Founder of Tupamaro rebels, defence minister dies in Uruguay

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro, a founder of the Tupamaro rebels who went on to become Uruguay’s defence minister, died Friday at age 74, the government said.

A Uruguayan government communique said Fernandez Huidobro died from respiratory problems at the country’s military hospital.

Fernandez Huidobro was born in Montevideo in 1942. He was among the founders of the leftist Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, which fought against the government in the 1960s and early 1970s. The group inspired by the Cuban revolution was defeated by Uruguay’s defence forces in 1972.

Fernandez Huidobro was imprisoned from 1972-1985. A military government that seized power in a 1973 coup included him among nine inmates it threatened to kill if the rebels became active again. He was freed only after democracy returned to Uruguay and Parliament passed an amnesty for the guerrillas.

He went on to write books about the rebel group’s history.

Fernandez Huidobro was defence minister under his close friend former President Jose Mujica and in the current administration of President Tabare Vazquez.