MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sanguinetti warns Uruguay may end up like Argentina if LUC is repealed

At age 86, Sanguinetti took it upon himself to campaign for the “nays”.

Former two-time Uruguayan President Julio María Sanguinetti said it was wise to compare his country's situation with that of Argentina so that people could know what is at stake next weekend at the referendum on whether to repeal or not 135 provisions of the so-called Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC).

The 86-year-old Sanguinetti, Secretary-General of the Colorado Party, a political force within the ruling Multicolor coalition of President Luis Lacalle Pou, also asked his fellow Uruguayans to keep in mind that the current Government had to go through a pandemic of COVID-19 in addition to the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“These are unavoidable situations,” Sanguinetti said. “Because they are in the whole world, but we are going to face them with sensitivity, and we can do it because we have a fiscal balance, unlike Argentina,” he went on.

Sanguinetti's words came as he rounded up a campaign for the “NO,” saying those who wanted the LUC changed were “anti-State and anti-police.” The former national leader also stressed the “ayes” were “those who dreamed of a failed revolution.”

“Today we are not talking about repression, as simplistically said by those who deep down are still with the anti-police reflex, with the anti-army reflex, with the anti-democratic State reflex, because they dreamed of a failed revolution,” Sanguinetti stressed.

The LUC has some provisions regarding security issues, which the ruling coalition believes have helped improve police work, while the opposition argues these measures have given way to further police abuses.

The former president said the Colorados were part of a government they understood to be “the only alternative.” He once again used the Argentine case to make his point: “We went through an economic crisis, but we are not involved in the Argentine conflicts due to unpaid debts, debates with the Monetary Fund, congresses besieged and stoned by the left-wing tribes, because they were led to believe that the [International] Monetary Fund was the devil in the flesh and then they made a pact with him and, logically, they reaped the wind they sowed...”

Sanguinetti also criticized those who asked the government to “throw the house out the window during the pandemic,” in reference to those who demanded greater economic aid, as some

Frente Amplio and trade union leaders did.

The seasoned political leader also warned with local teacher unionism issues in mind that repealing the LUC would mean handing over education to “aged, backward and dogmatic corporations.”

Sanguinetti also said next week's referendum will be historic, and celebrated that the Colorado Party could be a part of it. At age 86, he took it upon himself to campaign for the “nays”.

Uruguay's Electoral Court has announced preliminary results would be available around 9 pm, while the final numbers are expected before midnight.