title: Las Vegas

text: The city of Las Vegas government operates as a council–manager government. The Mayor sits as a Council member-at-large and presides over all of the city council meetings. If the Mayor cannot preside over a City Council meeting, then the Mayor Pro-Tem is the presiding officer of the meeting until the Mayor returns to his/her seat. The City Manager is responsible for the administration and the day-to-day operations of all municipal services and city departments. The City Manager maintains intergovernmental relationships with federal, state, county and other local governments.


title: Las Vegas

text: Much of the Las Vegas metropolitan area is split into neighboring incorporated cities or unincorporated communities. Approximately 700,000 people live in unincorporated areas governed by Clark County, and another 465,000 live in incorporated cities such as North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City. Las Vegas and Clark County share a police department, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which was formed after a 1973 merger of the Las Vegas Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff's Department. North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and some colleges have their own police departments.


title: Las Vegas

text: Las Vegas, home to the Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse and the Regional Justice Center, draws numerous companies providing bail, marriage, divorce, tax, incorporation and other legal services.


title: Las Vegas

text: Primary and secondary public education is provided by the Clark County School District, which is the fifth most populous school district in the nation. Students totaled 314,653 in grades K-12 for school year 2013–2014.


title: Las Vegas

text: The College of Southern Nevada (the third largest community college in the United States by enrollment) is the main higher education facility in the city. Other institutions include the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and the for-profit private school Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. Educational opportunities exist around the city; among them are the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Nevada State College run by the Nevada System of Higher Education, Desert Research Institute, The International Academy of Design & Technology Las Vegas and Touro University Nevada.


title: Las Vegas

text: Las Vegas is served by 22 television stations and 46 radio stations. The area is also served by two NOAA Weather Radio transmitters (162.55 MHz located in Boulder City and 162.40 MHz located on Potosi Mountain).


title: Las Vegas

text: RTC Transit is a public transportation system providing bus service throughout Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and other areas of the valley. Inter-city bus service to and from Las Vegas is provided by Greyhound, BoltBus, Orange Belt Stages, Tufesa, and several smaller carriers. Amtrak trains have not served Las Vegas since the service via the "Desert Wind" at Las Vegas station ceased in 1997, but Amtrak California operates Thruway Motorcoach dedicated service between the city and its passenger rail stations in Bakersfield, California, as well as Los Angeles Union Station via Barstow.


title: Las Vegas

text: The Las Vegas Monorail on the Strip was privately built, and upon bankruptcy taken over by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.


title: Las Vegas

text: Silver Rider Transit operates three routes within Las Vegas, offering connections to Laughlin, Mesquite, and Sandy Valley


title: Las Vegas

text: The Union Pacific Railroad is the only Class I railroad providing rail freight service to the city. Until 1997, the Amtrak "Desert Wind" train service ran through Las Vegas using the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.


title: Las Vegas

text: In March 2010, the RTC launched bus rapid transit link in Las Vegas called the "Strip & Downtown Express" with limited stops and frequent service that connects downtown Las Vegas, the Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center. Shortly after the launch, the RTC dropped the "ACE" name.


title: Las Vegas

text: In 2016, 77.1 percent of working Las Vegas residents (those living in the city, but not necessarily working in the city) commuted by driving alone. About 11 percent commuted via carpool, 3.9 percent used public transportation, and 1.4 percent walked. About 2.3 percent of Las Vegas commuters used all other forms of transportation, including taxi, bicycle, and motorcycle. About 4.3% of working Las Vegas residents worked at home. In 2015, 10.2 percent of city of Las Vegas households were without a car, which increased slightly to 10.5 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Las Vegas averaged 1.63 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8 per household.


title: Las Vegas

text: With some exceptions, including Las Vegas Boulevard, Boulder Highway (SR 582) and Rancho Drive (SR 599), the majority of surface streets in Las Vegas are laid out in a grid along Public Land Survey System section lines. Many are maintained by the Nevada Department of Transportation as state highways. The street numbering system is divided by the following streets:


title: Las Vegas

text: Interstates 15, 515, and US 95 lead out of the city in four directions. Two major freeways – Interstate 15 and Interstate 515/U.S. Route 95 – cross in downtown Las Vegas. I-15 connects Las Vegas to Los Angeles, and heads northeast to and beyond Salt Lake City. I-515 goes southeast to Henderson, beyond which US 93 continues over the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge towards Phoenix, Arizona. US 95 connects the city to northwestern Nevada, including Carson City and Reno. US 93 splits from I-15 northeast of Las Vegas and goes north through the eastern part of the state, serving Ely and Wells. US 95 heads south from US 93 near Henderson through far eastern California. A partial beltway has been built, consisting of Interstate 215 on the south and Clark County 215 on the west and north. Other radial routes include Blue Diamond Road (SR 160) to Pahrump and Lake Mead Boulevard (SR 147) to Lake Mead.


title: Las Vegas

text: Harry Reid International Airport handles international and domestic flights into the Las Vegas Valley. The airport also serves private aircraft and freight/cargo flights. Most general aviation traffic uses the smaller North Las Vegas Airport and Henderson Executive Airport.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall began appearing in theater in the early 1950s, moving into television and film roles during the early 1960s, playing Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) and appearing in "Captain Newman, M.D." (1963), as Major Frank Burns in the blockbuster comedy "M*A*S*H" (1970) and the lead role in "THX 1138" (1971), as well as Horton Foote's adaptation of William Faulkner's "Tomorrow" (1972), which was developed at The Actors Studio and is his personal favorite. This was followed by a series of critically lauded performances in commercially successful films. In 1984 Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Tender Mercies".


title: Robert Duvall

text: Throughout his career he has starred in numerous films and television series, including "The Twilight Zone" (1963), "The Outer Limits" (1964), "The F.B.I." (1966), "Bullitt" (1968), "True Grit" (1969), "Joe Kidd" (1972), "The Godfather" (1972), "The Godfather Part II" (1974), "The Conversation" (1974), "Network" (1976), "Apocalypse Now" (1979), "The Great Santini" (1979), "The Natural" (1984), "Colors" (1988), "Lonesome Dove" (1989), "The Handmaid's Tale" (1990), "Days of Thunder" (1990), "Rambling Rose" (1991), "Falling Down" (1993), A Family Thing (1996), "Secondhand Lions" (2003), "The Judge" (2014), and "Widows" (2018).


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall was born January 5, 1931, in San Diego, California, to Mildred Virginia Duvall (; 1901–1985), an amateur actress, and Admiral William Howard Duvall (1904–1984), a Virginia-born United States Navy rear admiral. The second of three sons, he has an elder brother, William Jr. and a younger brother, John (1934–2000), who was an entertainment lawyer. His mother was a relative of American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, and a member of the Lee Family of Virginia, while his father was a descendant of settler Mareen Duvall. Duvall was raised in the Christian Science religion and has stated that, while it is his belief, he does not attend church. He grew up primarily in Annapolis, Maryland, site of the United States Naval Academy. He recalled: "I was a Navy brat. My father started at the Academy when he was 16, made captain at 39 and retired as a rear admiral." He attended Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland, and The Principia in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, in 1953.


title: Robert Duvall

text: His father had expected him to attend the Naval Academy, but Duvall said "I was terrible at everything but acting—I could barely get through school". He again defied his father by serving in the United States Army after the Korean War (from August 19, 1953, to August 20, 1954) leaving the Army as private first class. "That's led to some confusion in the press," he explained in 1984, "Some stories have me shooting it out with the Commies from a foxhole over in Frozen Chosin. Pork Chop Hill stuff. Hell, I barely qualified with the M-1 rifle in basic training". While stationed at Camp Gordon (later renamed Fort Gordon) in Georgia, Duvall acted in an amateur production of the comedy "Room Service" in nearby Augusta, Georgia.


title: Robert Duvall

text: In the winter of 1955, Duvall attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City, under Sanford Meisner, on the G.I. Bill. During his two years there, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan were among his classmates. While studying acting, he worked as a Manhattan post office clerk. Duvall remains friends today with fellow California-born actors Hoffman and Hackman, whom he knew during their years as struggling actors. In 1955, Duvall roomed with Hoffman in a New York City apartment while they were studying together at the Playhouse. Around this time, he also roomed with Hackman, while working odd jobs such as clerking at Macy's, sorting mail at the post office, and driving a truck.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall began his professional acting career with the Gateway Playhouse, an Equity summer theater based in Bellport, Long Island, New York. Arguably his stage debut was in its 1952 season when he played the Pilot in "Laughter In The Stars", an adaptation of "The Little Prince", at what was then the Gateway Theatre.


title: Robert Duvall

text: After a year's absence when he was with the U.S. Army (1953–1954), he returned to Gateway in its 1955 summer season, playing: Eddie Davis in Ronald Alexander's "Time Out For Ginger" (July 1955), Hal Carter in William Inge's "Picnic" (July 1955), Charles Wilder in John Willard's "The Cat And The Canary" (August 1955), Parris in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" (August 1955), and John the Witchboy in William Berney and Howard Richardson's "Dark of the Moon" (September 1955). The playbill of "Dark of the Moon" indicated that he had portrayed the Witchboy before and that he will "repeat his famous portrayal" of this character for the 1955 season's revival of this play. For Gateway's 1956 season (his third season with the Gateway Players), he played the role of Max Halliday in Frederick Knott's "Dial M for Murder" (July 1956), Virgil Blessing in Inge's "Bus Stop" (August 1956), and Clive Mortimer in John van Druten's "I Am a Camera" (August 1956). The playbills for the 1956 season described him as "an audience favorite" in the last season and as having "appeared at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and studied acting with Sandy Meisner this past winter".


title: Robert Duvall

text: In its 1957 season, he appeared as Mr. Mayher in Agatha Christie's "Witness For The Prosecution" (July 1957), as Hector in Jean Anouilh's "Thieves' Carnivall" (July 1957), and the role which he once described as the "catalyst of his career": Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge" (from July 30 to August 3, 1957, and directed by Ulu Grosbard, who was by then a regular director at the Gateway Theatre). Miller himself attended one of Duvall's performances as Eddie, and during that performance he met important people which allowed him, in two months, to land a "spectacular lead" in the "Naked City" television series.


title: Robert Duvall

text: While appearing at the Gateway Theatre in the second half of the 1950s, he was also appearing at the Augusta Civic Theatre, the McLean Theatre in Virginia and the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. The 1957 playbills also described him as "a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse" (indicating that he had completed his studies there by the summer of 1957), "a member of Sanford Meisner's professional workshop" and as having worked with Alvin Epstein, a mime and a member of Marcel Marceau's company. By this time (also July 1957), his theatrical credits included performances as Jimmy in "The Rainmaker" and as Harvey Weems in Horton Foote's "The Midnight Caller". Already receiving top-billing at the Gateway Playhouse, in the 1959 season, he appeared in lead roles as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" (July–August 1959), Maxwell Archer in "Once More with Feeling", Igor Romanoff in Peter Ustinov's "Romanoff and Juliet", and Joe Mancuso in Kyle Crichton's "The Happiest Millionaire" (all in August 1959).


title: Robert Duvall

text: At the Neighborhood Playhouse, Meisner cast him in Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real" and the title role of Harvey Weems in Foote's one-act play "The Midnight Caller". The latter was already part of Duvall's performance credits by mid-July 1957.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall made his off-Broadway debut at the Gate Theater as Frank Gardner in George Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession" on June 25, 1958. This play closed three days later (June 28) after five performances. His other early off-Broadway credits include the role of Doug in the premiere of Michael Shurtleff's "Call Me By My Rightful Name" on January 31, 1961, at One Sheridan Square and the role of Bob Smith in the premiere of William Snyder's "The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker" on September 17, 1962, until June 9, 1963, at the Sheridan Square Playhouse. His most notable off-Broadway performance, for which he won an Obie Award in 1965 and which he considers his "Othello", was as Eddie Carbone (again) in Miller's "A View From the Bridge" at the Sheridan Square Playhouse from January 28, 1965, to December 11, 1966. It was directed again by Ulu Grosbard with Dustin Hoffman. On February 2, 1966, he made his Broadway debut as Harry Roat, Jr in Frederick Knott's "Wait Until Dark" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. This played at the Shubert Theatre and George Abbott Theatre and closed on December 31, 1966, at the Music Box Theatre. His other Broadway performance was as Walter Cole in David Mamet's "American Buffalo", which opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on February 16, 1977, and closed at the Belasco Theatre on June 11, 1977.


title: Robert Duvall

text: In 1959, Duvall made his first television appearance on "Armstrong Circle Theater" in the episode "The Jailbreak". He appeared regularly on television as a guest actor during the 1960s, often in action, suspense, detective, or crime dramas. His appearances during this time include performances on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Naked City", "The Untouchables", "Route 66", "The Twilight Zone", "Combat!", "The Outer Limits", "The Fugitive", "T.H.E. Cat", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "The Time Tunnel", "The F.B.I.", and "The Mod Squad".


title: Robert Duvall

text: His film debut was as Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962). He was cast in the film on the recommendation of screenwriter Horton Foote, who met Duvall at Neighborhood Playhouse during a 1957 production of Foote's play, "The Midnight Caller". Foote, who collaborated with Duvall many more times over the course of their careers, said he believed Duvall had a particular love of common people and ability to infuse fascinating revelations into his roles. Foote has described Duvall as "our number one actor."


title: Robert Duvall

text: After "To Kill a Mockingbird", Duvall appeared in a number of films during the 1960s, mostly in midsized parts, but also in a few larger supporting roles. Some of his more notable appearances include the role of Capt. Paul Cabot Winston in "Captain Newman, M.D." (1963), Chiz in "Countdown" (1968), and Gordon in "The Rain People". Duvall had a small part as a cab driver who ferries McQueen around just before the chase scene in the film "Bullitt" (1968). He was the notorious malefactor "Lucky" Ned Pepper in "True Grit" (1969), in which he engaged in a climactic shootout with John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn on horseback.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall became an important presence in American films beginning in the 1970s. He drew a considerable amount of attention in 1970 for his portrayal of the malevolent Major Frank Burns in the film "MASH" and for his portrayal of the title role in "THX 1138" in 1971 where he plays a fugitive trying to escape a society controlled by robots. His first major critical success came portraying Tom Hagen in "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974), the 1972 film earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1976, Duvall played supporting roles in "The Eagle Has Landed", and as Dr. Watson in "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" with Nicol Williamson, Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave and Laurence Olivier.


title: Robert Duvall

text: By the mid-1970s Duvall was a top character actor; "People" described him as "Hollywood's No. 1 No. 2 lead". Duvall received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and won both a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for his role as Lt. Colonel Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now" (1979). His line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" from "Apocalypse Now" is regarded as iconic in cinema history. The full text is:


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall received a BAFTA Award nomination for his portrayal of detestable television executive Frank Hackett in the critically acclaimed film "Network" (1976) and garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in "The Great Santini" (1979) as the hard-boiled Marine Lt. Col. "Bull" Meechum. The latter role was based on a Marine aviator, Colonel Donald Conroy, the father of the book's author Pat Conroy. He also co-starred with Laurence Olivier and Tommy Lee Jones in "The Betsy" (1978) and portrayed United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the television miniseries "Ike" (1979).


title: Robert Duvall

text: Francis Ford Coppola praised Duvall as "one of the four or five best actors in the world". Wanting top billing in films, in 1977 Duvall returned to Broadway to appear as Walter Cole in David Mamet's "American Buffalo", stating "I hope this will get me better film roles". He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall continued appearing in films during the 1980s, including the roles of disillusioned sportswriter Max Mercy in "The Natural" (1984) and Los Angeles police officer Bob Hodges in "Colors" (1988). He won an Oscar for Best Actor as country western singer Mac Sledge in "Tender Mercies" (1983). Duvall did his own singing, insisting it be added to his contract that he sing the songs himself; Duvall said, "What's the point if you're not going to do your own [singing]? They're just going to dub somebody else? I mean, there's no point to that."


title: Robert Duvall

text: Actress Tess Harper, who co-starred, said Duvall inhabited the character so fully that she only got to know Mac Sledge and not Duvall himself. Director Bruce Beresford, too, said the transformation was so believable to him that he could feel his skin crawling up the back of his neck the first day of filming with Duvall. Beresford said of the actor, "Duvall has the ability to completely inhabit the person he's acting. He totally and utterly becomes that person to a degree which is uncanny." Nevertheless, Duvall and Beresford did not get along well during the production and often clashed during filming, including one day in which Beresford walked off the set in frustration.


title: Robert Duvall

text: In 1989, Duvall appeared in the miniseries "Lonesome Dove" in the role of Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, Texas Rangers (retired). He has considered this particular role to be his personal favorite. He won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy Award nomination. For his role as a former Texas Ranger peace officer, Duvall was trained in the use of Walker revolvers by the Texas marksman Joe Bowman.


title: Robert Duvall

text: For "The Godfather Part III" (1990), Duvall declined the part, unless he was paid a salary comparable to Al Pacino's. In 2004, Duvall said on "60 Minutes", "if they paid Pacino twice what they paid me, that's fine, but not three or four times, which is what they did." In 1992, Duvall founded the production company Butcher's Run Films. Duvall has maintained a busy film career, sometimes appearing in as many as four in one year. He received Oscar nominations for his portrayals of evangelical preacher Euliss "Sonny" Dewey in "The Apostle" (1997)—a film he also wrote and directed—and played lawyer Jerome Facher in "A Civil Action" (1998).


title: Robert Duvall

text: He directed "Assassination Tango" (2002), a thriller about one of his favorite hobbies, tango. He portrayed General Robert E. Lee in "Gods and Generals" in 2003.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Other roles during this period that displayed the actor's wide range included that of a crew chief in "Days of Thunder" (1990), a retiring cop in "Falling Down" (1993), a Hispanic barber in "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway" (1993), a New York tabloid editor in "The Paper" (1994), a rural doctor in "Phenomenon" (1996), a father who owns a jumper horse farm in "Something to Talk About" (1995), an abusive father in 1996's "Sling Blade", an astronaut in "Deep Impact" (1998), a mechanic in "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000), a soccer coach in "A Shot at Glory", a scientist in "The 6th Day" (2000), a police officer in "John Q." (2002), a trail boss in "Open Range" (2003), another soccer coach in the comedy "Kicking & Screaming", an old free spirit in "Secondhand Lions" (2003), a Las Vegas poker champion in "Lucky You", and a New York police chief in "We Own the Night" (both 2007).


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall has periodically worked in television from the 1990s on. He won a Golden Globe Award and garnered an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in the 1992 television film "Stalin". He was nominated for an Emmy again in 1997 for portraying Adolf Eichmann in "The Man Who Captured Eichmann". In 2006, he won an Emmy for the role of Prentice "Print" Ritter in the revisionist Western miniseries "Broken Trail".


title: Robert Duvall

text: In 2005, Duvall was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush at the White House. In 2014, he starred in "The Judge" alongside Robert Downey Jr. While the movie itself received mixed reviews, Duvall's performance was praised. He was nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Academy Award for his supporting role. In 2015, at age 84, Duvall became the oldest actor ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film "The Judge", a record that has since been surpassed by Christopher Plummer.


title: Robert Duvall

text: In 2018, he appeared in the Steve McQueen directed heist thriller "Widows" as a corrupt power broker. The film earned critical acclaim. In 2021, he was interviewed by Stephen Colbert for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" where he discussed his film career, living with Dustin Hoffman, his role in "Network", and his acting techniques.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall has been married four times but does not have any children. "I guess I’m shooting blanks," he said in 2007. He has said, "[I’ve tried] with a lot of different women, in and out of marriage." Duvall met his first wife, Barbara Benjamin, a former announcer and dancer on "The Jackie Gleason Show", during the shooting of "To Kill a Mockingbird". She had also appeared in "Guys and Dolls" (1955) and "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1963) using the name Barbara Brent. She had two daughters from her previous marriage. The couple were married from 1964 until 1975. His second wife was Gail Youngs, to whom he was married from 1982 to 1986. His marriage to Youngs temporarily made him the brother-in-law of John Savage, Robin Young, and Jim Youngs. His third marriage was to Sharon Brophy, a dancer, from 1991 to 1995.


title: Robert Duvall

text: In 2005, Duvall married his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of Argentine aviation pioneer Susana Ferrari Billinghurst. He met Pedraza in Argentina, recalling, "The flower shop was closed, so I went to the bakery. If the flower shop had been open, I never would've met her." They were both born on January 5, but Duvall is 41 years older. They have been together since 1997. He produced, directed, and acted with her in "Assassination Tango", with the majority of filming in Buenos Aires. Duvall is also known as a very skilled Argentine tango dancer, having a tango studio in Argentina and in the United States.


title: Robert Duvall

text: Duvall's political views are variously described as libertarian or conservative. He was personally invited to Republican President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001. In September 2007, he announced his support for Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Duvall worked the floor at the GOP's 2008 national convention. In September 2008, he appeared onstage at a John McCain–Sarah Palin rally in New Mexico, and he endorsed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. However, in 2014, Duvall said in an interview he had become an independent.


title: Robert Duvall

text: In 2001, Pedraza and Duvall founded the Robert Duvall Children's Fund to assist families in Northern Argentina through renovations of homes, schools, and medical facilities. Duvall and Pedraza have been active supporters of Pro Mujer, a nonprofit charity organization dedicated to helping Latin America's poorest women (with Duvall and Pedraza concentrating on Pedraza's home in the Argentine Northwest).


title: Robert Duvall

text: In May 2009, Duvall spoke for historic preservation against Walmart's proposal to build a store across the road from the entrance to the Wilderness Battlefield national park in Orange County, Virginia. In 2011, he appeared at the Texas Children's Cancer Center charity event, "An Evening with a Texas Legend", in Houston, where he was interviewed by Bob Schieffer.


title: Eva Green

text: Eva Gaëlle Green (, ; born ) is a French actress and model. The daughter of actress Marlène Jobert, she began her career in theatre before making her film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" (2003). She achieved international recognition for her portrayal of Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem in Ridley Scott's historical epic "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005). The following year, she played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film "Casino Royale" (2006), for which she received the BAFTA Rising Star Award.


title: Eva Green

text: Green has since starred in numerous independent films, including "Cracks" (2009), "Womb" (2010), and "Perfect Sense" (2011). In 2014, she played Artemisia in the "300" sequel, "", and Ava Lord in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's "Sin City" sequel, "". Green is also known for her collaborations with director Tim Burton, starring as Angelique Bouchard in the horror comedy film "Dark Shadows" (2012), Miss Alma Peregrine in the fantasy film "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" (2016), and Colette Marchant in the fantasy film "Dumbo" (2019). For her role as an astronaut mother in the drama film "Proxima" (2019), she earned a nomination for the César Award for Best Actress.


title: Eva Green

text: Green starred as Morgan Pendragon in the Starz historical fantasy series "Camelot" (2011). She also starred as Vanessa Ives in the Showtime horror drama series "Penny Dreadful" (2014–2016), earning critical acclaim and a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.


title: Eva Green

text: Eva Gaëlle Green was born two minutes earlier than her fraternal twin sister, Joy, on 6 July 1980. She is the daughter of Marlène Jobert, an actress and author, and Walter Green, a dental surgeon and occasional actor ("Au Hasard Balthazar" directed by Robert Bresson). Her father is of Breton and Swedish descent; through him, she is the great-granddaughter of composer Paul Le Flem.


title: Eva Green

text: Green is of Jewish descent through her Algerian-born mother, who is of Sephardic Jewish (Algerian-Jewish) and Pied-Noir descent. Green has described herself as "a secular Jew who never attended synagogue as a girl" and feels "like a citizen of the world". She has described her family as "bourgeois" and has said that her sister is very different from her. Green is naturally dark blonde; she has dyed her hair brown since she was 15 years old. She is the niece of actress Marika Green and the maternal first cousin of singer Elsa Lunghini and actress Joséphine Jobert. The surname "Green" ; is Swedish. It does not originate from the English word "green", which is "grön" in Swedish. "Green" is derived from the Swedish word "gren", which means "tree branch".


title: Eva Green

text: Green was raised in France and attended the American University of Paris, an English-speaking institution. She also spent time between London and Ireland growing up. She was quiet in school, and developed an interest in Egyptology when she visited the Louvre at age seven. At age 14, after seeing Isabelle Adjani in "The Story of Adele H.", Green decided to become an actress. Her mother initially feared that an acting career would be too much for her sensitive daughter, but later came to support her ambitions. Green continued her studies at Cours Eva Saint Paul in Paris, and took an acting course at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After that, Green returned to Paris, where she performed in several plays. Green stated that when she was in drama school, she "always picked the really evil roles" because "it's a great way to deal with your everyday emotions".


title: Eva Green

text: Green appeared on stage in "Jalousie en Trois Fax" (2001) for which she was nominated for a Molière Award. She also appeared in "Turcaret" (2002).


title: Eva Green

text: In 2002, Green had her film debut, when director Bernardo Bertolucci cast her for the role of Isabelle in "The Dreamers" (2003), which involved her in extensive full frontal nude scenes and rear nude scenes as well as graphic sex scenes. Green told "The Guardian" that her agent and her parents begged her not to take the role, concerned that the film would cause her career to "have the same destiny as Maria Schneider", because of Schneider's traumatic experience during the filming of Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris". Green said that with Bertolucci's guidance she felt comfortable during the filming of the nude and sex scenes but was embarrassed when her family saw the film. Her performance was well-received, and some compared her to Liv Tyler. Green expressed surprise when a minute was cut from the film for the American market, stating, "[T]here is so much violence, both on the streets and on the screen. They think nothing of it. Yet I think they are frightened by sex." Her next film was "Arsène Lupin" (2004), in which she portrayed Lupin's love interest. She enjoyed the light-hearted role, although she has stated that she generally prefers more complex characters.


title: Eva Green

text: Her performance in "The Dreamers" led Ridley Scott to cast Green in "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005), a film about the Crusades where she played Sibylla, Princess of Jerusalem. Green performed six screen tests and was hired only a week before principal photography began. Green found the atmosphere of coming onto a film so late tense and exciting, and she liked the film's ambiguity in approaching its subject matter. To her disappointment, much of her screen time was cut. Stephanie Zacharek of "Salon.com" praised her performance: "She doesn't quite know what to do with her character's stilted dialogue, but she carries herself so regally that you barely notice." Nev Pierce of the BBC, however, called her character "limp". Green was satisfied when her character's complex subplot was restored in the director's cut. "Total Film" said the new scenes completed her performance: "In the theatrical cut, Princess Sibylla sleeps with Balian and then, more or less, loses her mind. Now we understand why. Not only does Sibylla have a young son, but when she realizes he's afflicted with leprosy just like her brother Baldwin, she decides to take his life shortly after he's been crowned king."


title: Eva Green

text: Green was considered for roles in "The Constant Gardener" (a role that went to Rachel Weisz) and "The Black Dahlia". She was cast at the last minute for the role of Vesper Lynd in the 2006 "James Bond" film "Casino Royale". Green was approached in mid-2005 but turned it down. Principal photography was already underway, and director Martin Campbell said casting the role was difficult because "we didn't have the final script and a Bond girl always had the connotation of tits 'n' ass." Campbell saw Green's performance in the director's cut of "Kingdom of Heaven", and approached Green again. She read the script, and found the character of Vesper far deeper than most Bond girls. Green's performance was well received: "Entertainment Weekly" called her the fourth-best Bond girl of all time; IGN named her the best "femme fatale", stating, "This is the girl that broke – and therefore made – James Bond"; and she won a BAFTA and an "Empire" award for her performance. Both awards were voted for by the British public.


title: Eva Green

text: Green portrayed the witch Serafina Pekkala in the 2007 film adaptation of "The Golden Compass". Green hoped the religious themes of the book would be preserved, but references to Catholicism were removed from the film. Green next appeared in "Franklyn", as the tormented artist Emilia, (who Green compared to real-life figures Sophie Calle and Tracey Emin) and the mysterious Sally, who she described as, "full of life, very witty, big sense of humor". She also filmed "Cracks", the directorial debut of Jordan Scott, Ridley Scott's daughter, where she plays a teacher at a girls' school named Miss G, who falls in love with one of her pupils. In March 2009, she appeared in "Womb", where she plays a woman who clones her dead boyfriend. It is a collaboration between actor Matt Smith and director Benedek Fliegauf.


title: Eva Green

text: She was considered for the role eventually played by Cécile de France in "Un Secret" (2007). Additionally, she was initially approached for the female lead in Lars von Trier's controversial film "Antichrist" (2009). According to Trier, Green was positive about appearing in the film, but her agents refused to allow her. The unsuccessful casting attempt took two months of the film's pre-production process. Anglo-French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg was subsequently cast in the role. Green later said that she got along well with Trier, "but then we started talking about nudity and sex and so on. It got a bit too far ... It was my dream to work with him, but it's a shame it was on that film that it nearly happened. I'm sure I would have been trashed doing that film".


title: Eva Green

text: In 2011, Green signed with United Talent Agency in the US, remaining represented by Tavistock Wood in the UK. Green then starred in the first season of Starz's series, "Camelot", as the sorceress Morgan le Fay. Green stated, "This is such an iconic story and you have 10 episodes to explore a character. It's not a girlfriend role that you could have in a movie. It's a real ballsy character. She has some guts." In 2012, Green played a vengeful witch Angelique Bouchard whose curse turns Johnny Depp's character into a vampire in Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows".


title: Eva Green

text: In 2014, she played Artemisia in the "300" sequel, "" for which she received excellent reviews. Rafer Guzman in his "Newsday" review stated, "The one bright spot is Eva Green as Xerxes' machinator, Artemesia, a raccoon-eyed warrior princess... Green plays a snarling, insatiable, self-hating femme fatale and completely steals the show." Stephanie Zacharek writing for "The Village Voice" exclaimed, ""Rise of an Empire" might have been essentially more of the same, but for one distinction that makes it 300 times better than its predecessor: Mere mortals of Athens, Sparta, and every city from Mumbai to Minneapolis, behold the magnificent Eva Green, and tremble!"


title: Eva Green

text: Between May 2014 and 2016, Green starred in the Showtime horror drama series "Penny Dreadful" as Vanessa Ives. Her performance earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. She also played the titular role of Ava Lord in the "Sin City" sequel film, "" (2014).


title: Eva Green

text: In 2016, Green reunited with Tim Burton in "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children", a film based on the 2011 novel by Ransom Riggs. Green collaborated once more with Burton in Disney's 2019 live-action adaptation of "Dumbo", co-starring with Colin Farrell and Michael Keaton.


title: Eva Green

text: In 2018, she was appointed as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an honorary award given by the French government.


title: Eva Green

text: In 2019, she starred in the French drama film "Proxima" directed by Alice Winocour. Green's performance in the movie was met with critical acclaim and she was eventually nominated for the César Award for Best Actress.


title: Eva Green

text: In 2020, she starred as Lydia Wells in the BBC One miniseries "The Luminaries", based on the 2013 novel by Eleanor Catton.


title: Eva Green

text: In April 2018, it was announced that Green would star in the sci-fi thriller film "A Patriot". In August 2020, it was reported that the actress, who was also an executive producer on the project, was suing the production company, White Lantern Film, because it had refused to pay her an £800,000 ($1.04 million) fee after the project was abandoned, and a pay-or-play contract had been agreed on. In its own suit, White Lantern claims Green derailed the film, e.g. demanding that additional expensive crew be hired. The company also claims Green owes it more than £1 million ($1.3 million) after walking away from the project.


title: Eva Green

text: In June 2021, it was announced that Green will serve as the lead character in the upcoming British-French Apple TV+ series "Liaison", co-starring Vincent Cassel.


title: Eva Green

text: Green next appears in "Nocebo", a thriller produced by teams from Ireland and the Philippines, set for a November 4, 2022 release in the US and December 9, 2022 in the UK and Ireland.


title: Eva Green

text: Green considers herself "nerdy". She also says, "When people first meet me, they find me very cold... I keep myself at a distance, and I think that's why I'm so drawn to acting. It allows me to wear a mask." She lives alone and, by her own account, leads a low-key life when she is not working. When asked in an interview what people would be surprised to find out about her, she responded, "I guess people would be surprised to find out that I am a bit of a homebody. I do not like clubbing or going to wild parties. After a day of shooting, I love to come home and relax by the fire with a glass of wine and a good book. Boring, huh?" Green has expressed interests in taxidermy and entomology; she collects preserved skulls and insects.


title: Eva Green

text: When asked about her preference to play graphic, sexually charged roles, Green described it as "paradoxical" given her self-confessed shyness. She commented humorously, "I don't really understand why I do that. I need to go through therapy!" Green also favours dark, twisted characters, as they allow her to feel liberated. She spoke about her role in "Penny Dreadful" as, "it's like I don't have a corset anymore when I'm playing Vanessa, you know? People will think that it's terrible to have fun in a show like that. But I do." However, she has tried to take a variety of divergent roles in order to avoid being typecast.


title: Eva Green

text: Green is non-religious, though she describes herself as "very spiritual" and having complex beliefs about supernatural forces.


title: Eva Green

text: Green has expressed interest in returning to theatre. She says she has no plans to work in Hollywood full-time because "the problem with Hollywood is that the studios are super powerful, they have far more power than the directors... [my] ambition at this moment is just to find a good script".


title: Eva Green

text: In 2017, she revealed that Harvey Weinstein made an inappropriate advance during a business meeting but she pushed him off.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic Uruguay (), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is part of the Southern Cone region of South America. Uruguay covers an area of approximately and has a population of an estimated 3.4 million, of whom around 2 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo.


title: Uruguay

text: The area that became Uruguay was first inhabited by groups of hunter–gatherers 13,000 years ago. The predominant tribe at the moment of the arrival of Europeans was the Charrúa people, when the Portuguese first established Colónia do Sacramento in 1680; Uruguay was colonized by Europeans late relative to neighboring countries. The Spanish founded Montevideo as a military stronghold in the early 18th century because of the competing claims over the region. Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a four-way struggle between Portugal and Spain, and later Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the 19th century, with the military playing a recurring role in domestic politics. A series of economic crises and the political repression against left-wing guerrilla activity in the late 1960s and early 1970s put an end to a democratic period that had begun in the early 20th century, culminating in the 1973 "coup d'état", which established a civic-military dictatorship. The military government persecuted leftists, socialists, and political opponents, resulting in deaths and numerous instances of torture by the military; the military relinquished power to a civilian government in 1985. Uruguay is today a democratic constitutional republic, with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, low perception of corruption, and e-government. It is the lowest ranking South American nation in the Global Terrorism Index, and ranks second in the continent on economic freedom, income equality, per-capita income, and inflows of FDI. Uruguay is the third-best country on the continent in terms of Human Development Index, GDP growth, innovation, and infrastructure. Uruguay is regarded as one of the most socially progressive countries in Latin America. It ranks high on global measures of personal rights, tolerance, and inclusion issues, including its acceptance of the LGBT community. The country has legalized cannabis, same-sex marriage, prostitution and abortion. Uruguay is a founding member of the United Nations, OAS, and Mercosur.


title: Uruguay

text: The country name of "Uruguay" derives from the namesake Río Uruguay, from the Indigenous Guaraní language. There are several interpretations, including "bird-river" ("the river of the '", via Charruan, ' being a common noun of any wild fowl). The name could also refer to a river snail called "" ("Pomella megastoma") that was plentiful across its shores.


title: Uruguay

text: One of the most popular interpretations of the name was proposed by the renowned Uruguayan poet Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, "the river of painted birds"; this interpretation, although dubious, still holds an important cultural significance in the country.


title: Uruguay

text: In Spanish colonial times, and for some time thereafter, Uruguay and some neighboring territories were called ' ("Eastern Bank [of the Uruguay River]"), then for a few years the "Eastern Province". Since its independence, the country has been known as "'", which literally translates to ""Republic East of the Uruguay" [River]". However, it is commonly mistranslated either as the ""Oriental Republic of Uruguay"" or the ""Eastern Republic of Uruguay"".


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay was first inhabited around 13,000 years ago by hunter-gatherers. It is estimated that at the time of the first contact with Europeans in the 16th century there were about 9,000 Charrúa and 6,000 Chaná and some Guaraní island-settlements.


title: Uruguay

text: There is an extensive group of thousands of man-made tumuli known as ""Pechito Paloma"" in the eastern part of the country, some of them dating back to 5,000 years ago. Very little is known about the people who built them as they left no written record, but evidence has been found of agriculture and domesticated dogs.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1831 Fructuoso Rivera, Uruguay's first president, organized the final strike of the Charrua genocide, eradicating the last remnants of the Uruguayan native population.


title: Uruguay

text: The Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter the region of present-day Uruguay in 1512. The Spanish arrived in present-day Uruguay in 1516. The indigenous peoples' fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited European settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay then became a zone of contention between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. In 1603, the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. The first permanent Spanish settlement was founded in 1624 at Soriano on the Río Negro. In 1669–71, the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento (Colônia do Sacramento).


title: Uruguay

text: Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold in the country. Its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial area competing with Río de la Plata's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th-century history was shaped by ongoing fights for dominance in the Platine region, between British, Spanish, Portuguese and other colonial forces. In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires and Montevideo as part of the Napoleonic Wars. Montevideo was occupied by a British force from February to September 1807.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1811, José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay's national hero, launched a successful revolt against the Spanish authorities, defeating them on 18 May at the Battle of Las Piedras.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1813, the new government in Buenos Aires convened a constituent assembly where Artigas emerged as a champion of federalism, demanding political and economic autonomy for each area, and for the Banda Oriental in particular. The assembly refused to seat the delegates from the Banda Oriental, however, and Buenos Aires pursued a system based on unitary centralism.


title: Uruguay

text: As a result, Artigas broke with Buenos Aires and besieged Montevideo, taking the city in early 1815. Once the troops from Buenos Aires had withdrawn, the Banda Oriental appointed its first autonomous government. Artigas organized the Federal League under his protection, consisting of six provinces, four of which later became part of Argentina.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1816, a force of 10,000 Portuguese troops invaded the Banda Oriental from Brazil; they took Montevideo in January 1817. After nearly four more years of struggle, the Portuguese Kingdom of Brazil annexed the "Banda Oriental" as a province under the name of "Cisplatina". The Brazilian Empire became independent of Portugal in 1822. In response to the annexation, the Thirty-Three Orientals, led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, declared independence on 25 August 1825 supported by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina). This led to the 500-day-long Cisplatine War. Neither side gained the upper hand and in 1828 the Treaty of Montevideo, fostered by the United Kingdom through the diplomatic efforts of Viscount John Ponsonby, gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state. 25 August is celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday. The nation's first constitution was adopted on 18 July 1830.


title: Uruguay

text: At the time of independence, Uruguay had an estimated population of just under 75,000. The political scene in Uruguay became split between two parties: the conservative Blancos (Whites) headed by the second President Manuel Oribe, representing the agricultural interests of the countryside; and the liberal Colorados (Reds) led by the first President Fructuoso Rivera, representing the business interests of Montevideo. The Uruguayan parties received support from warring political factions in neighboring Argentina, which became involved in Uruguayan affairs.


title: Uruguay

text: The Colorados favored the exiled Argentine liberal Unitarios, many of whom had taken refuge in Montevideo while the Blanco president Manuel Oribe was a close friend of the Argentine ruler Manuel de Rosas. On 15 June 1838, an army led by the Colorado leader Rivera overthrew President Oribe, who fled to Argentina. Rivera declared war on Rosas in 1839. The conflict would last 13 years and become known as the Guerra Grande (the Great War).


title: Uruguay

text: In 1843, an Argentine army overran Uruguay on Oribe's behalf but failed to take the capital. The siege of Montevideo, which began in February 1843, would last nine years. The besieged Uruguayans called on resident foreigners for help, which led to a French and an Italian legion being formed, the latter led by the exiled Giuseppe Garibaldi.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1845, Britain and France intervened against Rosas to restore commerce to normal levels in the region. Their efforts proved ineffective and, by 1849, tired of the war, both withdrew after signing a treaty favorable to Rosas. It appeared that Montevideo would finally fall when an uprising against Rosas, led by Justo José de Urquiza, governor of Argentina's Entre Ríos Province, began. The Brazilian intervention in May 1851 on behalf of the Colorados, combined with the uprising, changed the situation and Oribe was defeated. The siege of Montevideo was lifted and the Guerra Grande finally came to an end. Montevideo rewarded Brazil's support by signing treaties that confirmed Brazil's right to intervene in Uruguay's internal affairs.


title: Uruguay

text: In accordance with the 1851 treaties, Brazil intervened militarily in Uruguay as often as it deemed necessary. In 1865, the Triple Alliance was formed by the emperor of Brazil, the president of Argentina, and the Colorado general Venancio Flores, the Uruguayan head of government whom they both had helped to gain power. The Triple Alliance declared war on the Paraguayan leader Francisco Solano López and the resulting Paraguayan War ended with the invasion of Paraguay and its defeat by the armies of the three countries. Montevideo, which was used as a supply station by the Brazilian navy, experienced a period of prosperity and relative calm during the war.


title: Uruguay

text: The first railway line was assembled in Uruguay in 1867 with the opening of a branch consisting of a horse-drawn train. The present-day State Railways Administration of Uruguay maintains 2,900 kms of extendable railway network.


title: Uruguay

text: The constitutional government of General Lorenzo Batlle y Grau (1868–72) suppressed the Revolution of the Lances by the Blancos. After two years of struggle, a peace agreement was signed in 1872 that gave the Blancos a share in the emoluments and functions of government, through control of four of the departments of Uruguay.


title: Uruguay

text: This establishment of the policy of co-participation represented the search for a new formula of compromise, based on the coexistence of the party in power and the party in opposition.


title: Uruguay

text: Despite this agreement, Colorado rule was threatened by the failed Tricolor Revolution in 1875 and the Revolution of the Quebracho in 1886.


title: Uruguay

text: The Colorado effort to reduce Blancos to only three departments caused a Blanco uprising of 1897, which ended with the creation of 16 departments, of which the Blancos now had control over six. Blancos were given ⅓ of seats in Congress. This division of power lasted until the President Jose Batlle y Ordonez instituted his political reforms which caused the last uprising by Blancos in 1904 that ended with the Battle of Masoller and the death of Blanco leader Aparicio Saravia.


title: Uruguay

text: Between 1875 and 1890, the military became the center of power. During this authoritarian period, the government took steps toward the organization of the country as a modern state, encouraging its economic and social transformation. Pressure groups (consisting mainly of businessmen, "hacendados", and industrialists) were organized and had a strong influence on government. A transition period (1886–90) followed, during which politicians began recovering lost ground and some civilian participation in government occurred.


title: Uruguay

text: After the Guerra Grande, there was a sharp rise in the number of immigrants, primarily from Italy and Spain. By 1879, the total population of the country was over 438,500. The economy reflected a steep upswing (if demonstrated graphically, above all other related economic determinants), in livestock raising and exports. Montevideo became a major economic center of the region and an entrepôt for goods from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.


title: Uruguay

text: The Colorado leader José Batlle y Ordóñez was elected president in 1903. The following year, the Blancos led a rural revolt and eight bloody months of fighting ensued before their leader, Aparicio Saravia, was killed in battle. Government forces emerged victorious, leading to the end of the co-participation politics that had begun in 1872. Batlle had two terms (1903–07 and 1911–15) during which, taking advantage of the nation's stability and growing economic prosperity, he instituted major reforms, such as a welfare program, government participation in many facets of the economy, and a plural executive.


title: Uruguay

text: Gabriel Terra became president in March 1931. His inauguration coincided with the effects of the Great Depression, and the social climate became tense as a result of the lack of jobs. There were confrontations in which police and leftists died. In 1933, Terra organized a coup d'état, dissolving the General Assembly and governing by decree. A new constitution was promulgated in 1934, transferring powers to the president. In general, the Terra government weakened or neutralized economic nationalism and social reform.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1938, general elections were held and Terra's brother-in-law, General Alfredo Baldomir, was elected president. Under pressure from organized labor and the National Party, Baldomir advocated free elections, freedom of the press, and a new constitution. Although Baldomir declared Uruguay neutral in 1939, British warships and the German ship fought a battle not far off Uruguay's coast. The "Admiral Graf Spee" took refuge in Montevideo, claiming sanctuary in a neutral port, but was later ordered out.


title: Uruguay

text: In the late 1950s, partly because of a worldwide decrease in demand for Uruguyan agricultural products, Uruguayans suffered from a steep drop in their standard of living, which led to student militancy and labor unrest. An armed group, known as the Tupamaros emerged in the 1960s, engaging in activities such as bank robbery, kidnapping and assassination, in addition to attempting an overthrow of the government.


title: Uruguay

text: President Jorge Pacheco declared a state of emergency in 1968, followed by a further suspension of civil liberties in 1972. In 1973, amid increasing economic and political turmoil, the armed forces, asked by the President Juan María Bordaberry, disbanded Parliament and established a civilian-military regime. The CIA-backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of opponents was called Operation Condor. The media were censored or banned, the trade union movement was destroyed and tons of books were burned after the banning of some writers' works. People on file as opponents of the regime were excluded from the civil service and from education. According to one source, around 180 Uruguayans are known to have been killed and disappeared, with thousands more illegally detained and tortured during the 12-year civil-military rule of 1973 to 1985. Most were killed in Argentina and other neighboring countries, with 36 of them having been killed in Uruguay. According to Edy Kaufman (cited by David Altman), Uruguay at the time had the highest per capita number of political prisoners in the world. "Kaufman, who spoke at the U.S. Congressional Hearings of 1976 on behalf of Amnesty International, estimated that one in every five Uruguayans went into exile, one in fifty were detained, and one in five hundred went to prison (most of them tortured)." Minister of Economy and Finance Alejandro Végh Villegas seeks to promote the financial sector and foreign investment. Social spending was reduced and many state-owned companies were privatized. However, the economy did not improve and deteriorated after 1980, the GDP fell by 20% and unemployment rose to 17%. The state intervened by trying to bail out failing companies and banks.


title: Uruguay

text: A new constitution, drafted by the military, was rejected in a November 1980 referendum. Following the referendum, the armed forces announced a plan for the return to civilian rule, and national elections were held in 1984. Colorado Party leader Julio María Sanguinetti won the presidency and served from 1985 to 1990. The first Sanguinetti administration implemented economic reforms and consolidated democracy following the country's years under military rule.


title: Uruguay

text: The National Party's Luis Alberto Lacalle won the 1989 presidential election and amnesty for human rights abusers was endorsed by referendum. Sanguinetti was then re-elected in 1994. Both presidents continued the economic structural reforms initiated after the reinstatement of democracy and other important reforms were aimed at improving the electoral system, social security, education, and public safety.


title: Uruguay

text: The 1999 national elections were held under a new electoral system established by a 1996 constitutional amendment. Colorado Party candidate Jorge Batlle, aided by the support of the National Party, defeated Broad Front candidate Tabaré Vázquez. The formal coalition ended in November 2002, when the Blancos withdrew their ministers from the cabinet, although the Blancos continued to support the Colorados on most issues. On the economic front, the Batlle government (2000–2005) began negotiations with the United States to create the "Free Trade Area of the Americas" (FTAA). The period marked the culmination of a process aimed at a neoliberal reorientation of the country's economy: deindustrialization, pressure on wages, growth of informal work, etc. Low commodity prices and economic difficulties in Uruguay's main export markets (starting in Brazil with the devaluation of the real, then in Argentina in 2002), caused a severe recession; the economy contracted by 11%, unemployment climbed to 21%, and the percentage of Uruguayans in poverty rose to over 30%.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2004, Uruguayans elected Tabaré Vázquez as president, while giving the Broad Front a majority in both houses of Parliament. Vázquez stuck to economic orthodoxy. As commodity prices soared and the economy recovered from the recession, he tripled foreign investment, cut poverty and unemployment, cut public debt from 79% of GDP to 60%, and kept inflation steady.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2009, José Mujica, a former left-wing guerrilla leader (Tupamaros) who spent almost 15 years in prison during the country's military rule, emerged as the new president as the Broad Front won the election for a second time. Abortion was legalized in 2012, followed by same-sex marriage and cannabis in the following year.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2014, Tabaré Vázquez was elected to a non-consecutive second presidential term, which began on 1 March 2015. In 2020, he was succeeded by Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, member of the conservative National Party, after 15 years of left-wing rule, as the 42nd President of Uruguay.


title: Uruguay

text: With of continental land and of jurisdictional water and small river islands, Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges ("cuchillas") with a fertile coastal lowland. Uruguay has of coastline.


title: Uruguay

text: A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins, or deltas: the Río de la Plata Basin, the Uruguay River, the Laguna Merín and the Río Negro. The major internal river is the Río Negro ('Black River'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast.


title: Uruguay

text: The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral, whose peak reaches AMSL in the "Sierra Carapé" hill range. To the southwest is the Río de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River (which river forms the country's western border).


title: Uruguay

text: Montevideo is the southernmost capital city in the Americas, and the third most southerly in the world (only Canberra and Wellington are further south). Uruguay is the only country in South America situated entirely south of the Tropic of Capricorn.


title: Uruguay

text: There are ten national parks in Uruguay: Five in the wetland areas of the east, three in the central hill country, and one in the west along the Rio Uruguay.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay is home to the Uruguayan savanna terrestrial ecoregion. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.61/10, ranking it 147th globally out of 172 countries.


title: Uruguay

text: Located entirely within the southern temperate zone, Uruguay has a climate that is relatively mild and fairly uniform nationwide. According to the Köppen Climate Classification, most of the country has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). Only in some spots of the Atlantic Coast and at the summit of the highest hills of the Cuchilla Grande the climate is oceanic (Cfb). The country experiences the four seasons, with summer being from December to March and winter from June to September. Seasonal variations are pronounced, but extremes in temperature are rare. Summers are tempered by winds off the Atlantic, and severe cold in winter is unknown. Although it never gets too cold, frosts occur every year during the winter months, and precipitation such as sleet and hail occur almost every winter, but snow is very rare; it does occur every couple of years at higher elevations, but almost always without accumulation. As would be expected with its abundance of water, high humidity and fog are common. The absence of mountains, which act as weather barriers, makes all locations vulnerable to high winds and rapid changes in weather as fronts or storms sweep across the country. These storms can be strong; they can bring squalls, hail, and sometimes even tornadoes. The country experiences extratropical cyclones but no tropical cyclones, due to the fact that the South Atlantic Ocean is rarely warm enough for their development. Both summer and winter weather may vary from day to day with the passing of storm fronts, where a hot northerly wind may occasionally be followed by a cold wind (pampero) from the Argentine Pampas.


title: Uruguay

text: Even though both temperature and precipitation are quite uniform nationwide, there are considerable differences across the territory. The average annual temperature of the country is , ranging from in the southeast to in the northwest. Winter temperatures range from a daily average of in the south to in the north, while summer average daily temperatures range from in the southeast to in the northwest. The southeast is considerably cooler than the rest of the country, especially during spring, when the ocean with cold water after the winter cools down the temperature of the air and brings more humidity to that region. However, the south of the country receives less precipitation than the north. For example, Montevideo receives approximately of precipitation per year, while the city of Rivera in the northeast receives . The heaviest precipitation occurs during the autumn months, although more frequent rainy spells occur in winter. But still the difference is not big enough to consider a dry or wet season, periods of drought or excessive rain can occur anytime during the year.


title: Uruguay

text: National extreme temperatures at sea level are, in Paysandú city (20 January, 1943) and Florida city (January 14, 2022), and in Melo city (14 June, 1967).


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay is a representative democratic republic with a presidential system. The members of government are elected for a five-year term by a universal suffrage system. Uruguay is a unitary state: justice, education, health, security, foreign policy and defense are all administered nationwide. The Executive Power is exercised by the president and a cabinet of 13 ministers.


title: Uruguay

text: The legislative power is constituted by the General Assembly, composed of two chambers: the Chamber of Representatives, consisting of 99 members representing the 19 departments, elected for a five-year term based on proportional representation; and the Chamber of Senators, consisting of 31 members, 30 of whom are elected for a five-year term by proportional representation and the vice-president, who presides over the chamber.


title: Uruguay

text: The judicial arm is exercised by the Supreme Court, the Bench and Judges nationwide. The members of the Supreme Court are elected by the General Assembly; the members of the Bench are selected by the Supreme Court with the consent of the Senate, and the Judges are directly assigned by the Supreme Court.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay adopted its current constitution in 1967. Many of its provisions were suspended in 1973, but re-established in 1985. Drawing on Switzerland and its use of the initiative, the Uruguayan Constitution also allows citizens to repeal laws or to change the constitution by popular initiative, which culminates in a nationwide referendum. This method has been used several times over the past 15 years: to confirm a law renouncing prosecution of members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973–1985); to stop privatization of public utilities companies; to defend pensioners' incomes; and to protect water resources.


title: Uruguay

text: For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado has been in government. However, in the 2004 Uruguayan general election, the Broad Front won an absolute majority in Parliamentary elections, and in 2009, José Mujica of the Broad Front defeated Luis Alberto Lacalle of the Blancos to win the presidency. In March 2020, Uruguay got a conservative government, meaning the end of 15 years of left-wing leadership under the Broad Front coalition. At the same time centre-right National Party’s Luis Lacalle Pou was sworn as the new President of Uruguay.


title: Uruguay

text: A 2010 Latinobarómetro poll found that, within Latin America, Uruguayans are among the most supportive of democracy and by far the most satisfied with the way democracy works in their country. Uruguay ranked 27th in the Freedom House "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2012, Uruguay scored an 8.17 in the Democracy Index and ranked equal 18th amongst the 25 countries considered to be full democracies in the world. Uruguay ranks 21st as least corrupt in the World Corruption Perceptions Index composed by Transparency International.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay is divided into 19 departments whose local administrations replicate the division of the executive and legislative powers. Each department elects its own authorities through a universal suffrage system. The departmental executive authority resides in a superintendent and the legislative authority in a departmental board.


title: Uruguay

text: Argentina and Brazil are Uruguay's most important trading partners: Argentina accounted for 20% of total imports in 2009. Since bilateral relations with Argentina are considered a priority, Uruguay denies clearance to British naval vessels bound for the Falkland Islands, and prevents them from calling in at Uruguayan territories and ports for supplies and fuel. A rivalry between the port of Montevideo and the port of Buenos Aires, dating back to the times of the Spanish Empire, has been described as a "port war". Officials of both countries emphasized the need to end this rivalry in the name of regional integration in 2010.


title: Uruguay

text: Construction of a controversial pulp paper mill in 2007, on the Uruguayan side of the Uruguay River, caused protests in Argentina over fears that it would pollute the environment and lead to diplomatic tensions between the two countries. The ensuing dispute remained a subject of controversy into 2010, particularly after ongoing reports of increased water contamination in the area were later proven to be from sewage discharge from the town of Gualeguaychú in Argentina. In November 2010, Uruguay and Argentina announced they had reached a final agreement for joint environmental monitoring of the pulp mill.


title: Uruguay

text: Brazil and Uruguay have signed cooperation agreements on defence, science, technology, energy, river transportation and fishing, with the hope of accelerating political and economic integration between these two neighbouring countries. Uruguay has two uncontested boundary disputes with Brazil, over Isla Brasilera and the Invernada River region near Masoller. The two countries disagree on which tributary represents the legitimate source of the Quaraí/Cuareim River, which would define the border in the latter disputed section, according to the 1851 border treaty between the two countries. However, these border disputes have not prevented both countries from having friendly diplomatic relations and strong economic ties. So far, the disputed areas remain "de facto" under Brazilian control, with little to no actual effort by Uruguay to assert its claims.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay has enjoyed friendly relations with the United States since its transition back to democracy. Commercial ties between the two countries have expanded substantially in recent years, with the signing of a bilateral investment treaty in 2004 and a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in January 2007. The United States and Uruguay have also cooperated on military matters, with both countries playing significant roles in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.


title: Uruguay

text: President Mujica backed Venezuela's bid to join Mercosur. Venezuela had a deal to sell Uruguay up to 40,000 barrels of oil a day under preferential terms.


title: Uruguay

text: On 15 March 2011, Uruguay became the seventh South American nation to officially recognize a Palestinian state, although there was no specification for the Palestinian state's borders as part of the recognition. In statements, the Uruguayan government indicated its firm commitment to the Middle East peace process, but refused to specify borders "to avoid interfering in an issue that would require a bilateral agreement".


title: Uruguay

text: In March 2020, Uruguay rejoined the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR or "Rio Pact"). In September 2019, the previous left-wing government of Uruguay had withdrawn from TIAR as a response to the very critical view of Venezuela the other members of the regional defense agreement had.


title: Uruguay

text: The Uruguayan armed forces are constitutionally subordinate to the president, through the minister of defense. Armed forces personnel number about 14,000 for the Army, 6,000 for the Navy, and 3,000 for the Air Force. Enlistment is voluntary in peacetime, but the government has the authority to conscript in emergencies.


title: Uruguay

text: Since May 2009, homosexuals have been allowed to serve in the military after the defense minister signed a decree stating that military recruitment policy would no longer discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. In the fiscal year 2010, the United States provided Uruguay with $1.7 million in military assistance, including $1 million in Foreign Military Financing and $480,000 in International Military Education and Training.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay ranks first in the world on a per capita basis for its contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping forces, with 2,513 soldiers and officers in 10 UN peacekeeping missions. As of February 2010, Uruguay had 1,136 military personnel deployed to Haiti in support of MINUSTAH and 1,360 deployed in support of MONUC in the Congo. In December 2010, Uruguayan Major General Gloodtdofsky, was appointed Chief Military Observer and head of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan.


title: Uruguay

text: In 1991, the country experienced an increase in strikes to obtain wage compensation to offset inflation and to oppose the privatizations desired by the government of Luis Alberto Lacalle. A general strike was called in 1992, and the privatization policy was widely rejected by referendum (71.6% against the privatization of telecommunications). In 1994 and 1995, Uruguay faced economic difficulties caused by the liberalization of foreign trade, which increased the trade deficit. The Montevideo Gas Company and the Pluma airline were turned over to the private sector, but the pace of privatization slowed down in 1996. Uruguay experienced a major economic and financial crisis between 1999 and 2002, principally a spillover effect from the economic problems of Argentina. The economy contracted by 11%, and unemployment climbed to 21%. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained more stable than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating, one of only two in South America.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2004, the Batlle government signed a three-year $1.1 billion stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), committing the country to a substantial primary fiscal surplus, low inflation, considerable reductions in external debt, and several structural reforms designed to improve competitiveness and attract foreign investment. Uruguay terminated the agreement in 2006 following the early repayment of its debt but maintained a number of the policy commitments.


title: Uruguay

text: Vázquez, who assumed the government in March 2005, created the Ministry of Social Development and sought to reduce the country's poverty rate with a $240 million National Plan to Address the Social Emergency (PANES), which provided a monthly conditional cash transfer of approximately $75 to over 100,000 households in extreme poverty. In exchange, those receiving the benefits were required to participate in community work, ensure that their children attended school daily, and had regular health check-ups.


title: Uruguay

text: Following the 2001 Argentine credit default, prices in the Uruguayan economy made a variety of services, including information technology and architectural expertise, once too expensive in many foreign markets, exportable. The Frente Amplio government, while continuing payments on Uruguay's external debt, also undertook an emergency plan to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. The economy grew at an annual rate of 6.7% during the 2004–2008 period. Uruguay's exports markets have been diversified to reduce dependency on Argentina and Brazil. Poverty was reduced from 33% in 2002 to 21.7% in July 2008, while extreme poverty dropped from 3.3% to 1.7%.


title: Uruguay

text: Between the years 2007 and 2009, Uruguay was the only country in the Americas that did not technically experience a recession (two consecutive downward quarters). Unemployment reached a record low of 5.4% in December 2010 before rising to 6.1% in January 2011. While unemployment is still at a low level, the IMF observed a rise in inflationary pressures, and Uruguay's GDP expanded by 10.4% for the first half of 2010.


title: Uruguay

text: According to IMF estimates, Uruguay was likely to achieve growth in real GDP of between 8% and 8.5% in 2010, followed by 5% growth in 2011 and 4% in subsequent years. Gross public sector debt contracted in the second quarter of 2010, after five consecutive periods of sustained increase, reaching $21.885 billion US dollars, equivalent to 59.5% of the GDP. Uruguay was ranked 65th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 62nd in 2019.


title: Uruguay

text: The growth, use, and sale of cannabis was legalized on 11 December 2013, making Uruguay the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana. The law was voted at the Uruguayan Senate on the same date with 16 votes to approve it and 13 against.


title: Uruguay

text: The number of union members has quadrupled since 2003, rising from 110,000 to more than 400,000 in 2015 for a working population of 1.5 million.According to the International Trade Union Confederation, Uruguay has become the most advanced country in the Americas in terms of respect for "fundamental labour rights, in particular the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. One of the effects of this high level of unionization was to reduce socio-economic inequalities.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2010, Uruguay's export-oriented agricultural sector contributed to 9.3% of the GDP and employed 13% of the workforce. Official statistics from Uruguay's Agriculture and Livestock Ministry indicate that meat and sheep farming in Uruguay occupies 59.6% of the land. The percentage further increases to 82.4% when cattle breeding is linked to other farm activities such as dairy, forage, and rotation with crops such as rice.


title: Uruguay

text: According to FAOSTAT, Uruguay is one of the world's largest producers of soybeans (9th), wool (12th), horse meat (14th), beeswax (14th), and quinces (17th). Most farms (25,500 out of 39,120) are family-managed; beef and wool represent the main activities and main source of income for 65% of them, followed by vegetable farming at 12%, dairy farming at 11%, hogs at 2%, and poultry also at 2%. Beef is the main export commodity of the country, totaling over US$1 billion in 2006.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2007, Uruguay had cattle herds totalling 12 million head, making it the country with the highest number of cattle per capita at 3.8. However, 54% is in the hands of 11% of farmers, who have a minimum of 500 head. At the other extreme, 38% of farmers exploit small lots and have herds averaging below one hundred head.


title: Uruguay

text: The tourism industry in Uruguay is an important part of its economy. In 2012 the sector was estimated to account for 97,000 jobs and (directly and indirectly) 9% of GDP.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2013, 2.8 million tourists entered Uruguay, of whom 59% came from Argentina and 14% from Brazil, with Chileans, Paraguayans, North Americans and Europeans accounting for most of the remainder.


title: Uruguay

text: Cultural experiences in Uruguay include exploring the country's colonial heritage, as found in Colonia del Sacramento. Montevideo, the country's capital, houses the most diverse selection of cultural activities. Historical monuments such as Torres Garcia Museum as well as Estadio Centenario, which housed the first world cup in history, are examples. However, simply walking the streets allows tourists to experience the city's colorful culture.


title: Uruguay

text: One of the main natural attractions in Uruguay is Punta del Este. Punta del Este is situated on a small peninsula off the southeast coast of Uruguay. Its beaches are divided into Mansa, or tame (river) side and Brava, or rugged (ocean) side. The Mansa is more suited for sunbathing, snorkeling, & other low-key recreational opportunities, while the Brava is more suited for adventurous sports, such as surfing. Punta del Este adjoins the city of Maldonado, while to its northeast along the coast are found the smaller resorts of La Barra and José Ignacio.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay is the Latin American country that receives the most tourists in relation to its population. For Uruguay, Argentine tourism is key, since it represents 56% of the external tourism they receive each year and 70% during the summer months. Although Argentine holidaymakers are an important target market for tourism in Uruguay, in recent years the country has managed to position itself as an important tourist destination to other markets, receiving a high flow of visitors from countries such as Brazil, Paraguay and the United States, among others.


title: Uruguay

text: The Port of Montevideo, handling over 1.1 million containers annually, is the most advanced container terminal in South America. Its quay can handle vessels. Nine straddle cranes allow for 80 to 100 movements per hour. The port of Nueva Palmira is a major regional merchandise transfer point and houses both private and government-run terminals.


title: Uruguay

text: Carrasco International Airport was initially inaugurated in 1947 and in 2009, Puerta del Sur, the airport owner and operator, with an investment of $165 million, commissioned Rafael Viñoly Architects to expand and modernize the existing facilities with a spacious new passenger terminal to increase capacity and spur commercial growth and tourism in the region. The London-based magazine "Frontier" chose the Carrasco International Airport, serving Montevideo, as one of the best four airports in the world in its 27th edition. The airport can handle up to 4.5 million users per year. PLUNA was the flag carrier of Uruguay, and was headquartered in Carrasco.


title: Uruguay

text: The Punta del Este International Airport, located from Punta del Este in the Maldonado Department, is the second busiest air terminal in Uruguay, built by the Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott it was inaugurated in 1997.


title: Uruguay

text: The Administración de Ferrocarriles del Estado is the autonomous agency in charge of rail transport and the maintenance of the railroad network. Uruguay has about of operational railroad track. Until 1947, about 90% of the railroad system was British-owned. In 1949, the government nationalized the railways, along with the electric trams and the Montevideo Waterworks Company. However, in 1985 the "National Transport Plan" suggested passenger trains were too costly to repair and maintain. Cargo trains would continue for loads more than 120 tons, but bus transportation became the "economic" alternative for travellers. Passenger service was then discontinued in 1988. However, rail passenger commuter service into Montevideo was restarted in 1993, and now comprises three suburban lines.


title: Uruguay

text: Surfaced roads connect Montevideo to the other urban centers in the country, the main highways leading to the border and neighboring cities. Numerous unpaved roads connect farms and small towns. Overland trade has increased markedly since Mercosur (Southern Common Market) was formed in the 1990s and again in the later 2000s. Most of the country's domestic freight and passenger service is by road rather than rail.


title: Uruguay

text: The country has several international bus services connecting the capital and frontier localities to neighboring countries. Namely, 17 destinations in Argentina; 12 destinations in Brazil and the capital cities of Chile and Paraguay.


title: Uruguay

text: The Telecommunications industry is more developed than in most other Latin American countries, being the first country in the Americas to achieve complete digital telephone coverage in 1997. The telephone system is completely digitized and has very good coverage over all the country. The system is government owned, and there have been controversial proposals to partially privatize since the 1990s.


title: Uruguay

text: The mobile phone market is shared by the state-owned ANTEL and two private companies, Movistar and Claro.


title: Uruguay

text: More than 97% of Uruguay's electricity comes from renewable energy. The dramatic shift, taking less than ten years and without government funding, lowered electricity costs and slashed the country's carbon footprint. Most of the electricity comes from hydroelectric facilities and wind parks. Uruguay no longer imports electricity.


title: Uruguay

text: In 2021, Uruguay had, in terms of installed renewable electricity, 1,538 MW in hydropower, 1,514 MW in wind power (35th largest in the world), 258 MW in solar power (66nd largest in the world), and 423 MW in biomass.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguayans are of predominantly European origin, with over 87.7% of the population claiming European descent in the 2011 census.


title: Uruguay

text: Most Uruguayans of European ancestry are descendants of 19th and 20th century immigrants from Spain and Italy, and to a lesser degree Germany, France and Britain. Earlier settlers had migrated from Argentina. People of African descent make up an even smaller proportion of the total. There are also important communities of Japanese. Overall, the ethnic composition is similar to neighboring Argentine provinces as well as Southern Brazil.


title: Uruguay

text: From 1963 to 1985, an estimated 320,000 Uruguayans emigrated. The most popular destinations for Uruguayan emigrants are Argentina, followed by the United States, Australia, Canada, Spain, Italy and France. In 2009, for the first time in 44 years, the country saw an overall positive influx when comparing immigration to emigration. 3,825 residence permits were awarded in 2009, compared with 1,216 in 2005. 50% of new legal residents come from Argentina and Brazil. A migration law passed in 2008 gives immigrants the same rights and opportunities that nationals have, with the requisite of proving a monthly income of $650.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay's rate of population growth is much lower than in other Latin American countries. Its median age is 35.3 years, is higher than the global average due to its low birth rate, high life expectancy, and relatively high rate of emigration among younger people. A quarter of the population is less than 15 years old and about a sixth are aged 60 and older. In 2017 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across Uruguay was 1.70 children born per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 5.76 children born per woman in 1882.


title: Uruguay

text: Metropolitan Montevideo is the only large city, with around 1.9 million inhabitants, or more than half the country's total population. The rest of the urban population lives in about 30 towns.


title: Uruguay

text: A 2017 IADB report on labor conditions for Latin American nations, ranked Uruguay as the region's leader overall and in all but one subindexes, including gender, age, income, formality and labor participation.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay has no official religion; church and state are officially separated, and religious freedom is guaranteed. A 2008 survey by the INE of Uruguay showed Catholic Christianity as the main religion, with 45.7% – 81.4% of the population; 9.0% are non-Catholic Christians, 0.6% are Animists or Umbandists (an Afro-Brazilian religion), and 0.4% Jewish. 30.1% reported believing in a god, but not belonging to any religion, while 14% were atheist or agnostic. Among the sizeable Armenian community in Montevideo, the dominant religion is Christianity, specifically Armenian Apostolic.


title: Uruguay

text: Political observers consider Uruguay the most secular country in the Americas. Uruguay's secularization began with the relatively minor role of the church in the colonial era, compared with other parts of the Spanish Empire. The small numbers of Uruguay's indigenous peoples and their fierce resistance to proselytism reduced the influence of the ecclesiastical authorities.


title: Uruguay

text: After independence, anti-clerical ideas spread to Uruguay, particularly from France, further eroding the influence of the church. In 1837 civil marriage was recognized, and in 1861 the state took over the running of public cemeteries. In 1907 divorce was legalized and, in 1909 all religious instruction was banned from state schools. Under the influence of the Colorado politician José Batlle y Ordóñez (1903–1911), complete separation of church and state was introduced with the new constitution of 1917.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay's capital has 12 synagogues, and a community of 20,000 Jews by 2011. With a peak of 50,000 during the mid-1960s, Uruguay has the world's highest rate of aliyah as a percentage of the Jewish population.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguayan Spanish, as is the case with neighboring Argentina, employs both voseo and yeísmo (with or ). English is common in the business world and its study has risen significantly in recent years, especially among the young. Uruguayan Portuguese is spoken as a native language by between 3% and 15% of the Uruguayan population, in northern regions near the Brazilian border, making it the second most spoken language of the country. As few native people exist in the population, no indigenous languages are thought to remain in Uruguay.


title: Uruguay

text: Another spoken dialect was the Patois, which is an Occitan dialect. The dialect was spoken mainly in the Colonia Department, where the first pilgrims settled, in the city called La Paz. Today it is considered a dead tongue, although some elders at the aforementioned location still practice it. There are still written tracts of the language in the Waldensians Library (Biblioteca Valdense) in the town of Colonia Valdense, Colonia Department.


title: Uruguay

text: Patois speakers arrived to Uruguay from the Piedmont. Originally they were Vaudois, who become Waldensians, giving their name to the city Colonia Valdense, which translated from the Spanish means "Waldensian Colony".


title: Uruguay

text: In 2001, Uruguayan Sign Language (LSU) was recognized as an official language of Uruguay under Law 17.378.


title: Uruguay

text: Education in Uruguay is secular, free, and compulsory for 14 years, starting at the age of 4. The system is divided into six levels of education: early childhood (3–5 years); primary (6–11 years); basic secondary (12–14 years); upper secondary (15–17 years); higher education (18 and up); and post-graduate education.


title: Uruguay

text: Public education is the primary responsibility of three institutions: the Ministry of Education and Culture, which coordinates education policies, the National Public Education Administration, which formulates and implements policies on early to secondary education, and the University of the Republic, responsible for higher education. In 2009, the government planned to invest 4.5% of GDP in education.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay ranks high on standardised tests such as PISA at a regional level, but compares unfavourably to the OECD average, and is also below some countries with similar levels of income. In the 2006 PISA test, Uruguay had one of the greatest standard deviations among schools, suggesting significant variability by socio-economic level.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay is part of the One Laptop per Child project, and in 2009 became the first country in the world to provide a laptop for every primary school student, as part of the Plan Ceibal. Over the 2007–2009 period, 362,000 pupils and 18,000 teachers were involved in the scheme; around 70% of the laptops were given to children who did not have computers at home. The OLPC programme represents less than 5% of the country's education budget.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguayan culture is strongly European and its influences from southern Europe are particularly important. The tradition of the gaucho has been an important element in the art and folklore of both Uruguay and Argentina.


title: Uruguay

text: Abstract painter and sculptor Carlos Páez Vilaró was a prominent Uruguayan artist. He drew from both Timbuktu and Mykonos to create his best-known work: his home, hotel and atelier Casapueblo near Punta del Este. Casapueblo is a "livable sculpture" and draws thousands of visitors from around the world. The 19th-century painter Juan Manuel Blanes, whose works depict historical events, was the first Uruguayan artist to gain widespread recognition. The Post-Impressionist painter Pedro Figari achieved international renown for his pastel studies of subjects in Montevideo and the countryside. Blending elements of art and nature the work of the landscape architect has also earned international prominence.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguay has a small but growing film industry, and movies such as "Whisky" by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll (2004), Marcelo Bertalmío's "Los días con Ana" (2000; "Days with Ana") and Ana Díez's "Paisito" (2008), about the 1973 military coup, have earned international honours.


title: Uruguay

text: The folk and popular music of Uruguay shares not only its gaucho roots with Argentina, but also those of the tango. One of the most famous tangos, "La cumparsita" (1917), was written by the Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodríguez. The candombe is a folk dance performed at Carnival, especially Uruguayan Carnival, mainly by Uruguayans of African ancestry. The guitar is the preferred musical instrument, and in a popular traditional contest called the "payada" two singers, each with a guitar, take turns improvising verses to the same tune.


title: Uruguay

text: Folk music is called canto popular and includes some guitar players and singers such as Alfredo Zitarrosa, José Carbajal "El Sabalero", Daniel Viglietti, Los Olimareños, and Numa Moraes.


title: Uruguay

text: Numerous radio stations and musical events reflect the popularity of rock music and the Caribbean genres, known as "música tropical" ("tropical music"). Early classical music in Uruguay showed heavy Spanish and Italian influence, but since the 20th century a number of composers of classical music, including Eduardo Fabini, , and Héctor Tosar, have made use of Latin American musical idioms.


title: Uruguay

text: Tango has also affected Uruguayan culture, especially during the 20th century, particularly the '30s and '40s with Uruguayan singers such as Julio Sosa from Las Piedras. When the famous tango singer Carlos Gardel was 29 years old he changed his nationality to be Uruguayan, saying he was born in Tacuarembó, but this subterfuge was probably done to keep French authorities from arresting him for failing to register in the French Army for World War I. Gardel was born in France and was raised in Buenos Aires. He never lived in Uruguay. Nevertheless, a Carlos Gardel museum was established in 1999 in Valle Edén, near Tacuarembó.


title: Uruguay

text: Rock and roll first broke into Uruguayan audiences with the arrival of the Beatles and other British bands in the early 1960s. A wave of bands appeared in Montevideo, including Los Shakers, Los Mockers, Los Iracundos, Los Moonlights, and Los Malditos, who became major figures in the so-called Uruguayan Invasion of Argentina. Popular bands of the Uruguayan Invasion sang in English.


title: Uruguay

text: Popular Uruguayan rock bands include La Vela Puerca, No Te Va Gustar, El Cuarteto de Nos, Once Tiros, La Trampa, Chalamadre, Snake, Buitres, and Cursi. In 2004, the Uruguayan musician and actor Jorge Drexler won an Academy Award for composing the song "Al otro lado del río" from the movie "The Motorcycle Diaries", which narrated the life of Che Guevara. Other Uruguayan famous songwriters are Jaime Roos, Eduardo Mateo, Rubén Rada, Pablo Sciuto, Daniel Viglietti, among others.


title: Uruguay

text: By mid-2015, the Uruguayan bands and of the emerging subgenres "cumbia cheta" and "" enjoyed great success all over Latin America even before publishing their first albums; particularly in their home country and in Argentina, where in a given moment they had together nine songs at the Spotify Top Ten ranking. Other Uruguayan bands of success are: Toco Para Vos, , Toco Para Bailar and Golden Rocket.


title: Uruguay

text: Uruguayan food culture comes mostly from the European cuisine culture. Most of the Uruguayan dishes are from Spain, France, Italy and Brazil, the result of immigration caused by past wars in Europe.


title: Uruguay

text: Daily meals vary between meats, pasta of all types, rice, sweet desserts and others. Meat being the principal dish, due to Uruguay being one of the world's largest producers of quality meat.


title: Uruguay

text: Typical dishes include: "Asado uruguayo" (big grill or barbecue of all types of meat), roasted lamb, Chivito (sandwich containing thin grilled beef, lettuce, tomatoes, fried egg, ham, olives and others, and served with French fries), Milanesa (a kind of fried breaded beef), tortellini, spaghetti, gnocchi, ravioli, rice and vegetables.