MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Water crisis: Uruguay accepts Argentina's help

Lacalle insisted Argentina's help “adds up” but is “insignificant” in terms of volumes of drinking water consumed normally in Montevideo

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou Monday said his country would be accepting Argentina's help to mitigate the water crisis but added that the amount of drinking water offered was nowhere near the needs to match the volumes consumed normally in Montevideo.

“The answer to the Argentine government, which is formal, is that we accept,” Lacalle said in Durazno during a press conference. “We accept because now we are not going to play the jock and because everything is useful,” he added.

However, the Uruguayan head of state underlined that the amount of drinking water offered (300 cubic meters) was “insignificant” when compared to the more than 500,000 cubic meters per day consumed in Montevideo and the metropolitan area.

On Sunday, Argentine President Alberto Fernández said that “in Montevideo, they open the faucet and no water comes out.”

Lacalle said that these comments were sheer “ignorance.” He added that he had discussed the issue with the Argentine ambassador in Montevideo and that he did not intend to discuss the matter with Fernández, whose remarks in the Uruguayan president's view were either due to “bad intention which I rule out or simply out of ignorance.”

Regarding the 300 cubic meters of drinkable water offered by Argentina, Lacalle stressed that “we accept, period.” He added that “everything is useful” and “everything adds up.”

“We are grateful for it, we acknowledge it, we accept it, and the answer was precisely stand by in case we need it at some point,” Lacalle explained.

But Fernández's comment also hit a nerve among other Uruguayan politicians from the ruling Multicolor coalition. Senator Graciela Bianchi spoke of “international lies” and “international disgust too,” while others capitalized on the fact that Canelones Mayor Yamandú Orsi of the opposition Broad Front (Frente Amplio - FA) once called Fernández a “Class A politician.”