Aguirre, Atanasio (1801–1875)

A statesman and legislator, Atanasio Aguirre was acting president of Uruguay during the period 1864–1865. Born May 2, 1801, he began his career in 1825 as an official in the army commissariat and became the director of military procurement in 1833. When Fructuoso Rivera toppled constitutional president Manuel Oribe in 1838, Aguirre resigned his post and eventually joined the latter during the 1843–1851 siege of Montevideo. He was the Blanco representative in the constitutional government inaugurated in 1852, but was ousted one year later when Colorado strongman Venancio Flores seized power. With the return of constitutional rule, Aguirre again entered government, first as an elected representative in 1858 and then as a senator in 1861. As a consequence of Flores's 1863 invasion of Uruguay, which set off the series of events that eventually involved Uruguay in the Paraguayan War, the national legislature found it impossible to organize regular presidential elections at the end of President Bernardo Berro's term. Aguirre, who at that point was president of the senate, was chosen interim president of the republic in March 1864.

Aguirre's efforts as president were focused on resisting the invaders, who enjoyed overt assistance from Argentina and less evident support from Brazil. In May, a Brazilian plenipotentiary demanded that Aguirre's government give immediate satisfaction for numerous claims made by Brazilian residents in Uruguay. Aguirre rejected the claims, whereupon Brazilian troops entered Uruguay and linked up with those of Flores, giving the latter indisputable military supremacy. In an indignant reaction, Aguirre ordered the public burning of the treaties signed in 1851 by Uruguay and Brazil, which had recognized Brazilian rights over long disputed border territories and had established a virtual Brazilian tutelage over Uruguayan finances. This gesture earned him praise from succeeding generations of Uruguayans. Aguirre's term ended in February 1865 and his successor, Tomas Villalba, capitulated to Flores. Under Spanish protection, Aguirre fled to Argentina, only returning to Uruguay in 1867. He dedicated his last years to private life, and died September 28, 1875.

See alsoUruguay, Political Parties: Blanco Party; Flores, Venancio; Oribe, Manuel; Rivera, Fructuoso; Uruguay, Political Parties: Colorado Party.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Casal, Juan Manuel. "Uruguay and the Paraguayan War: The Mlitary Dimension." In I Die with My Country: Perspectives on the Paraguayan War, edited by Hendrik Kraay and Thomas L. Whigham. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.

Fernández Saldaña, José M. Diccionario Uruguayo de Biografías, 1810–1940. Montevideo: Amerindia, 1945.

                                    Juan Manuel Casal