Former Uruguayan vice president Danilo Astori, one of the main figures of the Frente Amplio, died

Former Uruguayan vice president Danilo Astori, one of the main leaders of the Frente Amplio (FA), died today at the age of 83 due to the health complications which he suffered after a hip fracture that kept him hospitalized since the end of October.

“We want to communicate the saddest news. The beloved companion Danilo Astori has passed away. With reason and heart, always dear Danilo,” the Uruguay Assembly, the FA sector of which Astori was founder, published on the social network .

The former senator, who resigned from his seat at the end of last year due to health problems, had been hospitalized at the end of October for respiratory failure after a nondisplaced hip fractureAccording to his partner, Frente Amplio deputy Claudia Hugo, El Observador reported.

Goshawks He was twice Minister of Economy: during the first FA government, between 2005 and 2008, which led Tabaré Vázquez to the presidency, as well as in his second term, between 2015 and 2020.

Between 2010 and 2015 He was vice president of José Mujica, after having been his rival in the internal party.

The counter was one of the founders of the Frente Amplio in which it was a reference in economic issues and one of the representatives of the wing more of the center of the party.

It was -without a doubt- one of the most important figures of that political force, born in February 1971 and which in 2005 came to the Government for the first time at the hands of Tabaré.

Head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance since March 1 of that year, he faced that challenge “with great joy and a very great honor”, as he said in 2021.

The victory of José ‘Pepe’ Mujica in 2010 led Astori to the vice presidency of the country for another five years and the return of Vázquez in 2015 returned it to the Ministry until the arrival to power of Luis Lacalle Pou.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Frente Amplio and after spending fifteen years in the Government, Astori maintained that this political force It synthesizes “the hope” of achieving levels of economic, social and human development.

“I see the Frente Amplio as the fundamental political tool to change reality. My dream is for it to be an increasingly bigger and better party in terms of the quality of the politics it practices,” he said.

That force did not skimp on praise when in November 2022 Astori put an end to his work as senator of the Republic after more than two years without being able to go to the Chamber for a health problem.

A statement from the Political Table, titled “Danilo, forger of unity and fundamental pillar of the transformations of Uruguay”, maintains that the two-time minister was “one of the fundamental pillars” in the construction of half a century of party unity.

“And it is in that unity that we achieved the Government, with Danilo as a guarantee of stability, a fundamental pillar of 15 continuous years of economic growth with social justice that allowed us to reduce poverty, reduce inequality, increase salaries above inflation improving the quality of life of workers and retirees,” says the text.

Father of Danilo, Florencia, Francisco and Lucía Astori was also a prominent public accountant and economist, courses he studied at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of the Republic.

And from this it became in 1972 the youngest dean in history when he assumed at the age of 32 the position he held until 1973 and which he repeated in the period 1985-1989.

He was also named Honoris Causa Doctor from the National University of Santa Fe of Argentina and decorated by the Government of Chile with the Bernardo O’Higgins Order in the degree of Grand Cross.

Soccer fan like the vast majority of Uruguayans There were many times when Astori could be seen at the Centenario stadium and in the Gran Parque Central cheering on his Nacional.

A thread published in 2020 on the social network .

“I never wanted to join a board because I was always certain that I was going to lose what I love most, which is be a fan and be in the tribe a,” he said.

Immediately after the news broke, he was fired with messages on social networks by different political actors from the various parties who highlighted him as “a great public servant” and a “key protagonist” in recent history.

“And strong adversary. In life one has to have adversaries to respect, to agree, to discuss or to reaffirm ideas,” said President Luis Lacalle Pou, speaking at a meeting with representatives of municipal governments at the Government Headquarters, in which He sent greetings to the Frente Amplio and its “militancy.”

For his part, the mayor of Canelones and pre-candidate for the Presidency of the FA, Yamandú Orsi, described the deceased former vice president as a “companion of all hours”. “Thank you and see you always,” he wrote in X.