Uruguay Films Presents: Our President: Tabaré Vázquez

More information about Vázquez:
Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (Spanish pronunciation: [taβaˈɾe raˈmon ˈbaskes ˈrosas]; born January 17, 1940) is a Uruguayan politician who has been President of Uruguay since 2015. He previously served as President from 2005 to 2010. A physician (oncologist) by training, he is a member of the leftist Frente Amplio coalition (Broad Front in English).
Vázquez was first elected President on October 31, 2004, took office on March 1, 2005, and relinquished the office on March 1, 2010.
Born in the Montevideo neighbourhood of La Teja, Tabaré 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 Frente Amplio 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.
Vázquez and his wife, First Lady María Auxiliadora Delgado.
Vázquez is married to María Auxiliadora Delgado and has three biological children with her (Ignacio, Álvaro and Javier) and an adopted son (Fabián).
n the 2004 elections, he won 50.45% of the valid votes, with 1,124,761 votes on the first ballot--enough to win the presidency in a single round. To date, he is the only president since the institution of a two-round system in 1999 to win without the need for a runoff.
He took office in early 2005. He became the first Uruguayan president from a left-wing party, and thus the first one who did not belong to the so-called "traditional" parties, the National (Blanco) and Colorado parties.
With his own Broad Front holding a majority in Parliament, Vázquez was thought to have few obstacles to start with. He also had the support of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, likewise a centre-leftist.
Vázquez is a notable football fan. During his ten-year stint (1979-1989) as president of the Club Progreso team, it won the professional national championship (for first and only time) in 1989.
Among the most complex issues that have dominated his administration is an ongoing conflict with Argentina over potential contamination from pulp mills being built on the Uruguayan side of the Uruguay River.
Vazquez has tried to create new commercial and cultural links outside the region. Vazquez was the first Uruguayan President to visit New Zealand and South Korea, and has established contacts with other countries in Southeast Asia. While he maintained cordial relations with the United States, hosting U.S. President George W. Bush, Vázquez did not sign Bush's failed Free Trade Area of the Americas.[2]
In June 2008 President Vázquez visited Cuba.[3] While in Cuba, Vázquez and the Presidential party engaged in a number of high-profile events, including a summit with President Raúl Castro.[4]
This visit attracted a measure of censure from the Uruguayan Opposition, from Pedro Bordaberry and others, who were critical of Vázquez for having chosen to be in Cuba during a commemoration - which Vázquez himself initiated - for the victims of the 1973-1985 dictatorship; Bordaberry's father, Juan María Bordaberry, established the dictatorship with a 1973 decree dissolving Congress.
In 2007 the loading of Iranian arms onto a Uruguayan Navy vessel visiting Venezuela, in contravention of a UN-sponsored arms embargo, provoked international comment. Internal controversy regarding this event was centred on protests to Vázquez's Government from the Uruguayan opposition National Party.
In February 2010 the Vázquez Government was cooperating with an investigation to explain how two Northrop F-5E jet engines valued at many millions of US dollars had surfaced in Uruguay (See: Royal Malaysian Air Force#Engines diverted to Uruguay ).