Yamandú Orsi

Yamandú Ramón Antonio Orsi Martínez (born 13 June 1967) is a Uruguayan politician who served as the 22nd and 24th intendant of the Canelones Department from 2015 to February 2020, and from November 2020 to 2024. A member of the Movement of Popular Participation, a constituent party of the Broad Front, he is a candidate in the front's primaries for president of Uruguay in the 2024 general election.

Graduated from the Instituto de Profesores Artigas in 1991 as a History teacher, he taught in different liceos (secondary schools) in the Canelones, Florida, and Maldonado Departments. He began to be a political militant during his adolescence, being part of the Vertiente Artiguista until 1990, when he joined the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP) that had been founded the previous year. In 2015 he was elected Intendant of Canelones, and in 2020 he was re-elected in the position.

Early life and education
Orsi was born in Canelones Department on 13 June 1967, and raised in a rural area between the towns of Santa Rosa and San Antonio. The son and second child of Pablo "Bebe" Orsi (1933–2018), a rural laborer of Italian descent whose ancestors arrived in Uruguay at the beginning of the 19th century, and Carmen "Beba" Martínez (died 2023), a seamstress of Spanish descent,  the family struggled financially during Orsi's early years and for a time lived in a house without electricity. At the age of five, he moved to the city of Canelones due to his father's spine disease, which prevented him from working in the fields. The family set up a grocery store there, where Orsi attended Primary School No. 110 and Liceo Tomás Berreta.

Raised in a Catholic family, he was an altar boy in the neighborhood chapel. In his adolescence, he practiced folk dance, and at the age of fifteen, he won a contest to be part of a municipal cast, which he integrated until he was 26. In turn, in his teens he became politically active, militating in the Vertiente Artiguista until 1990, when he joined the Movement of Popular Participation. He began by participating in a collection of signatures for the 1989 amnesty referendum on the Law on the Expiration of the Punitive Claims of the State.

In 1986, he began a degree in international relations at the University of the Republic, however, he dropped out after a month. Subsequently, he enrolled at the Artigas Teachers Institute in Montevideo to study for a teaching post in History in secondary education, graduating in 1991.

Political career
A member of the National Directorate of the MPP, Orsi has been part of the departmental executive commission of the Broad Front since July 2005. He served as Secretary General of the Municipality of Canelones during the two terms of government of Intendant Marcos Carámbula.

In early March 2015, he resigned to run for Intendant. His candidacy was supported by various sectors of the Broad Front, such as the MPP, the Communist Party, the Vertiente Artiguista, and Casa Grande. In the 2015 election, he was elected Intendant of the Canelones Department with 37% of the vote, being the candidate with the most votes from the party with the most votes, according to the Ley de Lemas system. He took office on 9 July 2015.

In October 2019, facing the second round of the general election, Orsi was appointed campaign manager for Broad Front nominee Daniel Martínez Villamil. On 7 February 2020, he resigned from the position of Intendant of Canelones, being succeeded by Tabaré Costa. However, he launched his campaign for re-election, and in the municipal election of that year, he was re-elected in office.

After the Broad Front's electoral defeat in the 2019 general election, Orsi began to be seen as a contender for the 2024 presidential primaries. On 19 March 2023, the MPP officially announced its support for his candidacy. He also received the support of the Vertiente Artiguista and other leftist sectors of the party.

On 9 December 2023, during the Broad Front Congress, Orsi's candidacy was made official, as well as that of Carolina Cosse, Mario Bergara and Andrés Lima.

Personal life
Orsi is married to Laura Alonso Pérez. They have twin children, Lucía and Victorio, born in 2012. He lives with his family in Salinas. Orsi is an avid football fan and supports Peñarol.