MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

President Vazquez confident Uruguay is prepared for the crisis

President Tabare Vazquez

Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez underlined during a political rally over the weekend the successes of his administration and said the country was better prepared to face the current global crisis.

The rally, a kind of open sky public meeting where the president, next to all of his cabinet, read a “state of the nation” of his four years in office finds the ruling coalition in the middle of a bitter struggle over who will succeed him in a year’s time if the Broad Front is victorious next October.

In his two and a half hours speech President Vazquez said Uruguay until mid 2008 faced a very favourable international scenario, “we were lucky, but you must also help luck, and that is what we did drastically eliminating Uruguay’s international vulnerability, particularly regarding foreign debt”.

Vazquez said that economic growth during the last four years averaged 8% annually, above the region’s medium and while the “industrialized countries are falling to pieces” Uruguay is managing to keep its growth “a more modest 3% fro 2009”, which makes us feel confident.

“Uruguay is well prepared to face the crisis; we are going to have to live through it, but we are prepared. We’ve taken necessary measures and reduced considerably exposure”, he said emphasizing “let us not be too dramatic, even when the recovery will be slow and not easy.

Vazquez admitted that “much has to be done, but much has been done”. He then mentioned international reserves to the tune of 6 billion US dollars; a fiscal reform which has helped shrink the gap between rich and poor; poverty is down to 21% from 32% in 2005; 70.000 new jobs and a significant increase in the purchasing power of salaries.

But, he added, “we have defeated those who forecasted catastrophes and we’ve proven to be better managers than the previous governments”.

However the long reading of statistics, on occasions blown away by a strong wind, has done little to soften the three hopefuls’ race for next June’s primaries when the ruling coalition will choose its formal presidential candidate.

Ex Agriculture minister and former guerrilla leader Jose Mujica is ahead in the polls followed by Danilo Astori, the former Economy minister and closing on him the mayor of Canelones, Marcos Carambula a last minute option for those un happy with the two main hopefuls.

Although all hopefuls anticipated they would be polite and use velvet gloves attacks particularly between Mujica and Astori are becoming more vicious.

Last minute opinion polls released before the rally and contracted by government said the ruling coalition had gained turf and was ahead of both opposition parties together, which is crucial for next October to avoid a run off in November.

However more reliable opinion polls indicate that the Broad Front, with three hopefuls and a lame duck president who has been ignored on several occasions by his legislators, continues to loose ground and is several points behind the opposition’s two main parties, while the senior member Partido Nacional, is closing in.

According to the Montevideo press, an estimated 3.000 people turned to the streets to listen to President Vazquez. However one day before Jose Mujica organized a similar rally in downtown and convened a far larger number of supporters, adherents or curious bystanders.

The fact is that apparently delegates from Vazquez suggested hopeful Mujica should organize his rally at some other day, not so close in time or place to that of the president to avoid a popularity contest, but his request was not taken into account.