# Baltasar Brum

Baltasar Brum Rodríguez, GCTE (18 June 1883 – 31 March 1933) was a Uruguayan political figure. He was President of Uruguay from 1919 to 1923.

## Background

Brum was born in the Department of Artigas near the city of Salto, where he began his education. For his higher studies he passed on to the University of Montevideo where he read law. A student at the Osimani y Llerena Polytechnic Institute, Brum graduated as a lawyer in 1909 and returned to Salto where he set up his law firm. He was also a member of the Economic-Administrative Board, a Professor and Minister and Diplomat. He was also an ardent defender of women's rights and inaugurated the Artigas Monument in Plaza Independencia. Brum was a great promoter of student participation and representation in the areas of co-government, and was editor of the newspaper “Evolución,” of the Association of Students. In 1916 he was appointed chancellor of the Republic in 1916, being the promoter of what became known as the Organization of American States (OAS). Brum's political career started in the municipality of Salto, and José Batlle y Ordóñez had learned of him through a famous controversy held at the Larrañaga Theater with a nationalist journalist, Luis Alberto Thévenet.
His political convictions closely followed those of liberal President José Batlle y Ordóñez, under whom Brum served as Education Minister 1913–1915. He was Interior Minister from 1915 to 1916. Over a period of over five years he worked from the Ministries of Public Instruction, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Finance. During his time as a minister Brum was responsible for reforms including the extension of free education to secondary education and the setting up of a network of popular libraries. Brum also proposed a law condemning pimping, which marked, as noted by one observer, "a turning point in the treatment of this painful exploitation, which had worsened during those years, with the arrival to the country, mainly from Argentina, of dark organizations."
Brum subsequently served as Foreign Minister under the Presidency of Feliciano Viera; in the latter capacity, Brum was noted for promoting good relations with the United States, which had joined World War I against Germany in 1917.During his time as Foreign Minister Brum two visits abroad. The first was at the head of the Mission to Brazil to return the visit made by a Brazilian Minister, Dr. Lauro Muller, while the second was at the special invitation of Woodrow Wilson to the United States in the Uruguayan cruiser 'Montevideo.' Brum also negotiated, as noted by one study, "a number of treaties, including one with the United States, two with Germany, four with Paraguay, four with Belgium, one with Chile, one with Japan, one with Argentina, four with France, two with England, four with Russia, four with Sweden, four with Switzerland, four with Norway, four with Holland, four with Austria-Hungary, and one with Italy." He also arranged with Brazil an unrestricted treaty of arbitration, and also issued a decree to secure the non-belligerent position for Uruguay in case of war between countries of other continents.
While serving in Foreign Affairs, Brum was (according to one observer) "a fundamental figure in the internationalist vision of a Party that, like Colorado, always looked towards the world. His Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with Juan Antonio Buero, marked a time in the course of the country, which after years of British hegemony was approaching the United States, where Wilson had left behind the "stick" diplomacy and began a time of multilateralism. In line with Batlle's proposal in 1907 in The Hague in favor of compulsory arbitration for the resolution of international conflicts, Brum developed its application in the bilateral agreements that were signed, the first with Italy and then with other countries. In the great conflagrations, it also marked an unequivocal line of democratic solidarity. Given Germany's announcement of submarine war, in the 1st. World War, Uruguay -Brum Minister- protests because "it violates indisputable rights of neutrals and offends humanity." When the US finally breaks relations with Germany, Brum himself sends a message of solidarity, saying that although he maintains his neutrality, because he does not act as a belligerent, he recognizes "the justice and nobility of the feelings that in this emergency have guided the President Wilson. A concept is coined that will later reach the 2nd. World War: we are neutral because we do not participate in hostilities, but "we are neither indifferent nor impartial." "