Luis Batlle Berres

Luis Conrado Batlle y Berres (26 November 1897 – 15 July 1964) was a Uruguayan political figure.

Background
Batlle Berres was a journalist and prominent member of the Uruguayan Colorado Party. He was selected – in hindsight, with far-reaching effect – to serve as vice presidential running-mate for Luis Tomás Berreta.

The great-great-grandson of Catalan settlers from Sitges, Spain, he was the son of another political figure, Luis Batlle y Ordóñez, brother of ex president José Batlle. His mother, Petrona Berres, was of Irish descent and died when he was still a small child. Then, his father remarried but died soon after, in 1908. As a result, he went to live with his uncle, José Batlle y Ordóñez, the three-time President of Uruguay, and his cousins César, Rafael and Lorenzo Batlle Pacheco on the Piedras Blancas estate in the suburbs of Montevideo. He studied law at the urging of his godfather, Dr. José Irureta Goyena, and also Military Aviation. In 1933, he was expelled from Uruguay by the Terra dictatorship, and participated in the revolutionary preparations of 1934 and 1935, entering the country clandestinely. In 1936 Batlle Berres returned legally and bought Radio "Ariel". He also became Editor-in-Chief of El Día.

In 1927, he married Matilde Ibáñez Tálice, with whom he had three children: the also ex president Jorge Batlle, concert pianist Luis Batlle and Matilde Linda Batlle, the latter born in Argentina.

Batlle Berres was first elected to the Chamber of Representatives in 1925 as a member of Jose Batlle's personal list and was reelected in 1928, with the list this time headed by Jose Batlle himself. In 1931, Batlle Berres was again reelected, this time within the dual lists "14" and "15", but following the Terra coup of 1933 he didn't seek office until 1942. He was also the leader of List 15, a left-leaning faction which was the majority faction of the Colorado Party from 1946 to about 1960. It placed second in the 1966 elections, but regained its majority position by 1970. Jorge Batlle, the son of Luis Batlle Berres, led the faction after his father died in 1964. According to one study, Batlle Berres was a strong-willed executive "who incurred wide criticism for employing his exalted office to advance his own interests." In 1950, he split the Colorado Party be deciding to offer his own ticket under a separate election list. This led to the emergence of his own List 15 faction, and the List 14 faction, led by the Batlle Pacheco brothers. In 1948, he founded in Montevideo the newspaper Acción, which he made the mouthpiece of his political faction.

Batlle Berres faced criticism, launched by some sectors of his party, for proclaiming himself the heir of Batllismo. As noted by one biography, “The opposition was led by César and Lorenzo Batlle Pacheco, sons of José Batlle, who believed that they were the true heirs of Batllismo, although in practice they were much more conservative than their cousin and president.” Commenting on the differences between Batlle Berres and César and Lorenzo Batlle Pacheco, one study argued that

"Luis Batlle directed his appeal to the lower classes and to the labor unions. In the second and third decades of the century, Jose Batlle had done the same, but his sons and El Dia had settled down to the enjoyment of a position based on a sated bureaucracy, an accomplished social revolution, and an urban middle class whose contentment grew from its preferred position. Luis Batlle appeared to some as a demagogue quite as dangerous as Luis Herrera, but to the lower classes he seemed for the moment to promise the improvement in living level which the Batllista ideology had led them to believe they could expect. Many voters in the unthinking middle groups perceived Luis Batlle as a reasonable alternative to Jose Battle's sons, however, and he was careful to cultivate this confusion of thought. He ran in most elections in the Batllista slates of candidates, but intra-party developments reflected his increasing power."

Vice President of Uruguay
He served as Vice President of Uruguay in 1947, succeeding Alberto Guani and held this office upon the death of President Berreta.

Batlle Berres was the fourth person to hold the office of Vice President of Uruguay. The office dates from 1934, when Alfredo Navarro became Uruguay's first Vice President. He previously served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Uruguay from 1943 to 1945.

President of Uruguay (1st period of office)
He was President of Uruguay from 1947 to 1951, being succeeded in the office by Andrés Martínez Trueba. In this first period of Presidential office, the Vice President of Uruguay was Alfeo Brum.

According to one article at the time, presidential responsibilities came easily to Batlle Berres due to his background:

"To stocky, solemn Luis Batlle, 50, presidential responsibilities came easily. He was the favorite nephew of his late great uncle, President José Batlle y Ordoñes, whose social laws gave Uruguay its name for progressive democracy. He has been in politics since he was 25. But politics has not been his only activity. He has had a radio station, Radio Ariel, over which many an Argentine and Paraguayan exile has broadcast. Every afternoon Luisito goes to the Café Montevideo on Avenida 18 Julio to gossip over coffee. He drives his car at high speed, likes to box. After hours, he takes his ease with his wife and three children at a small farm outside the capital."

Various reforms were introduced during the Batlle Berres presidency. A land reform law of 1948 sought to increase and improve agricultural production and improve the living conditions of rural workers. Under the law, a National Colonization Institute was set up, “to function as an autonomous body with full authority and adequate resources for buying, renting, or expropriating land, and organizing colonies of either Uruguayans or immigrants, or both.” Preference under the law was to be given to evicted farmers, those with special skills, sons of colonists, and those organized in syndicates and cooperatives. It was also expected that consumers’ and buyers’ cooperatives would be organized in each colony, and that the State would provide “land, credit, and technical assistance, and assume the responsibility of building roads, schools, hospitals, and community centers, as well as industrial plants for processing agricultural products.”

In 1948 part-time employees of the Jockey Club "not covered by the original fund became covered by a separate fund." In 1950, family allowances were extended to civil servants and the military, while a 1950 law provided that minimum payments to a family could not be less than seven pesos. Starting in 1950, family allowance coverage was expanded through the extension of the age limit and the empowerment of minors in the care of older people with other occupational conditions. Law No. 11,618 of October 20, 1950 included various improvements in the family allowances system. For instance, the right to the allowance was established for every dependent child of a worker and employed up to 14 years of age, while the benefit was extended up to 16 years of age in various cases. In addition, the benefit was extended “to crippled or disabled children until the age of 18, totally or partially for study or definitely for work.” The limit to receive the allowance was also raised from $200.00 to $300.00. According to one study, “This amount represented the couple's total income, so that if the woman received other remuneration for work, retirement or pension, had to be added to husband's remuneration.” In addition, “It was authorized, with the surpluses after having served the corresponding allowances, to improve the services and grant extraordinary assistance (birth bonuses or death allowances).

Law 11,577 October the 14th 1950 included a number of rights for working people. For instance, a 6-hour day was introduced "for workers engaged in activities that are officially considered unhealthful because of working conditions or materials that are handled." A Health Card instituted by law number 9,697 of September 16, 1937 was made imandatory for all employees and workers of unhealthy activities, while said employees and workers “must undergo a medical check-up every six months, and the corresponding information must be recorded in their Health Card.”The law also provided that special work schedules for activities considered unhealthy by application of this law “shall earn the same salary as that determined for a full day's work in the same activities, by the awards or agreements in force. This equivalence of salary between the special schedules and the maximum legal working day shall be maintained as long as the qualification of unhealthy for the activity in question subsists. This equivalence also applies to pieceworkers. The minimum daily working day of the workers and employees covered by this law shall not be less than three hours and their remuneration shall reach 65% of the daily wage.” Also, in case of diseases contracted as a consequence of or on the occasion of work, such as syphilis of glass blowers and tuberculosis of those who inhale dough dust or work in cold storage rooms, “the State Insurance Bank shall consider them as occupational diseases, and shall pay the equivalent of the full wage for the entire duration of the disease. The worker's card will be considered as the main proof for these purposes. The income in case of permanent incapacity will be equal to the reduction that the incapacity has caused the salary or wage to suffer. If the incapacity is total, the income shall be equal to the equivalent of the salary or wage earned. The concept of total and permanent disability shall be established in direct function of the trade or work performed by the beneficiary, without taking into account his possibilities of readaptation to perform other jobs, as long as the State does not establish professional re-education schools and regulate the rights and obligations of the graduates.”

The law also provided for the establishment of an Honorary Commission on Unhealthy Work, “providing for medical control, special hours, occupational diseases, night work, absence due to pregnancy." In addition, workers who had abandoned work due to illness contracted as a consequence or on occasion of the same “shall be reinstated once their recovery has been verified, enjoying the same situation that would have corresponded to them if the suspension of the work contract had not occurred and provided that their absence has not exceeded 18 months. The reinstated worker may not be dismissed until at least 180 days have elapsed from the date of his reinstatement, unless the employer can justify a serious surviving cause. The employer who violates the provisions of this article shall pay the employee an indemnity equivalent to three months' salary for each year or fraction thereof that he has worked in his service, plus the costs and expenses of the trial, if any.” Also, in unhealthy activities, night work for those under 21 years of age was absolutely prohibited.

The same law granted women extensive rights during pregnancy and in the puerperium. Under this law, every pregnant woman had the right to be absent from work for the time required by medical prescription, and if the absence from work lasts less than four months, “she shall be entitled to the full salary for the absence. If it exceeds that period, she shall earn half salary up to the term of six months. The employment shall be retained if he returns in normal conditions. In the case provided for in the preceding article, the worker may not be dismissed. If she is, the employer must pay an amount equivalent to six months' salary plus the corresponding legal indemnity.”

In 1948, pensions were introduced for the Jockey Club (part-time) and health benefits established for 2 new groups (Congress and state bank). In 1949 the budget for school canteens and milk was increased, while new classes for children with hearing and sight defects were brought within the framework of special education. In 1950 new infant classes and kindergartens were opened, while a rural normal institute was set up "for giving certificated teachers, on paid leave of absence, specialist training in rural education." Refresher courses were instituted for the teachers of handicapped children, while grants-in-aid were made to seventeen training college courses for young  teachers-in-training from the interior of the country. 1950 amendments established a maximum of 3,000 pesos to be paid annually to anyone as accident insurance, but gave the State Insurance Bank "the power to raise this maximum on its own judgment through established legal procedures."

Under a law promulgated on December the 4th 1947, a housing finance section was established in the Mortgage Bank of Uruguay. Authorized to act independently of the other economic and financial divisions of the Bank, the new section was intended "to aid in the solution of Uruguay's critical housing problem by loaning money for the acquisition, construction, and improvement of living quarters." This new section also had the right to acquire land "by mutual agreement or by expropriation, to subdivide it, and to build dwellings for sale or for rent." Also in regards to housing, a 1949 law was approved "granting special facilities to employees of the BHU." A Decree concerning Measures for the Prevention of Accidents to Workers Engaged in the Unloading of Coal and Salt dated 28 July 1949 "provides for the use of hooks with safety catches for all lifting equipment used in the unloading of coal and salt and for the blocking of trucks while salt is being unloaded. It also requires workers to use safety belts when they are at the top of hoppers." A law of December the 5th 1949 authorized compensation for farmers damaged by hail. Law No. 11,617 of October the 20th 1950 created the Retirement and Pension Fund for Rural Workers, Domestic Workers and Old Age Pensions.

Under Law 10960 the Bank of the Republic "is empowered to grant the dependent workers of the National Cooperative of Milk Producers, bank loans on their salaries and wages, in accordance with the provisions established in the law of November 21, 1941, extended by that of May 24, 1946." Under Law 10999 of December 1947, a law on retirement benefits, "The benefit agreed by article 3 of Law number 10,014 is extended to the teaching staff of Physical Education throughout the country." Law 10,997 of December 1947 amended a previous law (Law 10,436 of July 1943) in various ways, with 30% for the Ministry of Public Instruction and Social Welfare "so that through the National Food Institute it provides means of subsistence in appropriate premises to every inhabitant of the country who lacks them, under the control of Departmental Commissions designated by the Executive Power and that will be integrated by proportional representation, according to the result of the last elections of departmental authorities, and the candidates must be proposed by the political parties that have the right to integrate said Commissions." In addition, the law provided 30% for the Children's Council, to invest in the creation or improvement of the services including promotion of the Education Section, the "Creation of public canteens for preschoolers where the lack of resources so requires," the "Maintenance and foundation of maternity refectories that protect women in a state of pregnancy or who breastfeed their child," and Maintenance and creation of "Gotas de Leche" and "Maintenance and creation of "Gotas De Leche" and contribution to others that do not depend on the Children's Council." A law of 1948 contained various provisions in regards to the sale and production of milk.

Law 10937 of September 1947 extended "in favor of the machinists, stokers and drivers of cars-motors of the Administration of the Railways and Tramways of the Condition; machinists and stokers of the Directorates of Hydrography, Sanitation and Roads of the Ministry of Public Works and machinists, stokers, high voltage panel personnel and boiler repair personnel of the State Electric Power Plants, the benefits that Law number 9,700, of dated September 17, 1937, agrees to the machinists and stokers who provide services in private companies." In July 1950 the Uruguayan Congress appropriated 50,000 pesos to support the Farm Youth Movement (a Uruguayan equivalent of the 4-H Clubs) "which operates through the rural schools on a volunteer basis. Law 10949 of October 1947 authorized the Banco de la República "to extend the benefits of the operations "Loans on salaries", to the members of the Caja de Retirements of "Journalists and Graphics", which appear in the personnel of the houses where they provide services, as receiving their salaries on a daily basis. However, the other requirements imposed by the National Savings and Discount Fund for this type of operations must be fulfilled."

A new rental regime was provided by Ley 11229 of 1948. Under Law 11,563 of 1950 "Facilities for the acquisition, construction, expansion and tax relief of housing are given to certain officials of the National Postal Savings Fund, the General Post Office and the Legislative Branch, with rules for carrying out operations." Law 11024 authorized the Executive Power "to take from "Exchange Differences", the amount equivalent to one million dollars (U$S 1:000.00.00) as contribution of the Republic to the International Relief Fund for Childhood, created by resolution of the General Assembly of the Organization United Nations, 11 December 1946." Law 11388 of 1949 provided for a subsidy to paid the National Work for the Protection and Education of Mentally Abnormal Minors (Obra Morquio), which was intended to provide "medical-pedagogical assistance to at least 180 mentally abnormal children, regardless of any philosophical, political or religious proselytism." Law 11413 authorized the Executive Branch "to take from General Revenue the sum of $25,000.00 (twenty-five thousand pesos) for the payment of expenses caused by the intensification of the smallpox vaccination campaign throughout the territory of the Republic, organized by the Ministry of Public health." Law 11431 authorized the Executive Branch to "dispose of General Revenues the sum of $25,000. (twenty-five thousand pesos) monthly and until the respective budget is approved, aimed at combating epidemic outbreaks that affect children, including scarlet fever, typhoid, measles, gastroenteritis and broncho-pulmonary conditions, etc."

Ley 11052 of 1948 provided for an increase "in the sum of two hundred seventy thousand pesos ($270,000.00) the "Public Works Debt 5% 1940" created by law number 9,953, of 4 September 1940, allocating said amount for the completion of the construction works of the San José Hospital." Law 9940, passed back in 1940, provided for the protection of "public officials and their heirs by attributing to them the various benefits indicated therein." In its original wording, in force until 3 October 1950, among the conditions required of adopted children was that of not having the right to a pension transmitted by their natural family. If the adoptive father or mother died first, the situation, at the death of the legitimate ones, was not as clear as in the previous case. The issue was resolved by Law 11,520, of 3 October 1950, which gave a new wording to Article 55 of Law 9,940: "These children can opt for the pension caused by the adoptive father or mother or that caused by the natural father or mother." Law 11,637 of the 14th of February 1951 (1951 Registro, 181–184) "originated the retirement bonuses for persons affiliated with the civil service Fund and in the armed forces."

President of Uruguay (2nd period of office)
Batlle Berres was President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay from 1955 to 1956. Batlle thus both preceded and succeeded Andrés Martínez Trueba as president.

Economic policies
Within the Colorado Party, he is widely acknowledged for being the founder of the political period known as Neo-Batllism. Lasting until 1958, this corresponded to (as noted by one to one study) "the work deployed from the state by the Partido Colorado led by Luis Batlle Berres to implement a national project that picked up on the Batllist tradition and was capable of achieving ambitious goals in terms of social and economic progress" (Nahum et al., 2011: 94). A supporter of economic development based on import-substitution industrialization and agricultural expansion, Batlle Berres applied interventionist and statist economic measures to promote such development and didn't abide by the IMF's austerity recommendations. Industry and agriculture was supported through credits and subsidies, together with control over the nation's currency. According to one study, this was "a fact that brought him into conflict with ranchers. BROU, which controlled sales of foreign currency, paid less for foreign currency earned from livestock raising to favor industrial requirements for raw materials and machinery. This differential exchange rate policy stimulated the development of light industry, more than 90 percent of which was directed toward the internal market." Profitable prices were nevertheless guaranteed by the state for agriculture and stimulated imports of agricultural machinery, while new crops were developed to supply industry with raw materials and surpluses were exported. However, livestock raising continued to stagnate. Price intervention was also carried out, with a law of September the 19th 1947 granting broad powers to the Executive Power to insure supplies and prevent excessive increases in prices of articles of prime necessities.

During his first presidency Uruguay experienced, according to one biography, “a moment of economic prosperity thanks above all to the Korean War, which produced an increase in foreign trade.” Batlle Berres also favoured modernizing industry by safeguarding national investors and he carried out a plan to nationalize companies that remained under British control, such as the water company and the railway. Great Britain gave in to pressure from Batlle Berres to pay off the debt it had contracted with Uruguay during the Second World War for the supply of meat.

Luis Batlle's economic measures arguably reflected his own philosophical outlook. He planned that the State should be the source of regulation between capital and labor and in that sense, according to one study," assigned it a protective function, although without considering competing or intervening with private companies." He saw intervention was only legitimate when the private company was unaware of the general interest: "When the private company is unaware of that interest and attempts to take advantage of the freedom granted to it for purposes contrary to it, state interventionism will be imposed as a primary duty," an approach translated into the need for the State to harmonize the relations between capital and labor: "The main function of the government-directed economy is, first and foremost, the custody and protection of the economic interests of the Republic..." The " general interest" in this case must be translated by social peace, which is achieved by anticipating the exaltation of the contradictions between dominant and dominated classes. The State must act by "promoting laws of justice and seeking the best solutions that intensify work, creating wealth...", which "is not the property of capital, but a good part of it belongs to the worker and it is fair that it be distributed fairly." equity and reaches all classes, providing well-being to all those who have produced it."

According to one study, it was generally believed that Luis Batlle, "even while President, informally encouraged illegal strikes for improved wages or working conditions. Interviews, 1950 and 1953. As President, he could assure that his own representatives on the tripartite Wage Councils would be sympathetic to the workers' positions. Employers, interviewed in 1960, indicated that there had indeed been greater sympathy for union views during this position by Executive representatives on the Councils than was true after the Blanco victory."

International affairs
Batlle Berres was also involved in foreign policy during the course of his two presidencies. According to one observer, "One of the great moments of his political career is when he traveled to the United States, as president of the National Government Council, to defend the country's right to industrialization, hindered and confronted by the closed protectionism of the United States. and Europe. His speeches were memorable and at the United Nations he also proposed the incorporation of mainland China, then outside the international system emanating from the post-war." Batlle Berres visited the United States in December 1955 where he was, according to an obituary, "warmly welcomed as leader of one of the freest and most democratic nations in the world." At President Eisenhower's invitation Batlle Berres had arrived in Washington along with a staff of financial and economic experts. Relations between America and Uruguay, which had traditionally been cordial, had been clouded by a United States tariff barrier against Uruguayan wool. In putting forward his case Batlle Berres noted to American officials that Uruguay was a big purchaser of American products, and Uruguay would have to look for other markets unless the U.S. removed trade obstacles. Also, at a luncheon given New York Mayor Wagner Batlle Berres criticized the United States for encouraging "strongman" governments in Latin America, saying that such regimes were the "very best breeding grounds" of Communism. He also received honorary degrees from Columbia and Fordham Universities while visiting New York.

Batlle Berres also sought to preserve his relations with Argentina and Brazil, the latter country he visited during the presidency of Marshal Eurico Gaspar Dutra, popularly elected in 1946. He also attempted a reapproachment with Juan Domingo Perón, despite the fact that they came from opposite backgrounds and represented very different civic values. According to one observer, however, "Difficult times would come later, because the Argentines who settled in Uruguay, fleeing the persecutions of Peronism, expressed themselves freely and Argentina aspired to silence them. This generated a growing confrontation that would continue and even worsen over the years, to the point that after 1950, with Luis Batlle already in the National Government Council, there was practically a cutoff in the movement of people."