ABSTRACT
The PC has dominated Uruguayan politics throughout most of the country’s history. One of Uruguay’s two traditional parties, it is a broad-based, inclusive, centrist political force. It is composed of different organized factions with their own leaders, which compete among themselves. The Colorados emerged from the 1836-48 civil war and were named after the red flag of one of the warring factions. The party first came to power in 1865 and governed Uruguay uninterruptedly for 93 years. In the early 20th century its leader and two-term President, José Batlle y Ordóñez (1903-07 and 1911-15), introduced a wide-ranging social welfare system. Thereafter, Batllismo, as the party’s dominant strand came to be known, became associated with welfarism and industrial development. Having lost a national election for the first time in the 20th century in 1958, the Colorados regained power in the 1966 elections and won again in 1971. In 1973, however, the constitutional government was deposed by the military, which then ruled the country for over a decade.
