By Sofía Moure

José Mujica is considered one of the most progressive presidents in Latin America, even among his contemporaries in the “Patria Grande” (Great Homeland), a wave of leftist governments in the region.

During his government, laws were passed that were fundamental to individual rights, mainly the decriminalization of abortion, equal marriage, and the regulation of cannabis consumption.

In 2013, Uruguay was highlighted as the “country of the year” by The Economist magazine, mainly because of a series of reforms passed that year that it described as “path-breaking reforms that do not merely improve a single nation but, if emulated, might benefit the world.”

The country positioned itself at the international forefront of individual rights, and the eyes of the world were on its government, presided by the Frente Amplio’s “Pepe” Mujica.

Same-sex marriage and legalization of cannabis followed the decriminalization of abortion at a historic moment for Uruguayan society. In just a few months, the country saw its individual rights expanded, hand in hand with a collective struggle, a legislature that would pass into history, and a president who had promised not to veto laws approved by the parliament as long as they did not interfere with his plan of government.

Mujica’s inauguration in 2010 was Frente Amplio’s opportunity to advance an agenda that was more focused on social issues, since the leftist coalition’s main economic proposals had been achieved during the previous government of Tabaré Vázquez and Danilo Astori.

With a majority in both chambers and a government program more focused on education, housing, culture, human rights, and other social issues, civil society organizations took advantage of the moment to promote projects that, while not part of Frente Amplio’s campaign platform, were quickly adopted, endorsed, and even pushed by them, in the legislature and the executive alike.

Thus, in 2010, three key rights bills were presented: a sixth bill on legalizing abortion, which stated that “every adult woman has the right to decide to voluntarily interrupt her pregnancy during the first 12 weeks of gestation,” including elements that had been blocked by Vázquez; a text regulating home cultivation and medicinal use of cannabis, based on a project by Luis Lacalle Pou, who would later serve a term in office, but without increasing the penalties associated with illicit trafficking; and an initiative by the Ovejas Negras (Black Sheep) collective to modify the Civil Code’s definition of couples.

The Mujica government’s laws

Through his style of governing, Mujica opened the perfect space for parliamentary debate, including within the Frente Amplio. As leader of the Popular Participation Movement party, he did not impose discipline on his legislators. This proved to be both good and bad for the debate of bills to expand rights, since these found opposition within the coalition.

Modifications notwithstanding, these initiatives advanced in both houses, at different rhythms, and even had the direct backing of the Executive Power.

In that sense, the government’s proposal for a “regulated legalization of cannabis, with strong state control of production,” within its “Fifteen measures for life and coexistence,” published in June 2012, and the filing of a single-article bill about it in August of that year, ultimately became law 19.172. It passed on December 20, 2013, on the eve of an election year. The law was in line with the priorities of the Frente Amplio administration on tackling drug trafficking, in this case by creating a regulated cannabis market.

Law 18.987 on the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy — in force since October 22, 2012 — regulated and decriminalized abortion from a public health perspective, incorporating a series of requirements prior to a patient being granted access to the procedure.

Finally came the equal marriage law, which was written in two parts — in May and in August — due to errors in the first text which were corrected in the second. While some of the more progressive demands fell by the wayside, this nonetheless constituted an expansion of what existed before, and remains a world-class example to this day.

Originally published in Ámbito Uruguay