Luis Hierro López

Luis Antonio Hierro López (born June 6, 1947 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan political figure.

Luis Antonio Hierro López is a prominent member of the Uruguayan Colorado Party, and is from a distinguished political family. His father was Luis Hierro Gambardella, former Minister, Deputy for Treinta y Tres and Senator. His grandfather was Luis Hierro, also a former Deputy for Treinta y Tres.

He served as a Senator, and as Ministry of the Interior. He served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Uruguay from 1989 to 1990.

Hierro López was Vice President of Uruguay from 2000 to 2005, under the Presidency of Jorge Batlle.

Historical note

Hierro was the thirteenth person to hold the office of Vice President of Uruguay. The office dates from 1934, when Alfredo Navarro became Uruguay's first Vice President.

He was succeeded in 2005 as Vice President by Rodolfo Nin Novoa.

While among the more experienced members of the Colorado Party to have held office, Hierro López has been somewhat eclipsed within the party by the activities of Pedro Bordaberry Herrán, whose 'Vamos Uruguay' grouping (see: Pedro Bordaberry#Formation of Vamos Uruguay) has drawn supporters away from older, more traditional figures such as Hierro López. Both of them are candidates for the Presidency for the Colorado Party in the next elections in 2009, but polls in late 2008, assumed to be broadly accurate, showed Bordaberry as the runaway favourite for the nomination, with Hierro trailing badly. Hierro has also suffered the loss of personal support from among former close party colleagues, including Ope Pasquet Iribarne, who in 2007 endorsed Pedro Bordaberry's 'Vamos Uruguay' grouping.

Resignation of Interior minister Tourné

In June 2009 Interior Minister Daisy Tourné, of the Broad Front Alliance, made a speech in which she referred to Hierro López as a 'donkey' and to former President Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera in terms widely regarded as obscenely indiscreet. The Minister's resignation followed the controversy which ensued.

Hierro provokes election tensions within the Colorado party

In an effort to bolster his candidacy, in June 2009 Hierro publicly attempted to discredit fellow candidate Pedro Bordaberry Herrán by suggesting that his surname was a hindrance to his bid for office; in a muted response, Bordaberry - a former government colleague of his - wished him well and recalled that Hierro himself had campaigned for him during municipal elections some years previously.