is likely that Gardel never registered; his name is not found on any lists of registrants. Uruguay maintained a neutrality policy during the war, so Gardel probably chose Uruguayan citizenship on that basis. In 1967, writer Erasmo Silva Cabrera started the modern dispute over Gardel's birthplace when he published arguments describing Gardel as having been born in Tacuarembó, Uruguay. Nelson Bayardo wrote a similar book in 1988. In 1990, Eduardo Payssé González published a book containing many biographical details supporting a birthplace of Tacuarembó. The story is that Gardel was born in 1887 the son of influential Uruguayan landowner Carlos Escayola and Escayola's sister-in-law, 13-year-old Maria Lelia Oliva. The unwanted boy, named Carlos, was offered to Bertha Gardes who was passing through the area on a cabaret dance tour. Gardes took the boy back to France, where she was from. Later, she and the boy traveled again, this time to Buenos Aires, where they settled. This version of events conflicts with scholarly accounts describing Gardes as an ordinary woman who ironed and pressed clothing in Toulouse in 1890, not a touring dancer. After Gardel's death, his legal representative, Armando Defino, produced a handwritten will which he said was written by Gardel himself, stating he was born in Toulouse, France, to Berthe Gardes (1865–1943), and baptized with the name of Charles Romuald Gardes. This statement agrees with the original birth certificate registered in Toulouse on 11 December 1890. In his youth in Buenos Aires, Gardel's group of close friends called him "El francesito" (Frenchie), acknowledging his French origin. After 1920, Gardel gave contradictory and evasive stories about his birthplace, most likely because of the false papers he had filed. Reporters often wrote that Gardel was Uruguayan, born in Tacuarembó. In the newspaper El Telégrafo (Paysandú, Uruguay, 25 October 1933), Gardel was reported as saying, "I'm Uruguayan, born in Tacuarembó". In the June 1935 issue of Caretas magazine of Antioquia, Colombia, Gardel was reported as saying, "My heart is Argentinian, but my soul is Uruguayan, because that is where I was born". In 1931, Gardel wrote in a witnessed document, "I am French, born in Toulouse, 11 December 1890, son of Berthe Gardes." Compositions Gardel wrote the music and Alfredo Le Pera the lyrics for the following compositions: Amargura (tango) Amores de Estudiante (waltz) Apure, Delantero Buey (song) Arrabal Amargo (tango) Caminito Soleado (song) Cheating Muchachita Criollita, decí que sí (song) Cuesta