Luis Lacalle Pou, on the result of the referendum: “Some say that Uruguay is divided into two and that is not the case, there is only one Uruguay”

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou participated last Thursday at the international Latin Annual Meeting, in Punta del Este, where he was interviewed by Argentine journalists Diego and Alfredo Leuco. There he answered questions on a variety of topics, ranging from the reality of Mercosur to its link with the Argentine presidents, including Putin, Venezuela and more local issues.

The interview, which lasted almost an hour, began with the president recalling the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, which appeared in Uruguay thirteen days after he assumed his government, on March 13, 2020. He commented on the decisions and measures taken by his administration, specifically not to impose mandatory quarantine, and emphasized the bond of trust it generated with its population.

“A foundation of trust began to be built, what the government tells you is true. That back and forth. In a world of such uncertainty, increasingly, that you listen to someone from the President of the Republic's team, including the President of the Republic, who tells you that “a” is going to happen and then “a” passes, or tells you that it can be “a” or “b” and then “a” or “b” happens, that generates a virtuous path of trust,” he said.

As a result, he clarified that “trust is that hope stops and that is a machine that, when it starts to talk and is something every day, generates in this turbulent world of decisions, sometimes misunderstood, a path that, if you start thinking, with different styles and different ideologies is traditional Uruguayan”.

In that regard, he referred to the results of the referendum for the repeal of 135 articles of the Urgent Consideration Act, the flagship law of his government, and stressed that the country is not divided into two halves. He said that “some political leaders said that Uruguay is divided into two halves and I am totally opposed to that position. First, because reality shows that there are no two halves. There may be two political visions, there are more than two (...), but there is a Uruguay and I meant it in a photo that appeared in the newspapers, of a lady with the “No” sign on the balcony and her husband with the “Yes” sign.

Among other issues, Argentine journalists asked him if he could share a self-criticism, something he did and would not do more. In his reply, the president referred to when he said on public television that he would suspend the search for missing persons.

“When they ask me if I would keep looking for the missing, I said no. And I am not one to put myself in the shoes of that person who is looking for his son, his grandson, his nephew, and tell him that the President of the Republic or that the State will not look for him anymore, because that is a matter of the heart. And there I made a human error that to this day weighs on me. Then I apologized publicly, but the mistake was already there,” he recalled and emphasized that “to this day it weighs on me.”

As for mistakes as a politician, he said that it is useful for him to have a team “that rarely” praises him. “If I didn't make any more mistakes, it's because that criticism, that advice is earlier. So you're kind of with your ideas, but you also have a well-meaning team.”

Turning to more international issues, he was asked to define Russian President Putin. “I think it has a naturally leading composition. He is a leader, obviously, with tools not typical of a positive leader, who with the training he has and where he belonged is matrixed in a certain way. Surely, not too far from the use of all tools and, as one more, war, by force, with longing for a past more similar, perhaps, to the USSR than to the new Russia,” he declared and pointed out that “to think today that Xi Jinping (president of China) is the one who mediates this conflict today is that the whole world was turned around”.

In addition, they asked him to give his views on the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine and stated that “the most important players are the United States, the European Union, with France as the leader, and China, if it plays at all.” He also assured that Venezuela is not a weighty ally in the conflict.

In the consultation of which Argentine president, since the return to democracy, to whom he feels closest, expressed respect for everyone and said that whoever his counterpart is going to be fine. “We have a good relationship,” he said of his relationship with Alberto Fernández, adding that both nations are currently on a positive, realistic agenda.

“We are working on the navigability of rivers,” the president stressed, emphasizing that there is ongoing dialogue between foreign ministers Francisco Bustillo (Uruguay) and Santiago Cafiero (Argentina). Although he also noted that “there is no agreement” in his desire to have a “more open” Mercosur. And he recalled that, just as Uruguay wants to have a free trade agreement with China, India is today demanding Argentine products and something similar might suit him. “We are going to say that they go, if it is for the good of Argentina, it is for the good of the region,” he said.

Lacalle Pou also referred to Argentine culture, to the nationalism that characterizes its population. “They say that Argentines are exacerbated nationalists, which at some point may be regarded as a defect. That Argentine nationalism, well understood, is admirable. The Argentinean is a messer and he plays it. In fact, they have risen more times than they have fallen,” he said about his neighbors.

One of the last issues the president touched on was about his political successors. He commented that “if there is something I am not going to do, it is to point out a successor, because it is artificial. I think you have to give wings to everyone. Obviously, since I am a political bug, I already see (...) also who you might think has one more profile to lead a country”.

He remarked that “I'm not going to say it because it would be unfair, what you can't do is elbow everyone out, you have to give wings, let each one show off his own thing and help in what he can, but saying “this person” seems even a demerit to that person”.

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