Portal:Uruguay
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The Uruguay PortalUruguay (/ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/ YOOR-ə-gwy, Spanish: [uɾuˈɣwaj] ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is part of the Southern Cone region of South America. Uruguay covers an area of approximately 176,215 square kilometres (68,037 sq mi). It has a population of around 3.4 million, of whom nearly 2 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo. The area that became Uruguay was first inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers 13,000 years ago. The predominant tribe at the moment of the arrival of Europeans was the Charrúa people. At the same time, there were also other tribes, such as the Guaraní and the Chaná, when the Portuguese first established Colonia do Sacramento in 1680; Uruguay was colonized by Europeans later than its neighboring countries. The Spanish founded Montevideo as a military stronghold in the early 18th century due to competing claims over the region, while Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a four-way struggle between Portugal and Spain, and later Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the first half of the 19th century. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, numerous pioneering economic, labor, and social reforms were implemented, which led to the creation of a highly developed welfare state, which is why the country began to be known as "Switzerland of the Americas". However, a series of economic crises and the fight against far-left urban guerrilla warfare in the late 1960s and early 1970s culminated in the 1973 coup d'état, which established a civic-military dictatorship until 1985. Uruguay is today a democratic constitutional republic, with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government. Uruguay is described as a "full democracy" and is highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, economic freedom, social progress, income equality, per capita income, innovation, and infrastructure. The country has fully legalized cannabis (the first country in the world to do so), as well as same-sex marriage and abortion. It is a founding member of the United Nations, OAS, and Mercosur. (Full article...) Selected article -The politics of Uruguay abide by a presidential representative democratic republic, under which the president of Uruguay is both the head of state and the head of government, as well as a multiform party system. The president exercises executive power and legislative power and is vested in the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent from the executive and legislature. The Colorado and National parties have been locked in a power struggle, with the predominance of the Colorado party throughout most of Uruguay's history. The 2004 election, however, brought the Encuentro Progresista-Frente Amplio-Nueva Mayoría, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, communists, social democrats, and Christian Democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament. A majority vote elected President Tabaré Vázquez. (Full article...) Selected picture -The Executive Tower of Montevideo, is the seat of the executive power of the government and the working place of the President of Uruguay. It is 56 meters tall and was inaugurated in its present form in 2009. The construction of the original building started in 1965 and was meant to be used as the Palace of Justice, but the project remained halted until 2006.
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People -Daniel Hendler (born 3 January 1976) is a Uruguayan film, television, and theatre actor who works mainly in his household with Maia Hendler, where he lives. He is known for his starring roles in films such as Bottom of the Sea, Family Law, The Paranoids, Phase 7 and award-winning Lost Embrace by director Daniel Burman, with whom he worked many times. Working on both sides of the Río de la Plata, Hendler achieved international recognition due to his awards as an actor. In 2004, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival for his performance in Lost Embrace. He made his debut as screenwriter and director with the film Norberto's Deadline in 2010. Hendler is part of the generation of actors who revitalized the Uruguayan cinema with films like 25 Watts, and is one of the regular actors of the so-called New Argentine Cinema. (Full article...) General imagesThe following are images from various Uruguay-related articles on Wikipedia.
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