Juan María Bordaberry

Juan María Bordaberry Arocena, was an Uruguayan politician and cattle rancher who served as the 34th President of Uruguay from 1972 until his ouster in 1976. For the last three years of his tenure, he was the first President of the Civic-Military Dictatorship. Previously, he was the Minister of Agriculture from 1969 to 1972. He came to office following the Presidential elections of late 1971. In 1973, Bordaberry engineered a self-coup where he dissolved the General Assembly and transferred its powers to a military-influenced Council of State. He then ruled by decree as a military-sponsored dictator until disagreements with the military led to his being overthrown before his original term of office had expired.