Session), by decree of the same Secretariat of State of July 6, 1928; Delegate of Uruguay to the VI and VII I-American Conferences, held in 1928 in Havana and in 1933 in Montevideo, respectively.
Session), by decree of the same Secretariat of State of July 6, 1928; Delegate of Uruguay to the VI and VII I-American Conferences, held in 1928 in Havana and in 1933 in Montevideo, respectively.
[3] Amézaga was involved in much legislation of a reformist nature, with one study noting that "As a deputy, he intervened, either as an author, as an informant member or in the discussions, in all the laws that were sanctioned from 1908 to 1914.
I have confidence in them, as does the people who approved them with an overwhelming majority, considering them to be a faithful expression of the aspirations for justice and a sure guarantee of political freedom and individual rights.
[7] His election, according to one journal, “completed the democratic restoration and the definitive burial of "Marzismo", the regime that emerged around Gabriel Terra.”[8] According to one study, Amézaga took office in 1943 “with the challenge of running a transitional administration, suitable to conduct the country out of the authoritarian impasse and navigating the last years of the world war.”[9] Another study has argued that his presidency “represented in general a tranquillizing interval , threatening no expectations , endangering no established interest.”[10] His presidency was given the task of overseeing Uruguay's political transition and implementing a new constitution.
[11] According to one study, Amézaga began “with what has been characterized as a weak administration, so weak that only with great difficulty was it able to secure the adoption of his most important legislation.” Amézaga was hampered internally by the Blanco Party’s Nazi-influenced Herrerista wing and externally by intense Argentine political and economic pressure, and survived “due in no small part to U.S. Lend-Lease assistance and Export-Import Bank Loans.”[12] He also survived a right-wing plot against the government in July 1946.
[13] A year earlier, in June 1945 the episode of the so-called "implications" occurred which, as summarised by one study, “exposed the way, in which the traditional political cast acted in the management of public administration.
The issue provoked a temporary ministerial crisis, which was remedied with a new distribution of the cabinet: two ministries for men of confidence of the president, three for batllismo, two for blancocevedismo and two for independent nationalism.
This included creating arbitration and conciliation boards to solve the problem of farm rents, regulating the marketing of wheat, and providing for the acquisition of seed oats.
The protection afforded by the Act is extended to the staff of such workshops as commercial establishments may possess on their own premises for the manufacture or finishing of goods for direct retail sale to the public.
10,471 of 3 March 1944 extends to workers "employed in the exploitation of forests, mountains and peateries the benefits of the laws on hours of work, weekly rest, wage councils and family allowances, and moreover establishes compulsory insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases, giving the Government and the State Insurance Bank the power to prohibit work, by force, if need be, when this obligation has not been met.
The first part of the Act (sections 1-4) defines what is meant by the minimum wage, determines how it is to be calculated for piece work, specifies that payment shall be made in currency and prohibits the truck system.
The National Institute of Labour and Belated Services is empowered to represent the workers in making direct or indirect claims for the payment of wages due."
Allowances are paid in respect of children up to fourteen years of age, or up to sixteen if they attend a secondary school or preparatory studies or are undergoing apprenticeship at special centres.
10,570 of 15 December 1944 regulated "the system of dismissal compensation for workers on piece rates or on daily or hourly wages and permanently employed in industry, who had been excepted from the general law.
10,681 of 10 December 1945, a similar scheme to that for the meat packing industry "was introduced for workers in wool, leather, etc., depots and warehouses, whose activity extends over only a few months of the year, since their work depends on the harvest and is seasonal in character.
In addition, discharged rural workers had to be helped by the employer to move themselves, their families and their household effects, and if “the rural worker, or any member of his family, is sick, he is allowed to stay on the farm or establishment as long as necessary in order to avoid a risk to his health.”[35] Law 10497 of June 1944 authorized the Executive Power “to acquire directly from the farmers and in the manner provided for in subparagraph E) of article 2, the amounts it deems necessary of corn from the present crop to the in order to avoid a drop in prices, maintaining a minimum price level that contemplates the interests of producers and consumers.”[36] Under Law 10495 of June 1944, “The workers and employees of businesses and annexes not included in decree-law number 9,347, of April 13, 1934, will enjoy the benefits and guarantees established in articles 3, 5, 6, and 7 of the law of June 1944.
[37] Under Law 10530 of September 1944 “The old-age pension benefit, established in article 1 of law number 6,874 of February 11, 1919 and number 7,880 of August 13, 1925, can be requested upon reaching 59 years of age, and will be settled without prejudice to the resolution final decision issued by the Institute from the date on which the interested party reaches the age of 60, provided that it has not been previously denied by verification, at the Institute's expense, of the petitioner's lack of rights.”[38] Law 10511 of August 1944 authorized the Executive Power “to dispose of up to the amount of ten million pesos for the construction of buildings for the operation of urban and rural schools.”[39] Law 10526 of September 1944 authorized the Executive Power “to allocate the equivalent of up to one hundred thousand dollars ($/a 100,000.00) as a contribution from the Ministry of Public Health to the "Pan American Cooperative Public Health Service", in accordance with the agreements entered into with the Office of the Coordinator of American Affairs.” These funds, as well as five hundred thousand dollars donated by the United States of North America, were be used “in the preparation and beginning of execution of a Public Hygiene and Health plan in Uruguay, and its investment will be authorized, in each case, by the Ministry of Public Health.”[40] Law 10610 of April 1945 authorized the Executive Branch “to issue up to the sum of two million pesos ($2,000,000.00) in titles called "National Bonds for the Sanitation of Inland Cities" payable in twenty years, with an interest of five percent (5%) annual, payable quarterly in arrears.” The proceeds from the sale of these Bonds would be used exclusively “to pay for internal sanitation works, connections with public sewers and external running water pipes, for constructions located in cities or towns in the interior, when the value of each construction does not exceed five thousand pesos ($5,000.00) according to the capacity for the payment of the real estate contribution or according to the building permit and provided that it is the only property of the interested owner; or that, in the case of having more than one, the set value does not exceed that limit.”[41] Under Law 10838 of October 1946, the Honorary Commission for the Fight against Tuberculosis (which was previously established by law of January 17, 1946) “is hereby authorized to use up to 3% of its annual resources for the hiring of inspection personnel and Social Visitors.”[42] Under Law 10565 of December 1944, “Are included in the benefits granted by decree-law number 10,256 of October 21, 1942, retirees and their successors whose passivity has been granted prior to said decree-law -in their capacity as Teachers of the Deaf-Mute and mentally abnormal of the State schools - being able consequently to reform the respective certificates.” In addition, “The Teachers of the General Artigas National Institute for the Blind, as well as those already retired or their successors in title, will enjoy the benefits established in the previous article and in Law number 9,878 on retirement of private school teachers.”[43] Law No.
10,694 of 1945 “increases the capital of the Rural Development and Colonization Section of the BHU, establishing regulations and creating special resources.” [44] In a speech he made in 1946, Amézaga listed various laws that had been introduced, amended and passed.
Amongst others, these included laws concerning employment offices for maritime workers, increased pay for pieceworkers, and reduced rents on rural land where there was hoof and mouth disease.
[45] According to a presidential decree approved on 28 January 1944, laborers on public works projects “are henceforth to have the benefit of adequate and sanitary housing facilities whenever the construction projects on which they are working are located more than a mile and a quarter from the nearest town or city limits,”[46] A Permanent National Fund was set up to assist in the fight against tuberculosis, which was exclusively aimed at providing social assistance pensions to the families of tubercular patients.
We are part of the rearguard of the immense army of humanity that defends itself in a fight of life or death for civilization and it is natural that we must stoically endure the sacrifices that common defense demands.
Let us seek to achieve international peace by destroying those who violate the law at their roots, and let us not forget within our homeland that humanity cannot live in a society founded on injustice.
[52] Amézaga's foreign minister Eduardo Rodriguez Larreta advocated “multilateral intervention” in the Americas as a way of preventing individual countries “from rejecting democratic institutions and jeopardizing hemispheric security.”[53] In November 1945 Rodriquez sent a note to the other American governments.
His proposal, referred to sometimes erroneously in English as the “Larreta” Doctrine, appealed for collective action to promote human rights and democracy and oppose dictators.
[54] In part of his note, Rodriguez asserted that “the purest respect for the principle of non-intervention of one State in the affairs of another (…) does not protect unlimitedly the notorious and repeated violation by any republic of elementary rights of man (…) In the international politics of America, the parallelism between peace and democracy should constitute an indeclinable norm of action.” His proposal was, however, rejected overwhelming by the American governments “on the grounds that such a course would be equivalent to authorizing unacceptable collective intervention,” therefore setting in, as noted by one study, “what they deemed its proper place the attempts at creating some sort of international supervision of the observance of human rights at a domestic level.”[55] During Amézaga's presidency, struggles between the different dominant factions and their respective country projects continued, but the crises that caused these contradictions were resolved in a less traumatic way.
On 20 December 1944 the Uruguyan Congress approved a law authorizing the issuance of bonds to finance a 5-year public works program, with proceeds used for projects like reforestation and soil erosion control.
Towards the end of the Amézaga government, the prospects for accelerated industrial development were clearly drawn on the country's economic horizon.”[62] Various measures were also adopted to reduce the cost of living.
During Amézaga's first year in office there were "a great number of price-fixing and other regulatory measures, adopted to control the cost of living and the supply and distribution of articles of prime necessity.
Two factors seem to have influenced for this to occur: on the one hand, the difficulties in importing inputs caused by the war, and on the other, the regressive form of income distribution that had existed led to reducing domestic demand.