Former Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez has died | T …

Former Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez died this morning at the age of 80 from lung cancer. He was president of Uruguay twice: 2005-2010 and 2015-2020)

“With deep pain, we communicate the death of our beloved father” at 3 a.m. “due to natural causes of his oncological disease,” said a statement from his sons Álvaro, Javier and Ignacio Vázquez, released by the AFP press agency.

On Twitter, Álvaro Vázquez wrote that “while resting at his home, accompanied by his family and friends, because of his illness, Tabaré died”.

“On behalf of the family, we want to thank all Uruguayans for the affection he has received for so many years,” he added.

President Luis Lacalle Pou, of the (center-right) National Party, was one of the first to respond to the death of his predecessor, one of the region’s main leaders.

“He faced his last fight with courage and serenity. We have had examples of personal and political dialogue which I enjoy and will remember. He served his country and based on the efforts he got, he got some great achievements. He was the President of the Uruguayans. The country is in mourning. RIP President Tabaré Vázquez, ”the president wrote on Twitter.

The Frente Amplio, an alliance for which Tabaré was president of Uruguay twice, announced that there would be no revival and that the burial would be an intimate act of the family.

Likewise, and to respect the social distance required by the pandemic, he called on citizens to “ accompany the procession from their homes and through the media that will leave from the esplanade of the seat of the municipal government of Montevideo at the 13 towards the cemetery of La Teja “.

As reported by the Sputnik news agency, the FA also called for the former president to be fired from his home at 9:00 p.m. with the song “Defend joy” by Mario Benedetti and Joan Manuel Serrat and five minutes of applause.

Vázquez, a former leader of the local football club Progreso, was the first candidate of the left-wing coalition to become mayor of Montevideo in 1989, then for the presidency – after two unsuccessful attempts – in 2005, breaking with the hegemony of the traditional party from Colorado. and National Party.

Last week, he was stabilized on an emergency basis after suffering from cancer-linked “deep left lower limb thrombosis,” as his son Álvaro explains.

The tumor was diagnosed in August 2019, while still in government, and in September he started a program of radiation therapy and radiosurgery to combat the disease, which in principle had been completed.

He was now, according to his doctors, in an “evaluation phase”, noted Europa Press.

During this period, he moved away from public light although he remained active in the Broad Front. In October, precisely, he made his last participation in the Plenary of the party and held a previous meeting with the former president also José Muijca – the man who held the post between his two terms – and his wife, the senator. Lucía Topolansky.