Former Minister of the Interior of the government of Luis Alberto Lacalle Angel Maria Gianola died this thursday morning at age 95 due to a heart attackas reported to The Observer sources close to the leader.
Gianolalawyer and member of the herrerismo in the National Party, served as Minister of Industry and Labor from 1960 to 1963, as part of the first white collegiate, after several consecutive decades of supremacy of the Colorado Party. Then, joined Parliamentofficiating as senator between 1967 and 1973 -before the dictatorship began-, and finally succeeded Raúl Iturria as Lacalle’s second Minister of the Interior.
Although he only led the portfolio for a year, his name was inextricably linked to the repression he ordered in the Jacinto Vera neighborhood the day of the incidents at the Filter Hospital. That night of August 24, 1994, police and leftist groups clashed near the medical center when the government decided to extradite three members of the Basque terrorist organization ETA.
Jesus Maria Goitia, Mikel Ibáñez and Luis Lizarraldewho promptly won the support of the Broad Front (FA) and social organizations calling for their speedy release, began a hunger strike to ask Uruguay to grant them political asylum.
The strike began to make a dent in the Basques and for this reason they were admitted to the hospital located very close to the then headquarters of the Presidency in the Libertad building. As the detainees’ health deteriorated, the FA and the PIT-CNT increased pressure on the government to release them.
Around 8 p.m. on August 24, When the government was preparing to transfer the Basques to the Carrasco airport for their extradition, the police repressed the demonstrators through a joint operation by the Republican Guard, the Metropolitan Guard and various sections. The episode recorded several injuries and one deceased protester.
Years later, the Tupamaro leader Jorge Zabalza acknowledged that, along with other comrades, he waited in the vicinity of the Filter inside a van loaded with Molotov cocktails that were never used.
After the events, Gianola was questioned by the left but remained in office. There were no police officers arrested for the excesses in the repression.
During the presidency of the former white president, the leader promoted a bill so that the Republican Guard (cuirassiers and policemen on horseback) acquired a national character. At that time the idea had no support, but 19 years later, the then nationalist senator Jorge Larrañaga put it back on the table and finally the second FA government accepted it.
The recognition of the whites
The deputy Juan Martín Rodríguez described Gianola as a “great friend, a good white man and a better oriental“. He recalled that due to his insistence he became a soldier in the National Party and that he even gave him a book. “We have just been informed that Ángel Mª Gianola, a great friend, a good white man and a better Oriental, has passed away. Thanks to him, we started militancy, inviting us to a party meeting, back in June 1998. I share his last book, which he dedicated to us with such affection, “he wrote.
The Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, highlighted the “vast” career of the former minister, whom he defined as a “friend” and a “great person”. “But above all a good, honest person and an example to follow. We especially salute his family and friends. QEPD (may he rest in peace),” he said.
Sebastian Da Silva, Senator of the ruling party, also used their networks to fire Gianola, whom valued for his “courage and attachment to institutions”.
The same was done by the nationalist leader Martín Elgue, who described him as a comrade who “knew how to honor the responsibilities he was called upon to assume.”
