How
is everything going?
Here
in Uruguay, it’s been a good month. We learned that the borders
will finally
be opening up for
people with properties on September 1 and for holiday makers on
November 1 👏👏👏
We’ve
also seen the number of Covid cases plummeting and this week, almost
magically on the eve of Independence Day, we passed the 70% mark for
fully vaccinated people 🥳🥳 I’ve written an
article here to tell you all about it.
My
friend Margaret from Washington DC, was amazed to hear that we’re
already getting booster shots 😮 In fact I got mine yesterday. Happy to
report that it didn’t hurt one bit. I love those nurses who are so
skilled you don’t even feel the syringe prick. Today I feel my arm
if I touch it but just a tiny bit.
So
all good news. But I think what was most heart-warming was what I
read in the newspaper on Thursday and I wanted to share it with you
(if you read Spanish, here’s
the link).
Last
week, a client told me he wanted to come to Uruguay because he
thought it was “a political paradise”. I had to say that that’s
not the case. No country is perfect. However I did understand what he
meant, when considering the current political context in so many
places currently 😰
On
Thursday it was the 36th anniversary of a political thinktank which
celebrated by asking Uruguay’s three living former presidents to
speak. It’s also thirty six years ago since Uruguay’s last
dictatorship ended. And it turns out that it’s also the longest
period—36 years—since Uruguay’s founding without a
dictatorship. Sobering thought.
The
three ex-presidents spoke in defence of democracy—that institution
Winston Churchill characterised as the worst of all models of
government, except for all the rest—despite their vast ideological
differences.
Jose
‘Pepe’ Mujica (president
2010-2015, led the Frente Amplio progressive coalition) was a
guerilla in the 1960s and was captured and tortured during the
dictatorship. Democracy is imperfect, he said, but we haven’t found
anything better that can substitute it. We criticise its defects but
the defects are not of the institutions but our own—our egos, our
fanaticism, our nitpicking and sometimes our ambitions.
Julio
Maria Sanguinetti (1985-1990 and 1995-2000, Colorado party,
centre-right) lamented that it’s “fashionable” to talk about
divisions in society and politics and insisted on the necessity of
debate. He affirmed that in Uruguay there is debate but “no rift”,
pointing to the fact that the three were sharing the stage.
Luis
Alberto Lacalle (president 1990-1995, Nacional party, centre-right)
used
the platform to highlighted his "obsession" with the
"magnificent decision that has protected us since 1830”—the
prohibition of a president holding office for two straight terms. Did
I mention that the current
president is… Lacalle’s own son? 😮
Off stage, according to reports, Lacalle Sr asked
governor of Montevideo Carolina Cosse’s permission to sit next to
her and chatted with her animatedly throughout the
event.
Cosse is one of the leaders of the Frente Amplio coalition, supported
by the Socialist and Communist parties, and could
lead
the future campaign to oust Lacalle's party from power.
… All this reminded me of the presidential inauguration, mere days before the
pandemic hit Uruguay. Luis Lacalle Pou had spearheaded a centre-right
coalition with the principal aim of removing the Frente
Amplio from power after three terms in government (2005-2020). It
worked. On March 1 2020 Lacalle Pou received the presidential sash from outgoing president, Tabare Vazquez (sadly deceased). Take
a look and watch to the end ❤️❤️ 🇺🇾🇺🇾🇺🇾
So… political paradise? No, what place is? It’s
more complicated than that. But still, #GottaLoveUruguay,
don’t
you think?
|