SANGUINETTI: ‘WITH MUJICA WE WANTED TO GIVE A MESSAGE OF CIVIC EXAMPLE’

Your embrace with José ‘Pepe’ Mujica prompted envy in Argentina. You commented: “In no way is Argentina condemned to its famously fatal grieta confrontation. What we did with Mujica was very simple, we left the Senate together, sending a message.” Looking at Uruguayan history, there were evidently wars between Colorados and Blancos in the 19th century. Was what we call grieta in Argentina resolved in Uruguay 100 years ago?

That 19th century process, which was tremendous and played out on the battlefield, also ended in great reconciliations – in an agreement and an amnesty. The last war in 1904 was tremendous. In the battle of Tupambae there were armies of 5,000 or 6,000 men on each side. My two grandfathers took different sides. I’m the great-grandson of a great Blanco caudillo, killed in 1897 in a legendary and romantic lance charge against Colorado troops. I’m Colorado due to my family and my vision of history but I had both traditions at home. That’s something which happened in Uruguay. But all the revolutions were in the name of institutions. It was not one caudillo against another, José Batlle against Aparicio Saravia. It was Saravia defending one form of government and an electoral system against Batlle pushing a strong state to carry out social reforms. They were political projects and the battle was over which of the two was the more constitutional.

Uruguay’s past should not be idealised. Today’s political debate is very fierce – you only need to watch television. The important thing is not to run each other down. The grieta is born when one side does not recognise itself as being part of the same country as the other, when one believes themselves to be the fatherland while the other is the country’s enemy. You can debate over who is more conservative or progressive, that’s natural.

That message given with Mujica was a coincidence. I was thinking of leaving the Senate because I had said I would before the elections. Beforehand I was dedicating myself to books and party life. Like an old uncle or tribal witch doctor, I was telling stories to the young. I had to return for various reasons and I had said that it would not be for more than 12 or 18 months. Mujica had been hit pretty hard by the pandemic and he said that he wanted out so I proposed that we leave together. And we agreed that it would be nice to show young people how two politicians who had confronted each other, initially as enemies – because he was armed to the teeth while I was part of the democratic government persecuting them – could pass from being foes to political adversaries, who had to co-exist within the institutions without ever losing the capacity for dialogue. We told the young people to argue and defend their ideas passionately but always knowing that we must be under the same law and that Congress is our lay temple of democracy. We must all respect each other beyond what we think. That was the message. The people understood it happily, save for some radicals on one side or the other. It was hailed as a civic example not only in Argentina but also in many other countries of Latin America. That’s what we were trying to do.