| Gustavo Salle | |
| Office: | National Representative |
| Term Start: | 15 February 2025 |
| Birth Name: | Gustavo Alberto Salle Lorier |
| Birth Date: | 19 March 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Party: | Sovereign Identity (since 2022) |
| Otherparty: |
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| Education: | University of the Republic |
| Constituency: | Montevideo |
| Spouse: | Alba Pereira |
| Children: | 2 |
Gustavo Alberto Salle Lorier (born March 19, 1958) is a Uruguayan lawyer and politician who will serve as National Representative from February 15, 2025. Founder and leader of the Sovereign Identity party, he was a presidential candidate in the 2019 and 2024 general elections.
Graduated from the University of the Republic with a law degree, gained notoriety by filing criminal complaints against members of the Broad Front governments and for his activism against the installation of the UPM-Kymmene cellulose production plants in Uruguay.[1] Salle is widely known for his flamboyant personality, aggressive and anti-establishment rhetoric and embrace of conspiracy theories, including the New World Order, that of the so-called "kleptocorporatocracy" or government of the corporations and that of the Judeo-Masonic secret coalition.[2] [3]
Salle Lorier was born in Montevideo on March 19, 1958, the youngest child of Ariel Salle, an administrative employee at a car importing company, and Esther Lorier, a schoolteacher.[4] His brother Carlos Salle was a professor at the Faculty of Dentistry before he died.[5] He was raised in the Sayago neighborhood in a middle-class family and attended public schools. His parents were supporters of the Colorado Party and campaigned for Battlism during the leadership of Luis Batlle Berres.[6]
In 1976 he enrolled at the University of the Republic and graduated with a law degree in 1982.[7] He gained notoriety for taking several legal actions and making outrageous accusations, such as that former president Tabaré Vázquez was a "CIA agent" and a request for the extradition of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for being the "ideologist" of Operation Condor.[8] [9] [10] He also filed charges against high-ranking politicians, such as Vice President Raúl Fernando Sendic, for "usurpation of a university degree" in 2016, as well as against other government officials during the Broad Front administrations for cases of corruption and mishandling of public funds.[11] [12]
In his youth, Salle supported the Broad Front, however after the party reached the presidency for the first time, he disaffiliated from it and had approaches to the Popular Assembly.[13]
In addition to his legal career, he has been an anti-imperialist and "anti-corporate" activist.[14] Since the announcement of the installation of a second cellulose pulp plant by the Finnish company UPM-Kymmene Oyj in Uruguay, Salle has staunchly opposed it.[15] In May 2019, he chained himself in Plaza Independencia in front of the Executive Tower, alleging that the contract that was signed was "null, criminal, and abusive, in addition to having a genocidal projection because it contaminates the water that we give them and they return contamination to us".[16]
Salle has been characterized by a radical, aggressive and anti-establishment discourse, even insulting some political leaders.[17] For several years, during official events in Florida for Independence Day attended by the president of the Republic and government officials, he has appeared with megaphones to protest and to interrupt the speeches.[18] [19]
Despite being raised Catholic, he is an atheist.[20]
| Election | Office | List | Votes | . | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | . | |||||
| 2019 | President of Uruguay | Green Animalist Party | 19,392 | 0.80% | 9th | ||
| 2024 | Sovereign Identity | 65,796 | 2.69 % | 4th | [21] | ||