500 Nuevos Pesos 9 de Febrero de 1973 Dam

Uruguay's 1983 coinage came during the final stretch of the military dictatorship that had seized power in June 1973 — just months after the February date commemorated on this coin. The "9 de Febrero de 1973" refers to a staged address by President Juan María Bordaberry to the armed forces, effectively the opening move of the coup process that formalized civilian-military co-governance before the outright takeover. Striking a commemorative coin honoring that date, a decade later, was an unambiguous act of institutional self-congratulation by a regime then negotiating its own exit.

The dam series issued under KM#82 references the Salto Grande hydroelectric project on the Uruguay River, completed in cooperation with Argentina in 1979.