Gonzalo Aguirre - Background

Background

Gonzalo Aguirre is a politician from the National Party (Uruguay). He studied law in his youth and became a well-known lawyer specialised in constitutional law. He became politically active during the military regime in Uruguay, 1973-1985. In the 1984 elections, which put an end to de facto rule, he was selected as vice-presidential running mate of Alberto Zumaran, the candidate of the majority faction of his party, Por la Patria. The leader of the Por la Patria faction, Wilson Ferreira Aldunate, was imprisoned and prohibited from running for president. Aguirre was at the time member of the Movimiento Nacional de Rocha faction. In this way, the alliance between these two factions was repeated, as it had already taken place in the 1971 elections. Although Zumaran-Aguirre emerged victorious within the National Party, the Blancos lost the election to the Colorado Party and its main candidate, Julio María Sanguinetti. Aguirre nevertheless was elected Senator for his faction.

In 1987, Aguirre split from the Movimiento Nacional de Rocha and founded his own sector, Renovación y Victoria. In 1988, the Herrerismo faction led by Luis Alberto Lacalle entered an alliance with Renovación y Victoria, and Aguirre became the running mate of Lacalle.