MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Uruguayan President Sanguinetti compares his country with Argentina during a celebration of Democracy

“In our country there is debate, there is discussion, but there is no cry,” Sanguinetti said

Former two-time Uruguayan President Julio María Sanguinetti Thursday claimed “Argentina infects us with adjectives,” as he appeared together with former heads of state Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera and José “Pepe” Mujica during a celebration of Democracy staged at Montevideo's Parliament building.

The three former heads of state delivered their speeches during the event organized by the Center for the Study of Economic and Social Reality (CERES), called “35 + 1 years of CERES - Tribute to democracy.”

“We must understand that defending this democracy is not only a plea but it is to try to build a better reality than the one in which we were born,” said Mujica, who added that there were “new threats” to the current way of life.

Lacalle Herrera, the father of current President Luis Lacalle Pou, highlighted the role of political parties and argued that strengthening them “is a work of national good.”

“We must put an end to everything that is to dig into the past so that we can free ourselves of those worn-out memories,” he said.

The two-time President Sanguinetti explained that ”it is fashionable to talk about cracks; Argentina infects us with adjectives, epithets, ghostly constructions that appear and are repeated,” he said.

“In our country there is debate, there is discussion, but there is no crack. We are all here in the palace of laws for a reason,“ he added.

”When we governed we were in the middle of the Cold War, there was the Berlin wall, there was the Pentagon on the other side. That world is gone. But today we are told that it is in China and the United States. And we say yes, there is China, the United States, a united Europe as we all are,” Sanguinetti lectured.

“We have to choose ... to live with everything ... and with everyone and not feel compelled to choose anyone,” over the other, he added.

Since the return to Democratic rule, Uruguayan Presidents have succeeded one another after five-year terms, while there have been no two Argentine Presidents who have stayed in office for the same period of time.