Monarchism in Uruguay
Seeing the monarchy as a powerful institution to oppose "anarchy" and social upheaval, the movement was prevalent among both aristocratic and popular classes of early Uruguayan society.
The royal navy used Montevideo as a military base from where commanders Juan Ángel Michelena and Jacinto de Romarate led numerous attacks and raids on the Buenos Aires junta territory.
'stubborn'), name taken from the guerrilla regiments who fought under Juan Martín Díez against the Napoleonic Empire in the Spanish War of Independence, were born for the defense of strict loyalism to Ferdinand VII and acquired widespread reputation.
[4] De Molina criticized slavery from a Christian point of view, but didn't take part in the Uruguayan abolitionist movement due to its links with liberalism.
[4] Despite originally expecting a Spanish restoration after the end of the Portuguese conquest of the Banda Oriental, de Molina accepted the occupation and carried out extensive intellectual work during the luso-Brazilian rule, becoming an important collaborator of the Viscount of Laguna.
After General Carlos Frederico Lecor's entry into Montevideo, the newly formed Cisplatine Congress by renowned Uruguayan citizens voted in favour of an annexation of the province to the Empire under the name of Cisplatina.
[7] The baron promoted political marriages between Portuguese military commanders and Montevidean aristocratic women in order to improve relations with Uruguayan high society.
Soon before the cry of Ipiranga and the independence of Brazil the Portuguese monarchy had considered the possibility of returning Cisplatina to Spain, but the refusal of Lecor sided him with Pedro I and the province became a part of the Brazilian Empire.
[8] In 1831, one year after the first constitutional oath, Uruguayan liberal-conservative diplomat Nicolás Gregorio Herrera offered the Spanish monarchy to enthrone Infante Sebastián as "King of the Oriental State".
[5] After the declaration of Independence of Uruguay and the outbreak of the Uruguayan Civil War, many Unitarian exiles sought refuge in the Defense Government of Montevideo against the political persecution started by dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
[10] Many members of the Baron's Club, such as José Longinos Ellauri or Nicolás Gregorio Herrera joined the Defense Government, which was closer to their constitutional and liberal ideas.
Chancellor Ellauri, admiring the stability of the European constitutional monarchies that he had visited on his trips, proposed Uruguayan presidents to serve for 10-years terms as a way to make the republican regime as similar to the monarchical as possible.
[14] Unlike liberals loyal to Rivera, Carlists rejected constitutionalism and sought the restoration of a traditional monarchy akin to the medieval Spanish kingdoms.
An ultra-royalist and reactionary movement, Carlists had sided with Infante Carlos María Isidro against Spanish constitutionalists and led an uprising against Ferdinand VII's successor, queen Isabella II.
[18] Carlos VII visited Uruguay on his trips to Latin America, and had meetings with some local Catholic figures such as bishop Inocencio María Yéregui and landowner Hipólito Gallinal.
Despite originally a neoliberal technocrat,[21] Bordaberry's integralist Catholicism[22] and distrust towards political parties gradually brought him closer to Spanish traditionalism and Integrist monarchism.
Inspired by the Francoist regime, he proposed the creation of a corporatist authoritarian system to the military junta with the objective of definitively abolishing partisan politics and democracy.
[24]The constitutional imperative to call an election in November 1976 forced us to realize that there was no other path but to consolidate institutionally the situation of peace and order the country was living.
[24] After his imprisonment, the Traditionalist Communion issued a statement asking for his release, praising Bordaberry as a ruler who "followed organicist principles, restored authority and fostered economic and social progress".
