Background:
A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros, launched
in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to agree to military
control of his administration in 1973. By yearend, the rebels had
been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold
throughout the government. Civilian rule was not restored until
1985. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are among the freest
on the continent.