red and white
I have wanted to write this story for a while. I am a Blanco (white) party militant and love the story of the birth of the two traditional parties of Uruguay. Just another thing, the parties weren't known for their flags, but for their hairbands. To encourage civil loyalty, President Oribe imposed a law obliging citizens to wear a white hairband with the motif "DEFENDER OF THE LAWS". His rival, Fructuoso Rivera, chose the other national flag colour: blue. But water and the sun washed out the hairband and it seemed white. So he changed it to red. By the way, Rivera is the same guy who ordered the massacres of indians and sold himself to the brazilian empire before Lavalleja came back from Argentina to free the country.
White party aims to privilege the agriculture and cattling. It's traditional and very close to the rural communities.
Red party is burgeois and industrialist. It used to be very strong at the capital and the surrounding communities.
Broad Front was created by leaders of both parties with the basis of the Democratic Christian party to promote socialism and other leftist oriented tendencies in Uruguay.
Independence and Civil War
The República Oriental del Uruguay was organized in 1830, but it was soon divided into hostile factions as a result of rivalry between the leaders of the revolt against Brazil. Civil war broke out in 1836 between the adherents of President Manuel Oribe and those of the first president, Fructuoso Rivera, with the former group called Blancos and the latter Colorados because of the color of their respective white and red flags. During the conflict, the Blancos, aided by Argentine forces, besieged Montevideo, which was held by the Colorados from 1843 until 1852. The Colorados, aided by Brazil and anti-Argentine forces, defeated Oribe and the Blancos. Rivera and the Colorados thereupon took power. The two factions renewed conflict in 1855 and continued it intermittently, with the Colorados retaining control almost continuously after 1865. Between 1865 and 1870 Uruguay was allied with Brazil and Argentina in a war against Paraguay.
