Luis Alberto Lacalle

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**Luis Alberto Lacalle**
Term of Office:	March 1, 1990— March 1, 1995
Predecessor:	Julio María Sanguinetti
Successor:	Julio María Sanguinetti
Vice-president:	Gonzalo Aguirre
Date of Birth:	July 13, 1941
Place of Birth:	Montevideo
Profession:	Lawyer
Political Party:	National Party (Uruguay)

Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera (July 13, 1941-) Born in Montevideo, Uruguay. President of Uruguay between 1990-1995.

Trained as a lawyer in the national university (Universidad de la Republica), and worked as a journalist since 1961.

Lacalle is married to María Julia Pou Brito del Pino (1946-). They have three children, Pilar, Luis Alberto, and Juan José.

Grandson of the historic Blanco leader, Luis Alberto de Herrera, he affiliated to the National Party at the age of 17. In 1971, he was elected as a Deputy for Montevideo. He occupied his position until the 1973 coup. When democracy was restored in 1984 he was elected as a Senator, and Senate's Vice-President. In 1989 he decided to run as presidential candidate for his faction, Herrerismo, and chose as his running-mate, Gonzalo Aguirre. In the subsequent elections in November 1989, he was elected President of Uruguay, and took office on March 1, 1990 for a five year-term.

During his rule, he encouraged a free market program and was a co-founder of the Mercosur, along with the presidents of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, which took effect in the Treaty of Asunción on 1991.

In 1992, support for his economic reforms suffered a heavy blow, when the people rejected a free-market related law in a referendum. It is widely believed that resentment against what many saw as the government's arrogance fueled this vote. In the 1994 national elections, he selected his Interior Minister, Juan Andrés Ramírez to be the presidential candidate of the Herrerismo faction. The National Party narrowly lost the elections.

In 1999, he won his Party's primary elections against Juan Andrés Ramírez (who had split from the Herrerismo) and several other candidates, and was a candidate for presidency again. However, a string of accusations about corruption in his government damaged his chances. Ramírez's departure from the Party was the icing of the cake, and Lacalle fell to third place with a meager 22.3% of the votes in the general elections.

Lacalle ran again for President in 2004, but the other Party leaders had gathered around a single opposing candidate, Jorge Larrañaga, who defeated him in the primaries by a 2 to 1 margin. Lacalle is now leader of his Nationalist sector, Herrerismo, and is part of the Party's Directorate.