Despite the fact that Uruguay is known for its Europeanized culture, the black minority, which constitutes about two percent of the population, has exercised an influence on urban popular culture that greatly exceeds its numbers. Candombe, an Afro-Uruguayan rhythm and dance rooted in carnival festivities, has become a main component of Montevidean music over the years, and is in fact, one of its foundations. Candombe's continuity, however, was severely jeopardized during the 1970s when the military dictatorship attacked every manifestation of popular culture not adhering to its ideological framework. Candombe, once the cultural expression of a minority, then folklorized and duly acculturated by hegemonic society (Certeau, Heterologies 124-25), suddenly became politicized; what was once a well-tamed and almost fossilized manifestation of Uruguayan liberalism reterritorialized Uruguayan culture in an unprecedented manner. In its itinerary from the peripheral to center stage, and in the context of a more ample carnivalization of culture, candombe developed into a symbol of resistance to neofascism; thus its popularity transcended the boundaries of its minority audience and/or the framework of traditional carnival, to become the foremost representation of Montevidean popular culture.