Artigas. A litle biography

Artigas' monument in Washington DC.

José Gervasio Artigas is revered as Uruguay's greatest national hero. Called the Primer Jefe de los Orientales and Primer estadista de la Revolución del Río de la Plata, (First Leader of the Orientales and first statesman of the Rio de la Plata Revolution,) Artigas was born in Montevideo on June 19, 1764. His grandfather was one of the first settlers of Montevideo.

Artigas was raised in the Banda Oriental, the colonial name for the eastern bank of the Rio de la Plata, what is now Uruguay and part of Brazil. In this cattle-raising and wheat-growing region, he absorbed many of the customs and habits of the Gauchos who roamed the Uruguayan littoral. He was intelligent and active. Too restless to join the priesthood, he joined a local militia, the Cuerpo de Blandengues, where he rose through the ranks and was promoted to captain and given command of a frontier company. He was heavily influenced byFélix de Azara, a Spanish naturalist with decided views of governing.

Eventually rising to general, Artigas saw action against Spain beginning in 1811, and became the leader of the Orientales and during the time the Banda was affiliated with Argentina, sent delegates to the Buenos Aires constituent assembly with instructions to create a federation of Uruguayan states. Denied entry into the assembly, the delegates went home and thus began the efforts for Uruguayan independence from Argentina.

Uruguay is not only the geographical transition zone between the pampas of Argentina, the tropical Parana river delta and the uplands of southern Brazil. It is a land of sweeping grasslands, wooded valleys and low hills and the political buffer between two powerful nations. For the most part peaceful now, Uruguay's early history as a nation is chaotic, as other nations sought dominion over Uruguay, and internal power struggles buffeted the country from within.

Artigas fought for independence from Spain, then Argentina, then Spain again in 1816 after Spain restored its presence. After those successful battles, he had to face Brazil, who annexed the Banda in 1820 and forced Artigas into exile in Paraguay.

Following Artigas' exile, a group of men who had fought with him in the Independence battles formed the 33 Orientals or Immortals. Of these, Juan Lavalleja, Manuel Oribe andFructoso Rivera led the country in a series of coups and counter strikes that characterized Uruguay's chaotic leadership and civil wars.

In 1845, after 20 years of exile, Artigas was offered the chance to return to Paraguay, but he declined and continued to live in that country until his death on September 23, 1850.

It wasn't until José Batlle y Ordóñez became president in the early 1900's that Uruguay achieved some measure of political stability.

Today José Gervasio Artigas is remembered on the anniversary of his birth with a national holiday. A department of Uruguay is named after him, as are countless public monuments, including one in Chile, schools, buildings, radio stations and even an Antarctic base.

Uruguay is a small nation with a great football history.

"There are countries with more footballers than we have people," Oscar Tabárez said last night (in the World Cup 2010's press conference) while assessing the chances of Uruguay, the team he coaches, making it through today's World Cup semi-final against Holland. But out of their tiny population the Uruguayans have conjured a wonderful football history studded with remarkable individuals. One of them, a key figure in their early international success, was José Andrade.

José Andrade.

When Andrade was born in Salto, Uruguay's second city, in 1901, his father was said to be 98 years old, an expert in African magic who had escaped from slavery in Brazil. In the team photograph of the first winners of the World Cup in 1930, José stands out: his is the only black face.

He began his working life as a carnival musician, shoeshine boy and newspaper seller before becoming a key member of the team that made Uruguay the dominant force in world football in the years when the game's great international tournaments were coming into existence. With Andrade at right-half, Uruguay won the South American championship in 1923, 1924 and 1926, and the gold medal at the Olympic soccer tournaments in Paris in 1924 and Amsterdam in 1928.

The first World Cup, usurping the status of the Olympic competition, was held in Uruguay and it was no surprise when the hosts emerged victorious, coming from behind to beat Argentina 4-2 in the final in front of 93,000 spectators in Montevideo's newly completed Centenario stadium.

They might have enjoyed further success before the second world war had they not declined to travel to Italy in 1934 on the grounds that so few European teams had bothered to cross the Atlantic four years earlier. In 1938 they also boycotted the third World Cup, in France, because the organisers had reneged on a promise to alternate between Europe and South America.

The next time they entered, in 1950, they won it again, beating Brazil 2-1 in Rio's new Maracanã stadium. Alcides Ghiggia's winning goal gave the host nation a new word –Maracanazo – to describe any sudden catastrophe.

The team in 1930

Uruguay is the smallest country to have won the World Cup, with a population of 1.5m in 1930 and just over twice that now, and the smallest in the Conmebol federation, from which its team qualified for this year's competition after winning a play-off against Costa Rica. Now they have outlasted all of the four continental neighbours — Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile — who finished above them in the table. Today's game – against opponents they have met on four occasions and beaten three times – is their third semi-final since 1950, and their performances so far in this tournament have encouraged the hope that they can go one better than their semi-final defeats by Hungary in 1954 and Brazil in 1970.

If you want to know what football means to Uruguay, and about the richness of the game's historyin a country that gained its independence in 1828 and whose current president, José Mujica, is a former guerrilla fighter, try to find a copy of Eduardo Galeano's Football in Sun and Shadow, published 15 years ago. A leftist journalist and novelist, Galeano is his country's best-known contemporary writer. In childhood he had hoped to become a footballer, and his writings portray the glory and decline of the game in a country where it belongs to no single social class and where the fans still cling to a concept of la garra – fighting spirit – which gradually, as the golden years drifted to an end, became synonymous with ruthless physicality.

As well as Andrade and Ghiggia, the great names of Uruguayan football history include José Nasazzi and Obdulio Varela, the captains of 1930 and 1950; the great striker Juan Schiaffino, who became a hero at Milan; the goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz; the centre-half José Santamaría, a pillar of the great Real Madrid side of the 1950s; and Enzo Francescoli, known – in several languages – as the Prince when he wore the No10 shirt of River Plate, Racing Club de France, Marseille and Cagliari in the 1980s and 90s.

The best-known figure in Tabárez's squad – before Luis Suárez's handball against Ghana on Saturday, at any rate – is Diego Forlán, whose 27 goals in 62 appearances for the national team threaten the record held for 80 years by Héctor Scarone, a member of the first World Cup-winning team, who plundered 31 goals in 52 games and played for Barcelona and Internazionale. Virtually all Uruguay's best players have sought their fortune abroad, and although Forlán failed at Old Trafford, a move to Spain re-established his reputation as a prolific goalscorer. His father, Pablo Forlán, spent many years as a full-back with São Paulo in Brazil and was a member of Uruguay's 1966 and 1974 World Cup squads.

Not surprisingly, given the intimate proportions of the country, Uruguayan football is full of continuities and coincidences. In 1930, for example, the World Cup-winning side was coached by Alberto Suppici, nicknamed the Professor, while Tabárez, his latest successor, is known as the Teacher, acknowledging his first occupation.

A quiet 63-year-old whose extensive CV includes spells with Peñarol, Boca Juniors and Milan, Tabárez talks about his team's "modest chance" of success and has worked with some success to restore the original definition of la garra, which once meant trickery with the ball rather than brutality. This is his second spell in charge of La Celeste, the first coming in 1990, when the teacher learnt useful lessons.

On that occasion he had taken the squad to Europe well before the start of the tournament, beating England 2-1 on a glorious summer evening at Wembley, with Francescoli in full flow, and drawing 3-3 with a full-strength West Germany, the future champions. The tournament itself, however, was a different matter, and they were eliminated by Italy in the second round.

"We came up against a problem that arose from the long time that the players were away from the things that for Uruguayans are very significant, like their loved ones, their everyday habits," he told World Soccer recently. So he decided to keep the team in Montevideo, taking advantage of a climate similar to that of South Africa and virtually forgetting about arranging warm-up matches. "I've been working with these players for four years," he added, "so I just had to make sure they were fit and that they'd recovered after a long season. I didn't need to play friendlies to draw conclusions."

It seems to have worked, as has his attempt to get his players to enjoy the experience of being at the tournament, whatever the outcome. "A World Cup is a party, a celebration," he said last night. "What's happened here is having a very positive impact back home, particularly among young people, children and teenagers and even people in their thirties, who've never seen anything like this before. Looking at the other three teams, it's almost as if we're at a party to which we haven't been invited. We haven't played brilliant football, but we're here and I don't think luck is the only reason." History, too, might have something to do with it.

Article: The guardian

Uruguay Media

Uruguayans have access to a wide range of political views via more than 100 private daily and weekly newspapers, more than 100 radio stations and some 20 television channels. Cable TV is widely available.

State-run radio and TV are operated by the official broadcasting service, SODRE. Some newspapers are owned by, or linked to, the main political parties.

Freedom of speech and media are guaranteed by the constitution, with qualifications for inciting violence or "insulting the nation".

Rights body Reporters Without Borders noted in 2008 that Uruguay was free from the "media polarisation" seen across much of the continent, scoring highly in press freedom rankings.

The press

• El Pais - Montevideo daily
• El Observador - Montevideo daily
• La Republica - Montevideo daily
• El Telegrafo - Paysandu daily
• Ultimas Noticias - Montevideo evening daily
• Brecha - Montevideo weekly
• Busqueda - Montevideo, business weekly

Television

• Teledoce - Montevideo
• Saeta TV Canal 10 - Montevideo
• Monte Carlo TV Canal 4 - Montevideo
• TV Nacional Uruguay - government-owned
• TV Ciudad - cultural, Montevideo

Radio

• Radio El Espectador - Montevideo
• Radio Sarandi - Montevideo
• AM Libre - Montevideo
• Radio Carve - Montevideo
• Radio Montecarlo - Montevideo
• Radiodifusion Nacional SODRE - government-owned

Uruguay Timeline.

A chronology of key events:

1516 - Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solis killed by indigenous people while exploring the Rio de la Plata, his death discouraging further European colonisation for more than 100 years.

1726 - Spanish found Montevideo and take over Uruguay from the Portuguese; many of the indigenous people are killed.

1776 - Uruguay becomes part of the Vice-royalty of La Plata, which has its capital at Buenos Aires.

1808 - Uruguay rebels against the Vice-royalty of La Plata following the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy by Napoleon Bonaparte.

1812-20 - Orientales, or Uruguayans from the eastern side of the River Plata, fight against Argentinian and Brazilian invaders.

Independence and war

1828 - Brazil, Argentina renounce claims to territories which become the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.

1830 - Constitution approved.

1838-65 - Civil war between Blancos, or Whites - the future conservative party - and Colorados, or Reds - the future liberals.

1865-70 - Uruguay joins Argentina and Brazil in war against Paraguay, which is defeated.

1903-15 - Reformist Jose Batlle y Ordonez (Colorado Party) gives women the franchise and establishes a welfare state, disestablishes the church and abolishes the death penalty during two successive terms as president.

1933 - Opposition groups excluded from politics following military coup.

1951 - President replaced with nine-member council in accordance with new constitution.

Dictatorship, guerrilla warfare, return to democracy

1962 - Campaign by Tupamaros guerrillas begins and lasts until 1973.

1971 - British ambassador to Uruguay Geoffrey Jackson kidnapped by Tupamaros guerrillas and held for eight months. He is freed shortly after a mass jail break-out by Tupamaros convicts which officials deny was arranged in exchange for Jackson's release.

1972 - Sixteen survivors of a Uruguayan plane which crashes in the Andes stay alive by eating the flesh of passengers who died. The survivors, mainly members of a Uruguayan rugby team, are trapped for 10 weeks.

1973 - Armed forces seize power and promise to encourage foreign investment, but usher in a period of extreme repression during which Uruguay becomes known as "the torture chamber of Latin America" and accumulates the largest number of political prisoners per capita in the world.

1984 - Violent protests against repression and deteriorating economic conditions.

1985 - Army and political leaders agree on return to constitutional government and the release of political prisoners; law grants amnesty to members of the armed forces accused of human rights violations during years of dictatorship; Julio Maria Sanguinetti becomes president.

1989 - Referendum endorses amnesty for human rights abusers; Lacalle Herrera elected president.

1994 - Julio Maria Sanguinetti elected president.

1999 - Jorge Batlle elected president.

2000 - Commission begins investigating the fate of 160 people who disappeared during the years of military dictatorship.

2002 April - Uruguay breaks diplomatic ties with Cuba, after Cuba accuses it of being a US lackey for sponsoring a UN resolution which calls on Havana to implement human rights reforms.

Financial crisis

2002 May - Emergency measures, including tax increases, are announced by President Batlle in an effort to prevent Argentina's financial crisis from spilling over the border.

2002 August - Government orders banks to close for almost a week to stop mass withdrawal of savings. General strike held in protest at economic crisis.

2003 April - World Bank approves loans worth more than $250m.

2003 December - Voters in referendum reject plans to open up state oil monopoly to foreign investment.

2004 May - Senate rejects a bill that would have legalised abortion.

Shift to the left

2004 November - Left-winger Tabare Vazquez wins presidential elections, marking a dramatic political shift.

2005 March - President Vazquez is sworn in. Within hours he restores ties with Cuba, signs an energy deal with Venezuela and announces a welfare package to tackle poverty.

2005 December - Forensic experts unearth remains of individuals who are thought to be victims of military rule. President Vazquez ordered the excavations soon after taking office.

2006 July - International Court of Justice rejects a bid by Argentina to suspend the construction of two Uruguayan pulp mills. Uruguay rejects charges that the plants will pollute the border region.

2006 November - Former president-turned-dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry and his former foreign minister are arrested in connection with the 1976 killings of four political opponents.

2006 December - Uruguay pays off its billion-dollar debt to the International Monetary Fund.

2007 May - A new parliament of South America's leading trading block Mercosur is inaugurated in the capital Montevideo.

2007 September - Hundreds of Argentineans cross into Uruguay to protest outside a paper pulp mill, which Argentina and environmentalists say pollutes rivers.

2008 June - President Vasquez announces discovery of what could be large natural gas field off Uruguay's Atlantic coast.

Former dictators jailed

2009 October - The Supreme Court rules that a law shielding officials of the last military government from prosecution for human rights abuses is unconstitutional.

Former military ruler Gregorio Alvarez is sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder and human rights violations.

Ruling Broad Front coalition wins parliamentary election.

2009 November - Former leftist rebel-turned-moderate Jose Mujica of the governing Broad Front wins presidential election.

2010 February - Former president Juan Maria Bordaberry is sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder and violation of the constitution in the wake of the 1973 military coup.

2010 March - Jose Mujica takes up office as president.

Fonts: Especial of the BBC

Recapitulation about the Uruguay's campaigne in the World Cup of South-Africa

This video was edited by Luiz Menezes and remind the "La Celeste's" exciting work. Is a good edition and your duration is eigth minutes. Enjoy this video.

The Team

1- Fernando Muslera

2- Diego Lugano

3- Diego Godín

4- Jorge Fucile

5- Walter Gargano

6- Mauricio Victorino

7- Edinson Cavani

8- Sebastián Eguren

9- Luis Suárez 

10- Diego Forlán

11- Álvaro Pereira

12- Juan Castillo

13- Sebastián "Loco" Abreu

14- Nicolás Lodeiro

15- Diego Pérez

16- Maxi Pereira

17- Egidio Arévalo Ríos

18- Ignacio González

19- Andrés Scotti

20- Álvaro Fernández

21- Sebastián Fernández 

22- Martín Cáceres

23- Martín Silva

The games.

1ª Fase

Uruguay 0x0 Francia

Uruguay 3x0 África del Sur

Uruguay 1x0 México

Octavos-de-Final

Uruguay 2x1 Corea del Sur

Cuartos de Final

Uruguay (4)1x1(2) Ghana

Semi Final

Uruguay 2x3 Países Bajos

Disputa de Tercer Lugar

Uruguay 2x3 Alemania

The Gaucho.

Gaucho (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡautʃo]) is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay,Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil. In Brazil, Gaúcho (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɡaˈuʃu]) is also used to designate people from the state of Rio Grande do Sul in general.

The word gaucho could be described as a loose equivalent to the North American "cowboy" (vaquero, in Spanish). Like the North American word cowboy, Venezuelan or Colombian llanero, or Chilean huaso, or the Mexican charro, the term often connotes the 19th century more than the present day; then gauchos made up the majority of the rural population, herding cattle on the vast estancias, and practising hunting as their main economic activities. The word "gaucho" is sometimes used to refer to chimichurri, a steak sauce common to Argentina.

There are several conflicting hypotheses concerning the origin of the term. It may derive from the Mapuchecauchu ("vagabond") or from the Quechua huachu ("orphan"), which gives also a different word in Spanish "guacho". The first recorded uses of the term date from around the time of Argentine independencein 1816.

From: Wikipedia.
video: Bruno Maestrini. Vimeo