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NEWS & LETTERS, November 2004Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry
Uruguay vote
The leftist coalition, Frente Amplio, won the
presidential election in Uruguay on Oct. 31, the first time that a party other
than the two traditional ruling parties has come to power. Tabare Vasquez, an
oncologist and former mayor of the capital, Montevideo, will become president. Uruguay's people have suffered greatly since the
Argentine crisis began in 1999, a country which, along with Brazil, it is
tightly tied to economically. There has been a massive migration of the
country's youth in the past several years, and unemployment has reached 20%
since a crippling recession in 2002. The country, once referred to as the
"Switzerland of the Americas," now has the highest rate of suicide in
Latin America. Though Uruguay is a tiny country of 3.4 million people,
with about half the population in the capital, parallels have been drawn between
this contest and Lula's victory in Brazil. The Frente, founded in 1971, has
abandoned many of its original bedrock demands such as nonpayment of the foreign
debt, and Vasquez appears to be following to the letter Lula's example of not
alienating the IMF and other international lenders. The victory is being applauded by many leftists
throughout Latin America as a positive step away from unquestioned adherence to
neo-liberal restructuring. However others in the region, also within the Left,
point to the fact that a significant sector of the bourgeoisie in Uruguay is
welcoming the Frente's attempt to "administer the crisis" that it
itself cannot seem to contain. --Mitch Weerth |
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