| Born in Montevideo, Oribe joined Jose Artigas in the fight for independence against Portuguese troops in 1816. When Artigas was defeated and Montevideo fell to the Portuguese in 1817 he served in different forces until 1825, when he landed in Uruguay as one of the so-called immortal 33. Subsequently he took part in the Cisplatine War (1825-28) when an Uruguayan-Argentinean alliance was gathered to expell Brazilians troops from the Uruguayan territory. Made minister of war in President Fructuoso Rivera's government, he succeeded him in 1835, but Rivera's ensuing revolt forced him to resign in 1838. This conflict and the following 11-year armed struggle between the two men shaped Oribe's Blanco and Rivera's Colorado parties, which have since dominated Uruguayan politics. With aid of Juan Manuel Rosas, Argentina's president, Oribe led an army into Uruguay in 1843 and began a 9-year unsuccessful siege of Montevideo. When Justo Jose Urquiza raised the flag of rebellion against Rosas in 1851, one of his first targets was Oribe's Blanco troops in Uruguay. Pressed by Urquiza's army coming from the west and Brazilian troops marching from the north, Oribe's forces yielded, the siege of Montevideo was lifted. Oribe returned to private life in 1851 without regaining office, but continued to influence Uruguayan affairs. |
|
