MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Former Uruguayan President-turned-dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry died early Sunday at home, where he was serving a 30-year sentence for killings and disappearances during his country's war against so-called subversives. He was 83.
Bordaberry had been suffering from breathing problems and other illnesses before he died. His son, Sen. Pedro Bordaberry, confirmed the death to The Associated Press.
Elected in 1971, Bordaberry was a wealthy, conservative landholder who cut short his democratic term with a June 27, 1973 auto-coup carried out with military backing. He suspended the constitution, banned political parties, ordered tanks to ring Congress and ruled for three years by decree until his 1976 ouster by generals who went on to lead a right-wing dictatorship until 1985.
After his ouster, Bordaberry lived quietly for decades out of public view until his arrest on Nov. 17, 2006, when a push for human rights investigations under leftist President Tabare Vazquez, led to his indictment for a total of 14 deaths and disappearances.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in February 2010 for violating the constitution by leading the coup, and had been serving the sentence at home due to his age and ill health.
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Sunday 17 July 2011
Juan Maria Bordaberry Dead: Ex-Uruguayan Dictator Dies At 83
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