Former Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez died Sunday at the age of 80 from lung cancer, his family announced, Agence France-Presse reported.

"With deep pain we communicate the death of our beloved father," his sons Alvaro, Javier and Ignacio Vazquez said in a statement.

The statement added that Vazquez died at 3am local time "due to natural causes of his oncological disease."

Tabare Vazquez held the office of Uruguayan President until 2010 and again from 2015 until March this year.