President Mujica's speech before the US Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday had its good side, the strong references to Brazil and the fact Uruguay is a 'decent country' and 'we don't go around bribing people', but there was also another side which was controversial.
President Jose Mujica in a private dinner with Uruguayan media in Washington revealed that in his meetings with US officials he tried to show that with 'good manners' you can disagree and also advance because it is 'senseless' to fight. He also anticipated that when his mandate is over he plans to visit the Basque provinces from where his ancestors came to Uruguay in 1840.
In a 'dialogue without ties' at the World Bank President Jose Mujica said that Uruguay is a 'frontier country' which history did not want it to belong to any of the two big neighbors (Argentina and Brazil) so that the Atlantic ocean would not be left to an only country.
A top official from Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said that “Argentines do not bribe” and does not know why the Uruguayan leader Jose Mujica should have brought up that issue during his current visit to the United States.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica said that the future US ambassador in Montevideo could probably be Edward Avalos, currently Under Secretary for trade and regulatory programs from the US Department of Agriculture.
Uruguay offers tremendous guarantees for investors and is a decent country, said President Jose Mujica on his second day visit to Washington where he addressed 120 business people at the US Chamber of Commerce during a Tuesday morning work-breakfast.
President Jose Mujica addressing US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Uruguay has a significant deficit in technology and scientific education, and was hopeful that cooperation with the United States would help insisting that the goal is achieving equality and wealth distribution.
The administration of president Jose Mujica is willing to take eight to twelve of Guantanamo prisoners as refugees in Uruguay and this could happen once the US Senate approves a bill to that purpose, according to sources from the ministerial delegation currently in Washington.
In an enjoyable press conference at the White House Uruguay's President Jose Mujica spoke about the increasing importance for people in the US to be bilingual, the dangers of smoking and his interest in having access to U.S. knowledge and professors. President Barrack Obama praised the Uruguayan leader's 'extraordinary' credibility and leadership in democracy and human rights issues.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica flies on Saturday evening to the United States and on Monday at 10:45 will be walking into the White House for a sixty minutes meeting with President Barack Obama. Mujica will be spending five days in Washington where he has scheduled a long list of meetings and conferences.