Background
Gabriel Terra was born on 1 August 1873 in Montevideo.
Dictator lawyer politician teacher
Gabriel Terra was born on 1 August 1873 in Montevideo.
A teacher and lawyer. Terra became active in Colorado Party politics as a relatively young man. He served in the cabinets of Presidents Claudio Williman (1907-1911) and Baltasar Brum (1919-1923), and was minister to Italy. He also served for five years as a member of the National Council of Administration, which shared executive powers with the president of the republic during the 1920s.
In 1930 Gabriel Terra was the victorious Colorado Party candidate for president. Coming to power at the beginning of the Great Depression, he felt himself hampered by the split presidency established in the 1918 constitution. In 1933, with support of opposition Blanco Party leader Luis Alberto de Herrera, he carried out a coup with the backing of the national police, dissolving the National Council of Administration and Parliament, and suspending the 1918 constitution.
A new constitution reestablished the full power of the president and guaranteed the Blancos strong representation in Parliament and the cabinet. The convention which adopted that constitution elected Terra as president for the 1934-1938 period. During his “constitutional” period. Terra maintained a severe dictatorship. In 1938 he gave up his office to General Alfredo Baldomir, the Colorado Party candidate and his brother-in-law, who dismantled the Ierra dictatorship.