MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan President praises law enforcement, would like better results

Lacalle said his administration cannot help but be concerned as long as there are episodes of violence in the country. Photo: FocoUy

Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou said he was pleased with the way the Ministry of the Interior and the Police were handling the latest increase in violence. But he added that, as long as some violence remained, he could not be happy yet about the results.

The head of state highlighted the latest achievements in this regard and insisted he was worried and concerned about the issue. ”You may have heard me say, in months when homicides had dropped significantly, that obviously we were not satisfied and we were worried (...) when the number of homicides increases, of course, it worries and occupies the government,“ Lacalle stressed.

”We have a record of seizure of drugs in the country, we have a record of closing of coca paste outlets, we have a record of seizure of goods and money, we have a record of people investigated for drug trafficking and we have a record of people prosecuted for drug trafficking crimes,“ he added.

”But of course, I am not satisfied as long as there is violence in our country (...) I am satisfied with the form, not with the results“, he added.

The President also underlined Thursday morning in Florida during the National Independence Day celebrations that ”the educational transformation“ the Government was undertaking was ”very good.“

Lacalle insisted the idea was to modernize education and personalize it, to ”give more autonomy to the centers and change the curriculum because there is a curriculum that was from my high school days that needs to be changed.“

He also said he understood the ”legitimate right“ of unions and students to oppose these initiatives, but repeated that the government is going to move forward with the reform because it is convinced ”this is the way to do it.”

Some of the items were included in the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC), which the opposition wanted repealed but failed to prevail at the referendum. Hence, these questions are still enforceable by law. Lacalle said he believed these issues are the best way for future generations to have more freedom.

“The government will vacate the premises that are seized [by protesters],” Lacalle warned. “We did not need to hit anyone, to use violence; images some people expect since many years ago,” he underlined.