MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Vazquez apologizes and resigns to public politics, but opposition doesn’t believe him

The former president admitted his words were ‘inopportune’

Former Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez (2005/2010) apologized on Thursday for his statements on a “was hypothesis” with Argentina in 2006 saying they had been ‘inopportune’ and announced he was retiring from public politics activities.

“Taking into account the repercussions of my reply to a question from an attendant to the meeting with former students from the Monte VI college on relations of our country with the sister Argentine republic referred to the Botnia situation, and in spite of making a detailed sequence of what really happened, I consider that those statements were inopportune”, said Vazquez in a release.

Furthermore “statements were done taking into account the excellent relations fortunately enjoyed by our brotherly countries. Anyhow and very distant from my intentions, such statements could harm those relations, the political project of the Uruguayan left and the same Broad Front”.

“That is why I present my apologies and announce my retirement from public political activity”, concluded the release which shocked as much as the original statements that triggered the difficult circumstances

The former president on Wednesday caused a major seism in Uruguay and Argentina on revealing that the diplomatic conflict in 2006 with Argentina over the construction of the controversial Finland financed Botnia-UPM pulp mill on the Uruguayan side of a shared river made him fear the possibility of an armed conflict or a “war hypothesis” scenario.

Vazquez added that for that very motive and Argentina’s aggressive attitude he requested political support from US President Bush to counter what he considered a serious threat.

The conflict referred to the construction of the pulp mill on the Uruguayan side of a shared and jointly managed river, which Argentina claimed it had never been informed about and which Argentine pickets considered was highly contaminating.

As a consequence an international bridge linking Fray Bentos in Uruguay and Gualeguaychú, Argentina, remained blocked by picket groups for almost four years which on occasions tried to force their way to the Uruguayan side threatening to blow up the plant.

The conflict finally found a way out following a ruling from the International Court of Justice in Holland. Since then presidents Cristina Fernandez and Jose Mujica have found the right chemistry, (contrary to what happened with Vazquez) and have managed to address some of the more irritating differences and are committed to improve bilateral relations.

As expected Argentine and Uruguay officials reacted angrily or sarcastically at the revelations and the ruling Broad Front catch-all coalition to which Vazquez belongs were flabbergasted to find out that their leader had gone to the US to request support from President Bush.

Uruguay’s First Lady and the most voted Senator Lucia Topolansky praised Vazquez apology words as ‘brave’, but also admitted that “for us who belong to the Left we were very much shocked and hurt by the Bush involvement”.
Anyhow “it is a pity that this is the consequence, since I believe it is an excess of responsibility”.

Vice president and acting president since the head of state Jose Mujica is overseas on a European tour, Danilo Astori said he was “surprised and hurt” by the news.
“He’s the best proven candidate we have and it is really disappointing that he should have decided to abandon politics”.

However the opposition was more pragmatic and less emotional.

Head of the opposition Senator Jorge Larrañaga said Vazquez was having a “rough time” inside the ruling coalition and wanted a drastic change “which he managed in 48 hours: from saying things he shouldn’t have said, he now has everybody in his coalition concerned because he announced he was leaving public politics”.
“The truth is I very much doubt Vazquez won’t be a candidate in 2014 in spite of the release: that is part of his strategy”, underlined Larrañaga.

Senator Pedro Bordaberry was equally sceptical: “Vazquez has us accustomed to mixing state issues with his internal politics. This is not the first time he says he’s going home, and then bounces back. It’s all a huge calculated mise-en-scene, he’ll be back, the Broad Front needs him and they will go and fetch him”.

Since joining active politics in 1989, Vazquez has appealed on several occasions to the strategy of resigning or abandoning his post unless he gets his way.

For that he counts with a huge political backing, lacking in the others, and therefore finally ends taking control of the situation.

“This is typical Vazquez political tactics. He’ll take some time off, won’t be exposed to the current infighting in the ruling coalition and then they will go and ring the bell at his home. He will accept to return on his terms and nobody will remember Bush, Nestor Kirchner or the alleged potential armed conflict with Argentina with five aircraft hardly operational”, said political analyst Daniel Beati.

Twice former president Julio Maria Sanguinetti was even more caustic, “I think we are witnessing the launching of Vazquez campaign for the 2014 presidential election, a nice mix of silence, absence and action, on his terms”.