Outside, a kiosk owner stuck his head out from among the magazines and newspapers to call out, ''I'm with you, Mr. Batlle a thumbs-up sign, refused to take his money. So goes the daily round of testaments to the extraordinary political popularity of this member of Uruguay's most famous political family - extraordinary because in the eyes of Uruguay's year-old military regime, Mr. Batlle does not exist politically. He is one of a handful of Uruguayan civilian political leaders who are ''proscribed'' from participating in any way in politics, including voting.
When Busqueda, Uruguay's only news magazine, ran an interview with Mr. Batlle last month, the regime closed it down for five weeks. A Symbol of Opposition. Yet the year-old Mr. Batlle pronounced BAH-jay , son of a President, great-nephew and great-great-nephew of Presidents, and a man himself raised to be President, has perhaps more than anyone come to symbolize opposition to the regime's authoritarian rule.
Among the memorabilia in his study is a statue of his great-uncle, Jose Batlle y Ordonez, who was President in the early part of the century and who introduced a social welfare system that was among the aspects of European life that led this country to be called the Switzerland of South America. In his modestly appointed penthouse apartment, the lanky Mr.
Batlle holds court most mornings with political leaders around the country. He continually makes jokes, often at his visitors' expense. Game, set, point, match, ciao. Batlle was referring to negotiations scheduled to begin next month between opposition leaders and the Government of President Gregorio Alvarez, a retired general, on a new constitution.
The military, having lost two nonbinding national votes, has promised to hold national elections in November and step down in March The regime's first defeat came in a plebiscite it called two years ago on a proposed constitution that would have essentially perpetuated military power. It lost by roughly a to margin. Parties Elect Delegates. Then in the first step of the military's timetable for a return to democracy, the country's two main political parties, the Colorados and the Blancos, and a new party, the Civic Union Party, held party elections three months ago to select national convention delegates.
