Luis Alberto Aparicio Alejandro Lacalle Pou (, ; born 11 August 1973), is a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, who served as the 42nd president of Uruguay from 2020 to 2025.
The son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle Pou attended The British Schools of Montevideo and graduated from the Catholic University of Uruguay in 1998 with a law degree. A member of the National Party, he was first elected to the Chamber of Representatives in the 1999 election as a National Representative for the Canelones Department, a position he held from 2000 to 2015. During the first session of the 47th Legislature (2011–2012) he chaired the lower house of the General Assembly. He also served as Senator from 2015 to 2019. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2014.
Five years later, he defeated the Broad Front nominee and former mayor of Montevideo Daniel Martínez in the 2019 general election and was elected President of Uruguay with 50.79% of the vote in the second round. At the age of 46, Lacalle Pou ended the 15 years of leftist rule in the country and became the youngest president since the end of the dictatorship in 1985.
During his presidency, Lacalle Pou oversaw several reforms to retirement and pension laws and the education system. He led Uruguay's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination rollout, for which he won praise and high approval ratings for his successful handling of the virus. In April 2020, his administration presented a bill under the constitutional label of "Urgent Consideration Law", which after being enacted on July 8, 2020, introduced reforms and restructuring in various areas. After an opposition campaign, a referendum was held in March 2022 to ask the electorate whether 135 articles of the law should be repealed, with the option to keep them in force winning.
During his presidency, events occurred such as a drought that caused some protests due to the reduction in water availability and access in the Montevideo metropolitan area for a few weeks in mid-2023. In addition, a series of controversies arose with certain figures within his administration, resulting in several resignations such as Alejandro Astesiano, former chief custodian who was dismissed from his position and subsequently arrested for forging Uruguayan identity cards and passports for Russian citizens. In July 2024, it was announced that Lacalle Pou would be a candidate for the Senate in the 2024 general election. He was not able to run for a second term as president due to a constitutional ban on consecutive re-election.
Early life and education Lacalle Pou was born on 11 August 1973 in the capital city of Montevideo. Lacalle Pou comes from a family with historical ties with the nation's government; he is the son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle and former first lady and senator Julia Pou. He has two siblings, Pilar and Juan José, and is the great-grandson of Luis Alberto de Herrera on his paternal side. He is also a distant relative to political figure Joaquín Suárez.
Lacalle Pou lived in the Pocitos neighborhood during his childhood and adolescence. When his father took office as president in 1990, his family moved to the Suárez presidential residence in Prado. At the age of 14, a medical consultation in the United States revealed that he had a growth hormone problem. He underwent treatment with hormone injections that allowed him to reach an adult height of 1.70 meters.
He took up surfing during his youth and also played football for Montevideo Cricket Club. He was educated at The British Schools of Montevideo. As his final years at the school coincided with his father's elevation to the presidency, a guard was posted at the school gates while he and his younger brother attended class. Resisting official protocol to be taken to school in a car by government escort, he instead preferred to drive himself in an old family vehicle. In 1993 he enrolled at the Catholic University of Uruguay to study law, graduating in 1998.
Political career In the 1999 general elections, Lacalle Pou was elected representative for Canelones, serving the 2000–2005 term. He was re-elected in 2004 under the Herrerist faction of the National Party, a movement founded by his great-grandfather, Luis Alberto de Herrera. In the 2009 general elections, he was elected for a third consecutive time and served until 2015. As leader of the opposition, he opposed some laws and principles of the past left-wing government. He defines himself as religious, which is why he emphasized his commitment to disincentiveize abortion, and resorting to it only when necessary.
Lacalle Pou was a candidate for Intendant of Canelones in the 2010 municipal election, obtaining 22.82% of the votes and being defeated by Marcos Carámbula of the Broad Front. He was the leader of the political lists 404 (Montevideo) and 400 (Canelones).
Presidential candidacies
2014 On 30 March 2014, Lacalle Pou launched his bid for the presidency. On 1 June 2014 he was nominated as candidate of his party for the presidential elections in October, in which he was elected Senator of the Republic. He was defeated on the second round of presidential election on 30 November 2014.
2019
In the 2019 presidential primaries, Lacalle Pou competed against Enrique Antía, Carlos Iafigliola, Jorge Larrañaga and the new candidate Juan Sartori. Lacalle Pou won by 53% of the votes, enough to announce Beatriz Argimón the same night of 30 June as a vice president candidate.
In the first round of the 2019 general election, held on Sunday, 27 October 2019, he obtained second place with 28.62% of the votes. As no presidential candidate received a majority of voting, a runoff election took place on 24 November. In the runoff, Luis Lacalle Pou garnered 48.71% of the unofficial vote. His opponent, Broad Front candidate and former intendant of Montevideo, Daniel Martínez obtained 47.51% of the vote. The Electoral Court of Uruguay published the official results Friday, 29 November 2019, as observed votes were still to be counted, totaling more than the difference between the two candidates, thus the difference being too close to do so. Daniel Martinez did not concede the results yet, awaiting the official count. Lacalle Pou unofficially declared himself the winner, as the votes already counted marked an irreversible trend. Martínez conceded defeat on 28 November 2019. On 30 November, final votes counts confirmed Lacalle Pou as the winner with 48.8% of the total votes cast over Martínez with 47.3%. He was the first National/Blanco candidate to win the presidency since his father left office in 1995. His election also marked only the fourth time in 154 years that the Blancos had been elected to lead the government.
President of Uruguay
Inauguration
Lacalle took office on 1 March 2020. After the constitutional oath before the General Assembly, he paraded down with Vice President Beatriz Argimón along Libertador Avenue in a 1937 Ford V8 convertible that belonged to his great-grandfather, Luis Alberto de Herrera. The parade ended in Plaza Independencia, where he received the presidential sash from the outgoing President Tabaré Vázquez.
With a coalition of five parties, ranging from the centre-left to the hard right, he intends to pursue a policy of austerity. During his campaign, he promised to cut government spending in order to reduce the public deficit. Claiming to be a liberal, he declared that he wanted to favour business leaders in the face of "tax pressure". He proposed before his inauguration to establish an attractive tax policy to attract wealthy foreigners. The left-wing party Frente Amplio deplores initiatives that could lead to a "setback" for the country, which risks becoming a "tax haven" again, as it was in the past.
Lacalle had announced during his electoral campaign the introduction of a package of government measures through an urgent consideration law, a prerogative of the Executive Power in Uruguay that allows it to send to the General Assembly a bill with a peremptory term of 90 days, expired which is approved in the affirmative form if the General Assembly is not issued to the contrary. The 2020 coronavirus pandemic delayed the presentation of the bill, which finally formally entered the Parliament on 23 April 2020.
Cabinet Lacalle announced his cabinet on 16 December 2019, which is formed by an electoral alliance, the Coalición Multicolor, which is made up of the National Party, the Colorado Party, Open Cabildo, the Independent Party and the Party of the People. He declared that it was going to be a "government of action", and that he wanted to form a "government that talks a lot with the people". Cabinet of Luis Lacalle Pou's GovernmentOfficeNamePolitical partyTermMinistry of National DefenseJavier García DuchiniNational1 March 2020 – 4 March 2024Armando CastaingdebatNational4 March 2024 – 1 March 2025Ministry of the InteriorJorge LarrañagaNational1 March 2020 – 22 May 2021Luis Alberto HéberNational24 May 2021 – 4 November 2023Nicolás MartinelliNational6 November 2023 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Foreign RelationsErnesto TalviColorado1 March 2020 – 6 July 2020Francisco Bustillononpartisan politician6 July 2020 – 1 November 2023Omar PaganiniNational6 November 2023 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Economy and FinanceAzucena ArbelecheNational1 March 2020 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Education and CulturePablo Da SilveiraNational1 March 2020 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Public HealthDaniel SalinasOpen Cabildo1 March 2020 – 13 March 2023Karina RandoOpen Cabildo13 March 2023 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Social DevelopmentPablo BartolNational1 March 2020 – 1 May 2021Martín LemaNational3 May 2021 – 4 March 2024Alejandro SciarraNational4 March 2024 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Labour and Social WelfarePablo MieresIndependent1 March 2020 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Transport and Public WorksLuis Alberto HéberNational1 March 2020 – 24 May 2021José Luis FaleroNational25 May 2021 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and FisheriesCarlos María UriarteColorado1 March 2020 – 27 June 2021Fernando MattosColorado27 June 2021 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Industry, Energy and MiningOmar PaganiniNational1 March 2020 – 4 November 2023Elisa FaccioNational6 November 2023 – 1 March 2025Ministry of Housing and Territorial PlanningIrene MoreiraOpen Cabildo1 March 2020 – 5 May 2023Raúl Lozano BonetOpen Cabildo9 May 2023 – 1 March 2025Ministry of TourismGermán CardosoColorado1 March 2020 – 22 March 2021Tabaré VieraColorado23 August 2021 – 11 March 2024Eduardo SanguinettiColorado11 March 2024 – 1 March 2025Ministry of EnvironmentAdrián PeñaColorado27 August 2020 – 30 January 2023Robert BouvierColorado1 February 2023 – 1 March 2025Secretariat of SportsSebastián BauzáNational1 March 2020 – 1 March 2025Secretariat of the PresidencyÁlvaro DelgadoNational1 March 2020 – 21 December 2023Rodrigo FerrésNational21 December 2023 – 1 March 2025Deputy Secretariat of the PresidencyRodrigo FerrésNational1 March 2020 – 21 December 2023Mariana CabreraNational21 December 2023 – 1 March 2025Office of Planning and BudgetIsaac AlfieColorado1 March 2020 – 15 December 2023Fernando BlancoNational15 December 2023 – 1 March 2025
Foreign policy