Danilo Astori in 2013, during his time as Vice President of Uruguay. Iván Franco ((EPA) EFE)
Danilo Astori, one of the most important leaders of the Uruguayan left, died this Friday in Montevideo at the age of 83. Astori was a well-known economist, senator, economics minister and vice president. His personality, respected by fellow believers and political opponents, represented like no other the moderation and dialogue character that normally prevails in Uruguayan politics. He had been away from public life for more than two years and was suffering from, among other things, a respiratory infection.
“A colleague has disappeared, a value has disappeared from the country and a part of ourselves has disappeared,” said former President José Mujica, who barely noticed Astori’s death. Both led the second left-wing government in Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, forming a tandem that left behind endless political anecdotes. President Mujica’s well-known lightness was once tempered by Vice President Astori’s academic rigor. “I had a lot of disagreements, but fortunately there were,” the 88-year-old Uruguayan politician added.
Astori was born in Montevideo and was a fan of the National Football Club. He studied at the Faculty of Economics of the University of the Republic. He graduated as an auditor and economist in 1963 and developed extensive academic activity at this university. He was a researcher and professor until 1972, at the age of 32, when he became the youngest dean in the history of this faculty. He held this position until the government of the civil-military dictatorship (1973-1985) intervened at the university. After democracy was restored in 1985, Astori returned to serve as dean until 1989.
In party politics, Astori participated in the creation of the left-wing coalition Frente Amplio in 1971 and was a close associate of Líber Seregni (1916–2004), the main reference of this political force. In 1994, accompanied by activists from different ideological areas, he founded the Uruguay Assembly Room. Since 1990 he has been a Senator of the Republic at various times; During the first left-wing government between 2005 and 2008, he headed the Ministry of Economic Affairs; he was vice president between 2010 and 2015; From 2015 to 2020 he again served as head of the economic department in the third Frente-Amplista administration.
“The pain will not make me give up my activity as a political actor,” Astori said in his letter of resignation from his Senate seat last December. Professor José Carlos Mahía took his place and described him as a cultured man with a fine sense of humor, great powers of observation and memory. “In the Broad Front governments, they designed economic policies that were absolutely alternative to previous models in terms of growth and redistribution of wealth,” Mahía tells EL PAIS.
Mahía emphasizes that Uruguay has achieved social justice, stability and international prestige under Astori’s leadership. “Danilo gave priority to the interests of the country over partisan or personal interests. He upheld values such as altruism and intellectual honesty and dedicated his life to public service with great care and hard work,” he added. Mahía points out that Astori “was part of the construction of a modern left” and asserts that in this sense he was “encouraged to question himself” and to observe and study reality “in depth” in order to understand it change.
Speaking to the press, former President Julio M. Sanguinetti (1985-1990 and 1995-2000) described Astori as “an extremely relevant personality”. “From my social democratic, liberal-progressive perspective, I see Danilo as a central figure in what I believe is the modernization of the Uruguayan left. That is, developing compatibility between the market economy, social ideas and the welfare state that we have tried to build,” said the 87-year-old former president and current secretary of the Colorado Party (center-right).
For his part, President Luis Lacalle Pou also commented on the social network X: “Danilo Astori was a protagonist of national politics for many years. Sometimes we agree, almost always we disagree. How important it is to have political opponents that you respect.”
Astori will be buried this Saturday from 10 a.m. in the Hall of the Lost Steps of the Legislative Palace of Montevideo.
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