Former Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez who has been suffering from lung cancer since last year is dead, report says.
He died on Saturday in Montevideo at the age of 80 after suffering from lung cancer, his son said in a tweet on Sunday.
The center-left politician and oncologist who was the president of Uruguay twice in 2005-2010 and 2015-2020 was diagnosed with cancer last year towards the end of his second term. The Broad Front party he belonged to ran the cattle-farming country of 3.4 million people for 15 years up until elections last year.
According to his son Alvaro Vazquez the former president died at their home in the presence of family and friends.
The former president’s son in a tweet thanked all Uruguayan for the love they have shown the late president
‘On behalf of the family, we want to thank all Uruguayans for the love received by him over so many years,’ he tweeted.
Vazquez is a son of a union leader who grew up in a working class district in the capital. He was popular with Uruguayans for a mix of pro-business economic policies and strong welfare programs which helped kick-start a decade of robust growth and slashed poverty after a deep crisis in the early 2000s.
He presided over the legalization of the state-controlled production, distribution and sale of cannabis. He interchanged terms with Jose Mujica since Uruguay’s constitution bans presidents from serving consecutive terms.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
