The following piece by Jude Webber writing for the Financial Times explains the different approach by the two neighboring countries to the windfall earnings of the commodities boom.
Support for Uruguayan president Jose Mujica dropped to 41%, nine percentage points less than last March and 34 points down from when he took office in March 2010, according to an Interconsult public opinion poll published Monday in one of Montevideo’s dailies.
The administration of Uruguayan president Jose Mujica suffered a major setback over the weekend and could experience a further showdown on Thursday when members of the ruling coalition vote in Parliament the annulment of an Amnesty or Crimes expiration law which impedes the investigation of human rights violations committed during the country’s military dictatorship (1973/1985).
Uruguayan Vice-president Danilo Astori acknowledged that overturning the “Expired Crimes” or amnesty bill for human rights violators during the military dictatorship (1973/1985) could cost the ruling coalition ‘dearly’ and said he voted following ‘party discipline’.
The release of an alleged unfinished pact negotiated over a decade ago between former urban guerrillas and the military triggered serious controversy in Uruguay in the midst of a political debate to overrule a bill which exempts former officers from going to court for alleged human rights abuses during the military dictatorship (1093/1085).
Uruguay’s concern with inflation risks and instruments to ‘mitigate’ its impact was underlined by the region’s representative at the IMF Monetary and Financial Committee meeting in Washington where the IMF and World Bank are holding their spring meetings.
President Jose Mujica promised there will be no ‘uncontrolled inflation in Uruguay’ and although admitting it’s not a simple problem, with no magic solution, there are “sufficient tools’ to address the issue including putting “government spending on a diet”.
Several Mercosur negotiations with other blocks have failed because “they ask too much and offer too little” said Samuel Pinheiro recently appointed Mercosur High Representative and who is holding a round of meetings with member countries’ leaders.
A closely divided Senate has passed legislation to overturn an amnesty for human rights crimes committed by the military and security forces during Uruguay's 1973-85 dictatorship, overruling voters who in two referendums upheld the law in 1989 and 2009. The decision triggered strong controversy in the Uruguayan political system.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica strongly supported the incorporation of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur from a Sunday column published in one of Brazil’s most influential newspapers, Folha de Sao Paulo.