5000 Nuevos Pesos Hydroelectricity, Pattern strike

Uruguay's 1981 pattern coinage was produced during the military dictatorship that had governed since 1973, a period when the central bank periodically commissioned trial strikes to evaluate proposed denominations and designs without committing to full production runs. Most never reached circulation. The hydroelectricity theme almost certainly references the Salto Grande dam on the Uruguay River, a binational project with Argentina completed in 1979 after decades of negotiation — one of the few infrastructure achievements the regime actively promoted.