Topolansky, who is the president of the senate, is much more radical than her husband President José Mujica, another fellow former Tupamaro guerrilla. In a 28 April interview with the Argentine national news agency Télam she expressed her desire to have “at least one-third of officers and half of the troops” ideologically aligned with the FA. She said it was the only way to guarantee that there was “never again” a dictatorship: Mujica’s predecessor, Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010), created the “Día del nunca más” (never again day). Topolansky cited the 2002 coup in Venezuela, in which the support of “a handful of soldiers” was “decisive” in restoring President Hugo Chávez to power, as a sign of the importance of co-opting the armed forces to the party’s cause. “We need forces loyal to our project”, she said (see box overleaf).
Topolansky cited the appointment as commander of the army of General Pedro Aguerre, the son of an officer who was imprisoned for opposing the dictatorship, and chief of the defence staff, General Daniel Castellá, whose brother suffered a similar fate, as signs that the military was following “a distinct path”. She also maintained that “we put a young professor of history in the defence ministry to revise military training and modify everything”, by which she explained she meant to help transform the military to enshrine the notion of “nunca más”.
On 3 May the three commanders of the armed forces debated the significance of Topolansky’s remarks. Aguerre, according to the national daily El País, subsequently contacted Fernández Huidobro to express the unease of the armed forces over her remarks; the defence minister promptly released a short statement indicating unequivocally that he did not share Topolansky’s views. He said the promotions of Aguerre and Castellá were entirely down to professional merit and not familial connections. Fernández Huidobro also denied the existence of any such plan “either theoretical or practical” for the internal transformation of the armed forces to ensure its loyalty to the political project of the FA. He said Hernán Planchón had been director of military training in the defence ministry since March 2010 and “he is not carrying out what has been said”.
During a visit to Tacuarembó on 4 May, and before she knew of the defence ministry’s statement, Topolansky stuck by her words. She said that she wished that all of the armed forces were part of the FA coalition because “it is closest to the people and, in the concrete case of the troops, we have improved salaries a lot”. She added that while it was true that the military did not participate directly in politics, they could vote and therefore decide a national election.
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