Global Voices » Mario Blanco

Uruguay: Mujica is President After Run-off Election

Mario Blanco — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:45:24 +0000

The new president of Uruguay has finally been elected: José “Pepe” Mujica [es], candidate from left-wing party The Broad Front, obtained the majority of the votes on the run-off election of November 29. The first round of voting for president occurred the last Sunday of October, with no candidate reaching the majority required. Mujica held the leadership then with his running mate, the now vicepresident-elect Danilo Astori, as he received 48.16% of the votes.

Photo of José Mujica by Agência Brasil. Taken from Wikipedia, using a Creative Commons License: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica

According to Portal 180 [es], Mujica is the first former guerrilla member that reaches the presidential chair of Uruguay. He was part of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros (National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros) during the 60s and fought the government of Jorge Pacheco Areco. He was involved in armed actions such as Toma de Pando [es] (Pando takeover) and Fuga de Punta Carretas (Punta Carretas escape, an epic prison break recently featured on a documentary by History Channel [es]).

Mujica also founded the Movimiento de Participación Popular [es] (Movement of Popular Participation), which led him to hold assigments as deputy, senator and more recently as Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries minister.

“Ni vencidos, ni vencedores” (”Neither losers nor winners”) was the phrase that the president-elect used to sum up his victory.

Strong opinions about the result of the election can be read on the blogosphere. The reaction of the anonymous author of the leisure-oriented blog Ociomentario [es] can be understood as disappointment:

URUGUAY ELIGIÓ POR PRIMERA VEZ EN SU HISTORIA UN PRESIDENTE ASESINO

For the first time in history Uruguay elected a murderer president

To the author of the political-oriented blog ElPolvorin [es], the elected president represents a fake change:

como el nuevo portavoz del neo liberalismo en Uruguay disfrazado de Izquierdista, continua la política digitada por el FMI [Fondo Monetario Internacional], con dos caras y dos discursos, uno cuando viaje a Venezuela y el otro cuando viaje a EEUU, como Tabare .
Nada habrá que esperar de estos nuevos neo liberales, “vuelve el pobre a su pobreza, vuelve el rico a su riqueza”.

as the new speaker of neoliberalism in Uruguay in left-wing disguise, he will continue the IMF [International Monetary Fund] policies, with two faces and two lines of discourse, one used in travels to Venezuela and the other one in travels to US, like [current president] Tabare.
Nothing to be expected from these new neoliberals, “the poor returns to his poverty, the rich returns to his richness”.

On the side that celebrates the president-elect, blogger Antonio Giossa, who is uruguayan but lives in Argentina, explains [es] that Mujica won the election because of three main points:

Primero y principal, será la continuidad del actual gobierno frenteamplista. Si bien su estilo lo diferencia un poco de Tabaré Vázquez, Mujica cumplirá a rajatabla el lineamiento planteado por el Programa Político del Frente Amplio.
Segundo, su personalidad y su carisma. Campechano, frontal, honesto, sin pelos en la lengua. Algo que a veces puede jugar en contra y cosechar rechazos, pero que también ha logrado generar una confianza casi absoluta de parte de los votantes y simpatizantes.
Tercero, el Frente Amplio logró demostrar, a partir del año 2004, que es una fuerza política que sabe ejercer el gobierno en forma responsable, efectiva y con un solo objetivo en mente: el bienestar del pueblo.

First and more importantly, it is the continuity of the current Broadfrontal government. If his style separates him a little from Tabaré Vázquez, Mujica will accomplish in all matters the line established by the Programa Político del Frente Amplio (Political Program of the Broad Front).
Second, his personality and charisma. Small-towness appeal, frontal, honest, tough talker. [It is] Something that could be used against him and harvest rejections, but that can also gain almost absolute reliability on him by voters and followers. Third, since 2004 The Broad Front has proved that it is a political power that can enforce government in a responsible and effective way, with only one goal in mind: welfare for the country.

Mujica will be sworn in as president on March 2010 for a 5-year term.

Translated by Issa Villarreal

Uruguay: Two Plebiscites Fail to Pass

Mario Blanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:00:27 +0000

On the same day as the Presidential elections in Uruguay, two ballot questions were presented to voters. One of the questions asked whether the hundreds of thousands of Uruguayans living abroad should have the right to the epistolary or consular vote. The debate was based on whether or not those that live outside of the country should have the right to elect who will govern those still living in Uruguay.

At the website Voto x Uruguay [es] (I Vote for Uruguay), there are many videos with messages of support for this motion by Uruguayans living abroad. who want the right to vote. There were videos submitted from Canada, Spain, France, and the United States. This video created in the Spanish city of Ferrol shows a group of Uruguayan ex-pats, who gathered to simulate a vote, as a way to show their support for their right to vote.

However, the result on election day was “No,” with only 36.93% voting “Yes.”

The other plebiscite that attracted more attention and caused more sad and surprise reactions, was the question that attempted to annul the Law of Expiration [es]. This current Uruguayan law establishes that the crimes committed by the military and the police during the last civic-military dictatorship, which included multiple violations of human rights, would remain with amnesty.

The United Nations has observed the law, and it has also been repudiated by the Organization of American States [es]. However, in the end the vote results to annul the law reached 47.36%, and it did not reach the necessary 50% + 1.

This result caused strong and sad reactions from the various online communities. In Facebook, for example, in the two days following the vote, there were a large number of groups created, such as Parliament Should Annul the Law of Expiration [es], I Cannot Believe that the Law was not Annulled [es], National Mourning [es], and I Will Never Forget [es].

For some, like 19-year-old Mauricio P. Milano of the blog Montevideo Blogger [es] writes why he neither voted “no,” nor “yes” in the question:

Aunque ya saben que afortunadamente no me tocó vivir la época de la dictadura en Uruguay, con los pocos años que tengo ya he vivido lo suficiente como para escuchar cientos de relatos sobre esta historia, a favor de los militares y a favor de los tupamaros. Quizás el eclecticismo que me caracteriza sea propio de una generación que vino después que se calmaron las aguas, como la mía; pero la opinión que he venido a formar de todo esto es que ambos grupos estuvieron mal, hubo crímenes (secuestros, asesinatos) de los dos lados y en realidad ninguno de ellos puede lavarse las manos de lo que han hecho. Esto es históricamente innegable. Y no voy a volver a comentar lo hipócrita que es el simple hecho de que, ante tal evidencia, uno de los presidenciables en estas elecciones nacionales pertenezca al grupo de los tupamaros, porque ya me expresé sobre esto en la primera parte de este post (click acá para leer).

Lo que quiero decir hoy, a favor de la justicia y del derecho de elección que tienen quienes estuvieron involucrados en esta historia, es que considero inaceptable que mi generación deba cargar con la decisión de anular o no la Ley de Caducidad. Por el simple hecho de que no lo vivimos y nunca vamos a entender la verdadera profundidad de los conceptos que encierra, porque no tenemos nada que ver con eso. En pocas palabras, no tenemos por qué asumir las cagadas que hicieron los que vinieron antes que nosotros. Y decir esto no es mirar para el costado. En todo caso, es mirar para adelante. La sociedad, como cada una de las personas que la compone, tiene heridas. Y como heridas que son, es obvio que arden. Pero como heridas que son, cuanto más se las revuelva, más van a tardar en cerrar. No voy a dejar que lo que pasó antes contamine a mi generación, no quiero esa enfermedad social.

Even though fortunately, I was not alive during the dictatorship era in Uruguay, with the few years that I have already lived, I have already heard hundreds of stories about this history, in favor of the military and in favor of the (guerrilla group) Tupamaros. Maybe the eclecticism that characterizes me as typical of a generation that came after the waters subsided, like mine, but the opinion that I have been formulating from all this is that both groups were wrong, there were crimes (kidnappings, murders) from both sides and in reality, neither can wash their hands of what they have done. This is historically undeniable. I will not comment on the hypocrisy of the simple fact that one of the Presidential candidates belonged to the Tupamaros, because I have already commented on it on this post [es].

What I want to say today, in favor of justice and the right to choose by those who were involved in that history, is that I consider it to be unacceptable that my generation must bear the weight of the decision to annul or not the Law of Expiration. For the simple fact that we did not live it and we will never understand the true profundity of the concepts that it involves, because we had nothing to do with it. In fewer words, we do not need to assume the mistakes made by those that came before us. To say this does not mean to look the other way. In any case, it is to look ahead. Society, like each of the person who is a part of it, has wounds. Since they are wounds, it is obvious that they burn. Since they are wounds, the more that they are stirred, the longer it takes to close. I will not let what happened before, contaminate my generation, I do not want that social disease.

Finally, in Asi Ta'l Mundo, Botija [es], there are thoughts on why the law was not annulled. He writes that these plebiscites should not be conducted on the same day as elections because too many are overwhelmed and that the information does not arrive as it should.

Translation by Eduardo Ávila

Uruguay: Presidential Election Heads for Runoff

Mario Blanco — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:42:28 +0000

Presidential elections in Uruguay were held on Sunday, October 25, and no one can say who will become the next President because no candidate received the required majority (50% + 1). In this situation, the election will go to the next round in a run-off election on November 29, 2009.

The Broad Front candidate, Senator José Mujica, was the closest to the majority needed receiving 48.16% of the votes. In second place, the National Party candidate Luis A. Lacalle, received 28.9% of the vote, still giving him a chance to win and who will face Mujica in the run-off election. In third place, the Colored Party received 16.66% of the vote, considered to be an internal victory for its followers. This party had fallen in past elections, after being the governing party for many years. Now, under the leadership of Pedro Bordaberry, the son of ex-dictator Juan M. Bordaberry, the party has grown more than expected as indicated in earlier surveys.

Graphic by Jorge Oyhenard and used with permission.

The 4th political party, the Independent Party, did not achieve the necessary percentage to obtain a Senate seat, receiving only 2.47% of the vote. It did, however, manage to elect two deputies to Parliament.

The reactions from the various parties were surprising, as noted by the blog Asi Ta'l Mundo Botija [es], who makes references to the contradictions. The party that celebrated the most was the one that received the least number of votes, and on the contrary, those who received the highest percentage appeared to be sad:

Muchos se lo tomaron como sorpresa o como triunfo, y no fue, a mi entender, “ni chicha ni limonada”. Por lo menos para mi no fue sorpresa. Que había quienes pensaban (o soñaban) que el Frente Amplio ganaba en primera vuelta, cierto. Pero no creo que esa gente deba estar triste. Por otro lado, el Partido Nacional logró menos del 30% que estimaban las encuestadoras; sin embargo el festejo de muchos de sus simpatizantes fue como si hubieran ganado la copa del mundo. Y los del Partido Colorado también festejaron y mucho. Fue el tercero en el conteo de votos, pero así es este país.

Many took (the results) as a surprise or as a victory, and it was not, in my understanding, “not one or the other.” At least for me, it was not a surprise. There were those who thought (or dreamed) that the Broad Front would win in the first round. I don't think those people should be sad. On the other hand, the National Party received less than the 30% predicted by the surveys; nevertheless, the celebration by many of their followers were as if they had won the World cup. The Colored Party also celebrated a lot. They came in third place after the vote tally, that is how this country is.

He also provides some thoughts on why the Broad Front did not win outright in the first round:

Bueh, aunque se me enojen algunos lectores, pienso que uno de los factores es que la fórmula debió ser al revés. O sea, Astori a Presidente y Mujica a Vice. Mujica es un tipo al que admiro. Dice las cosas de frente, no es políticamente correcto, no es tan hipócrita o falluto, como venimos acostumbrados por estos lares. Pero … La gente lo eligió, por encima de Astori, quien tiene lo dicho por Mujica, más que es el tipo que más sabe de economía en este país, reconocido por gente de la oposición. Esto le hubiese bastado para atraer gente de otros sectores políticos.

Well, even though I may make some readers angry, I think one of the reasons was that the ticket should have been the other way around. In other words, (Danilo) Astori for President and Mujica for Vice-President. I admire Mujica. He says things in a straightforward manner, he is not politically correct, he is not that much of a hypocrite or a person that fails, which are things we are accustomed to around here. But … the people elected him over Astori, even though (Astori) is the person who knows the most about the economy in this country, recognized by the opposition. This would have been enough to attract people from other political sectors.

However, another blogger known as La Ciudadana (The Citizen) wrote in her blog Qué pasa Uruguay? [es] that the Broad Front should think about what went wrong:

El Frente Amplio, sin embargo, deberá tener autocrítica, deberán pensar un poco dónde se equivocaron, porque contaban con el 60% de aprobación al presidente (cosa que dudo y dudaré), contaron con todo el aparato propagandístico del gobierno que hasta el día antes, estuvo poniendo su cuota de apoyo, contaron con mucho dinero para la propaganda, con la salida de los ministros haciendo también lo suyo, en fin, contaban con un aparato importante en su beneficio, pero igualmente no llegaron, fue un día negro si se quiere, porque aparentemente no lograron mayorías parlamentarias, no se si se confirmó ya o aún no, no lograron sacar los pleibiscitos adelante, y no ganaron en primera vuelta que era su principal objetivo.

The Broad Front, however, should self-criticize itself, it should think a little bit about where they went wrong, because they had 60% approval rates of the (current President Tabaré Vásquez from the Broad Front party) President (something I doubt and will doubt), they had all of the propaganda apparatus of the government that up until a day before the elections, had been contributing its support, they had a lot of money for advertising, with the Cabinet also campaigning, in the end, they had an important apparatus for its benefit, but all the same, they did not reach the necessary number of votes, it was a dark day, one might say, because apparently they did not reach parliamentarian majorities, which is not yet confirmed, they did not win in the referenda, and they did not win in the first round, which was the primary goal.

Graphic by Jorge Oyhenard and used with permission.

In Parliament, there was suspense from the public whether any party would obtain the majority of the seats. The Broad Front Party will have 16 seats in the Senate, while the National Party and Colored Party gained 9 seats and 5 seats, respectively. In the Chamber of Deputies, there will be 50 representatives from the Broad Front Party, 30 National Party members, 17 Colored Party members, and 2 from the Independent Party.

The blog Mujeres y Elecciones 2009 en Uruguay [es] (Women and Elections 2009 in Uruguay) has been providing coverage about issues affecting Uruguayan women throughout the campaign, and notes that 6 women Senators had been elected from the Broad Front party.

The strategies for the next round [es] has already started. According to surveys, it is expected that the Broad Front Party will continue to govern the country and that Mujica will win the run-off election. The Colored Party candidate, Bordaberry, has already said publicly that he will support Lacalle [es]. The blog Visión Universitaria [es] alludes to this union of the Colorado and National Parties, calling them the “Rosados” (the Pinks). However, even with this support, it does not appear that the National Party candidate will have enough votes to beat Mujica.

Translation by Eduardo Ávila

Uruguay: Election Season Underway

Mario Blanco — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:39:52 +0000

Uruguay is experiencing, as it does every 5 years, an electoral process that will be decided on Sunday, October 25. However, if one candidate does not receive the majority of votes, then a run-off election will take place on the last Sunday in November. This is part of a busy 12 months in the electoral calendar in Uruguay, as “internal elections” or party elections took place last June, followed by the presidential elections, and municipal elections in May 2010.

There are many political parties in contention, but the list is reduced when referring to the parties that really have the chance to gain, at least one, parliamentary seat. These parties include the National Party (White Party), considered to be one of the traditional parties and is the main opponent of the current government. Others include the Broad Front, which is the current government, and is considered to left-leaning and can also be considered to be a “traditional” party, despite being a young party.

Photo of campaign propaganda in Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay taken by Marisali and used under a Creative Commons license.

The major contenders for the presidential seat are considered to be the Broad Front and the National Party. One of the major candidates is already well-known to Uruguayans. Dr. Luis A. Lacalle, the National Party candidate, was President of Uruguay from 1999-2004 and is considered to be a major rival for the Broad Front.

On the other hand, their candidate is a very colorful figure, who is often seen far from typical political protocol or convention. José “El Pepe” Mujica has had a history with the National Liberation Movement “Tupamaros” in the 1960s, where he participated in guerrilla operations, arrested 4 times, and twice escaped from the Punta Carretas prison. In all, Mujica spent 15 years of his life in jail, with his last period of detention being between 1972-1985. When the military dictatorship ended, and democracy returned to the country, Mujica changed his weapons, and has been a deputy and a senator. In the current government, he was the Minister of Livestock and Agriculture.

The blogger Jorge Oyhenard takes a look at how various candidates are using the internet to spread their campaign [es]. He notes that most parties and candidates have their own website, but they have yet to maximize the use of web 2.0 and social networking sites.

With the stage set, there are few topics of discussion. Public security is a concern due to the wave of crime over the past few years, as well as the issue of taxes. However, the current campaign is already filled with usual campaign rhetoric as the blog Uy Elecciones [es] describes:

Si un marciano encayara en Uruguay (podría ser en otros muchos países) y lee los programas de gobierno de los (o escucha a los) diferentes partidos políticos se encontraría con una grata sorpresa: a todos ahora les importa la justicia social (planes para ayudar a los más desfavorecidos, educación y salud más equitativas, etc.), alguna que otra cosa del medio ambiente, los beneficios para los pasivos (y si, hay que nombrarlos que cada vez son más), la transparencia (a esta altura ésta podría ser ya una política de Estado, todos la apoyan (que bueno, no?)).
Y así estamos; esas “semejanzas” condimentadas con la publicidad medio-masiva moderna electoral crean como una nube gris, en la cual es comprensible caer en la de “son todo lo mismo”.

If a Martian landed on Uruguay (or in other countries) and reads the governmental proposals from the (or hears from) different political party, then he would find a pleasant surprise” now everyone cares about social justice (plans to help the most unfortunate, fairer education and health, etc.), as well as the environment, benefits for those who have retired (and yes, one must name those that are more each day), transparency (at this point this could already be State policy, everyone supports it, that is good, right?) There we have it; these similarities flavored with the modern electoral mass-media publicity creates a gray cloud, in which it is understandable to fall in the way of thinking that “they are all the same.”