[News] There was another election: the left won

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There was another election: the left won

http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=35029

by Dawn Paley
November 5, 2004

The election

The streets in Montevideo were wild with enthusiasm last Sunday night, as 
Tabaré Vázquez, leader of the left-leaning Frente Amplio coalition, 
announced his presidency from the balcony of the El Presidente hotel. 
Standing in a press room among middle-aged career journalists pulling on 
cigarettes and watching the event on television, I could hear the roar of 
the crowd outside. Outside was where the people were, where the life was, 
and where the journalists should have been. Outside, the streets told me a 
story that a press conference never could.

All kinds of people were jammed together on 18 de Julio, Montevideo's main 
street: men with flags wrapped around them, face painters donning red, 
white and blue paint, little girls with big eyes watching their parents 
embrace in joy, wandering vendors selling candied apples and cotton candy 
amidst the crowd. At the height of festivities, people were still polite 
and cautious, save for the folks who were making up for lost time on the 
two day pre-election liquor ban.

Despite the enthusiasm, singing and dancing, Uruguayans kept a cool head 
about the future of their country. On the corner of 18 de Julio, near the 
Social Science building of the State University, I met Agustin Fernandez. 
He is a young Uruguayan who voted for a radical faction within the Frente 
Amplio coalition. In his opinion, the new government will be “a government 
like Lula in Brazil or Chavez in Venezuela. Left to North Americans, maybe, 
but in substance, centre... still, it's a step in the right direction.” 
Just what does a step in the right direction mean for Uruguayans?

The context

Between 1973 and 1985, Uruguay was home to one of Latin America's most 
repressive military dictatorships. According to U.S. foreign policy 
researcher William Blum, Uruguay “had, at one point, the largest number of 
political prisoners per capita in the world.” Two hundred Uruguayans were 
“disappeared” by the military during the dictatorship, and according to 
current Uruguayan law, the case is closed on the dictatorship and its 
perpetrators.

For Alba Gonzalez Souza, whose son disappeared in 1976, there is real hope 
that a process will be started by the Frente Amplio to address the cases of 
“disappeared” people, who have been made invisible in Uruguayan political 
life. In reference to the new Frente Amplio government, Souza says, “We 
have fought for thirty years for this, all the dead, all the disappeared, 
this is their fight. It's not really a leftist government, but it's close.”

In 2002, Uruguay experienced an economic crisis that saw a sharp increase 
in poverty, and the unemployment rate spiked to 20 per cent before settling 
at its current level of 15 per cent. Eduardo Galeano wrote in 1999 that, 
“Twenty-some years ago, the military dictatorship forced many people into 
exile. Now, in a democracy, the economy is driving them out of the country 
in even greater numbers.” Graffiti on the streets proclaims “no more tears: 
emigrate to the U.S.” and it is estimated that 40,000 (out of a population 
of 3.4 million) Uruguayans emigrated between June 2001 and May 2002. With 
an economic crisis and population exodus of such proportions, change was 
the only option for Uruguay.

The election of the Frente Amplio is a historic break from the domination 
of the conservative Blanco and Colorado parties, who have controlled 
democratic life in the country for the better part of the last hundred 
years. Uruguay, in North American political parlance, is readily prefaced 
by something along the lines of “tiny U.S. ally” most recently following 
former President Jorge Batlle's strong allegiance to U.S. policies.

While Argentina may have been known as the “IMF's star pupil” before its 
economic crisis in 2001, Uruguay in recent years could certainly be known 
as the “U.S.'s star pupil.” According to the U.S. state department website, 
“under President Batlle, Uruguay has been particularly open to increasing 
ties with the United States” and of late has acted as local champion of the 
unpopular Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement.

The Frente Amplio coalition formed 30 years ago, and held a minority of 
seats in parliament when the military dictatorship assumed control of the 
country in 1973. In their early incarnation, the FA was a radical party, 
demanding land reforms and questioning the role of big banks in the 
country. In the years leading up to this election win, the FA broadened its 
coalition members, and today includes organizations of Christian democrats, 
social democrats, communists, socialists and former Tupamaros, Montevideo's 
1970's era urban guerillas.

New Possibilities for Uruguay

While fear mongering U.S. headlines conjure images of a new “Socialist 
Elect” in Uruguay, the reality is that the FA is a centrist coalition with 
leftist tendencies. Many analysts feel that Vázquez ensured his election 
victory by selecting orthodox economist Danilo Astori to be his Minister of 
Finance. Astori has promised to work with the IMF (to pay Uruguay's 
estimated USD $14 billion debt), as well as with the private sector; 
garnering him praise from The Economist magazine as the “most responsible 
leader of the coalition.”

Vázquez is promising a new economic strategy for Uruguay, focused on 
regional trade and renewing relationships with South American partners. He 
has affirmed Uruguay's participation in Mercosur, a common market between 
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, as well as promised that 
diplomatic relations with Cuba, suspended by former president Jorge Batlle, 
will be restored. Relations between Uruguay and surrounding nations 
suffered under Batlle, but Lula de Silva of Brazil and Argentinian leader 
Nestor Kirchner both showed support for Vázquez during his election campaign.

All told, the Frente Amplio has taken power by placating Wall Street, 
vowing to strengthen Uruguay's ties in Latin America, and promising to 
improve the lives of the country's one million poor. It remains to be seen 
what the future holds for Uruguay, but without question, a break in the 
conservative political duopoly is the first step towards more fundamental 
social change. The most important task for Uruguayans today is to keep 
their critical sense, and look at this election victory not as the end of a 
struggle, but as the beginning of a new era of activism.

Dawn Paley is an independent journalist and activist from Vancouver. Check 
out more information on her <http://www.patagoniabolivia.net>current 
project. For more information on the elections in Uruguay, see 
<http://www.uruguay.indymedia.net>Indymedia Uruguay (Spanish).


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