Uruguay
A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to agree to military control of his administration in 1973. By the end of the year the rebels had been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold throughout the government. Civilian rule was not restored until 1985. Uruguay has long had one of South America's highest standards of living; its political and labor conditions are among the freest on the continent. Uruguay is known for its advances in education, its long-established social security system and liberal laws governing social issues such as divorce.
Uruguay has benefited from an increasingly-important tourist industry, as well as substantial earnings from offshore banking. A dependence on livestock and related exports, however, has left Uruguay vulnerable to fluctuations in world commodity prices. Recessions in Brazil and Argentina - its main export markets and sources of tourists - propelled the country into economic crisis in 2002. Disbursements from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a restructuring of foreign debt helped to foster a fragile recovery, but the recession left many Uruguayans living in poverty.
Uruguay’s population consists overwhelmingly of second- and third-generation Europeans, mostly of Spanish or Italian origin. However, while it has a large middle class and is largely free of serious income inequality, the 10% or so of its population who are of African or mixed European-native American descent form a higher proportion of its poorest people. Most Uruguayans are urban dwellers, with nearly half of the population in Montevideo, the capital.
Tabare Vazquez, from the Broad Front coalition, was sworn in as Uruguay's first left-wing head of state in March 2005. He defeated the ruling Colorado Party's candidate in the previous October's presidential election. His win was seen as part of a regional trend which had seen the emergence of left-wing governments in Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina. Public anger over Uruguay's 2002 economic crisis, and a disenchantment with free-market economic policies, were said to have contributed to Uruguay's dramatic political shift. Vazquez, a cancer specialist and a former mayor of Montevideo, said he would pursue a moderate political course, with the emphasis on alleviating poverty. On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor and promised an investigation into the disappearances of opponents of the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. He also restored diplomatic ties with Cuba. Relations had been broken amid a war of words between the Cuban leader and Vazquez's predecessor, Jorge Batlle. The centrist Batlle government had pushed through controversial reforms, including privatisations and the outsourcing of some public services to the private sector.
There are no known threats to expatriates in or travelers to Uruguay, which ranks among the highest Latin American countries in literacy, education, provision of social services, and political cohesion. The main security concern facing travelers is crime, which has risen since the 2002 economic crisis.
