Manuel Flores Mora

Background and early career

A direct descendent of 19th century President Venancio Flores, Flores worked in his youth for a range of newspapers, including the daily Accion where he became political editor and later deputy editor; and he also wrote for the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha.

He is remembered as a member of the Generation of 45, a Uruguayan intellectual and literary movement: Carlos Maggi, Angel Rama, Emir Rodriguez Monegal, Idea Vilarino, Carlos Real de Azua, Carlos Martinez Moreno, Mario Arregui, Mauricio Muller, Jose Pedro Diaz, Amanda Berenguer, Tola Invernizzi, Mario Benedetti, Ida Vitale, Liber Falco, Juan Cunha, Juan Carlos Onetti, among others.

Political roles

He stood for election and in 1954 became a Deputy, serving three terms until rising to the post of Senator in 1966. A year later he was named Minister of Cattle Ranching and Agriculture in the cabinet of President Oscar Diego Gestido, a position he maintained into the presidency of Jorge Pacheco Areco until June 1968 when he left due to differences over security issues. He opposed Pacheco from the Senate until 1971 when he ran for the presidency and vice-presidency simultaneously, with Amilcar Vasconcellos as his running mate. Neither slate attracted sufficient support, however, and he subsequently lost his seat in the Senate.

After the coup d'etat of June 27, 1973, he became an active opponent of the new military regime. He joined the editorial board of El Dia and in the last years of the dictatorship wrote articles for the magazine Jaque (which he co-founded in 1983) denouncing the wide ranging abuses committed by the military in power.

Death

He died in 1984 in his 61st year, just as parliamentary democracy was returning to Uruguay.

He was married to Maria Zulema Silva Vila. His son, Manuel Flores Silva, took his seat in the new Senate. His daughter, Beatriz Flores Silva, is a film director.