rodríguez
Pedotti,
during which integration matters such as the River
Transport
System (consisting of the Río Paraguay-Río Paraná-Río
Uruguay
waterway) were discussed.
Data as of December 1990
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