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Uruguay Decline of the Economy and the Colorado Party, 1951-58
The Martínez administration in the first half of the
1950s,
however, was one of economic decline. At the end of the
Korean
War (1950-53), during which Uruguay had exported wool for
coldweather uniforms, Uruguay experienced a reduction in
exports, a
drop in the price of agricultural and livestock products,
labor
unrest, and unemployment. Livestock production, which had
basically stagnated since the 1920s, was not capable of
providing
the foreign exchange needed to further implement the
import-substitution industrialization model. Starting in
1955,
the industrial sector stagnated and inflation rose. At the
same
time, Uruguay had difficulties with the United States
regarding
wool exports and suffered the negative effects of both
restrictive United States trade policies and competition
from the
foreign sales of United States agricultural surpluses.
In 1951 a faction opposing the more radical leadership
of the
General Union of Workers (Unión General de
Trabajadores--UGT;
established in 1942) founded the General Confederation of
Labor.
Nevertheless, strikes and stoppages continued. In 1952, in
the
face of labor unrest, the National Council of Government
invoked
the emergency provision of the constitution known as the
medidas prontas de seguridad (prompt security
measures).
From 1956 to 1972, the gross national product
(
GNP--see Glossary)
fell 12 percent, and in the decade from 1957 to 1967 real
wages
for public employees fell 40 percent. In 1958 the General
Assembly approved strike insurance and maternity leave. In
addition, worker and student mobilization pressured the
General
Assembly into approving the Organic University Law,
whereby the
government recognized the autonomy of the University of
the
Republic and the right of professors, alumni, and students
to
govern it. Nevertheless, labor unrest increased.
At first, dramatic political events masked the economic
crisis. In the 1958 elections, the Independent
Nationalists, who
had joined the Democratic Blanco Union (Unión Blanca
Democrática-
-UBD), agreed to include their votes under the traditional
National Party of the Herrerists. Thus, for the first time
in
decades, the National Party voted as one party. In
addition,
Herrera joined forces with Nardone and his LFAR,
transforming it
from a union into a political movement. Aided by the LFAR
and a
weakening economy, the National Party won, and the
Colorado Party
lost control of the executive for the first time in
ninety-four
years.
Data as of December 1990
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