Peace Missions of Uruguay's Armed Forces -- The Importance of the Country's Political Transition

This paper analyzes Uruguay's involvement in peacekeeping missions and how they are linked to the political transition that the country is going through. In this paper, we will show how important this type of mission, in its various aspects, is for Uruguay, while, at the same time, we will also show the difficulties that the country is having in connection with the political management of national defense, due to the lack of conceptual definitions and clear rules regarding the limits and responsibilities of such political management, which provides the framework for the task and missions of military institutions. The leftist movement that took the reins of government in March 2005 has always advocated the need for a concrete formulation of national defense policy, legitimized by the political and social forces at work in the country. In this scenario, a national debate on defense has been undertaken, for the purpose of laying the foundation for establishing a national defense policy. However, since the defense policy is only now in the process of being formulated, the debate on the participation by Uruguayan armed forces in international missions has been premature in the current political scenario, causing splits within the governing coalition itself. From a political point of view, the mission in Haiti (Minustha), as a situation arising prior to the establishment of structural delineations now being formulated, has ended up causing conflicts that have impacted the national government in connection with matters of this sort. Adapted from the source document.