There are various Spanish speaking countries in the world.  These countries consist of Spain (Madrid), Equatorial Guinea (Malabo), Mexico (Mexico City), Guatemala (Guatemala City), Honduras (Tegucigalpa), El Salvador (San Salvador), Nicaragua (Managua), Costa Rica (San Jose), Panama (Panama City), Cuba (Havana), Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), Puerto Rico (San Juan), Venezuela (Caracas), Colombia (Bogota), Ecuador (Quito), Peru (Lima), Bolivia (La Paz/Sucre), Paraguay (Asuncion), Chile (Santiago), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Uruguay (Montevideo).

          Uruguay is located in Eastern South America which is South of the United States.

Uruguay is slightly smaller than the state of Washington and the climate is much like the climate of Massachusetts. It is hot in the summer and cool in the winter.  The terrain is very fertile around the coastal land and consists of plains and low hills.

          Uruguay was founded by the Charrua Indians who were driven out of Paraguay by the Guarani Indians.  In 1516 Uruguay was discovered by the Spanish and they brought over cattle which was a huge source of wealth in the region. 

          There is a wide range of ethnicity in Uruguay. There are Europeans, Africans, and Asians that live in Uruguay. Religions range from Roman Catholic to Protestant and Jewish.  There are 3.3 million people currently living in Uruguay.  The majority of people speak Spanish and Uruguay is 98% literate. 

          The economy of Uruguay is one of the most developed in Latin America.  Their main natural resources are arable land, pastures, granite, marble, fisheries, and hydroelectric power.  Their main source of income is through agriculture.  Uruguay exports products such as beef, wool, rice, wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, fish, and forestry.  They also get a lot of money through industry. Some examples would be food processing, electrical machinery, textiles, leather apparel, tobacco, chemicals, cement, transportation equipment, and petroleum products.

          Uruguay declared their independence on August 25, 1825. Their current government is a Presidential Representative Democratic Republic.  They have a president that has a term of five years. Presidents cannot have a term in consecutive years, but they can run in later elections. They have a thirty member Senate and a ninety-nine member Chamber of Deputies. The Senate and Chamber of Deputies makes up the General Assembly. They have a Supreme Court with lower and appellate courts.  The current president is Tabare Ramon Vazquez Rosas. Their minister of foreign affairs is Pedro Humberto Vaz Ramela. The Ambassador to the United States is Carlos Alberto Gianelli Derois. The Ambassador to the United Nations is Jose Luis Cancela. The Ambassador to the OAS is Dr. Lujan Flores. Uruguay has an Embassy in the United States.  It was opened in 1913 and is located in Washington DC.  Uruguay also has consulates in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and New York.

          Right now, in Uruguay, Tabare Rosas is working to solve poverty and lower the unemployment rate.  Rosas also tried to re-examine the human rights abuses that were committed during the military dictatorship. They also just had their presidential and parliamentary elections on October 25, 2009. The Municipal elections will be held in May of 2010.