Peruvian writer and novelist (with Spanish nationality) Mario Vargas Llosa dedicated a column in the Spanish newspaper El País to Uruguay and its fight against the virus that caused a global pandemic. In his column, Vargas Llosa highlights Uruguay’s “efficient way” against COVID-19 and wonders why nothing has been published about it. In this sense, he understands that our country is “small”, “hardly three and a half million inhabitants” and “crushed” by nearby countries such as Brazil and Argentina. However, for Vargas Llosa, the neighbors “should follow the Uruguayan example”because private companies would play a central role in the country’s economic recovery after the catastrophe. Classes would only be suspended in schools and there would be border closures, for now, “the column continues.
For its part, collects statements from the vice president, Beatriz Argimón, who said at the time that the freedom of the individual is important to the government and that Lacalle Pou “never wanted to take a measure that did not take into account that fundamental aspect.” For Vargas Llosa the result of this policy, which differs from some in Europe, could not have been more positive. “I have in front of me the results of the last report issued in Montevideo, indicating that 23 people died in Uruguay due to the plague; the infected, 826, and the recovered, 689. Hard to imagine a less tragic balance. It is true that Sweden, which followed a policy similar to that of Uruguay, has had many infections and deaths to regret, especially in nursing homes,
Next, Vargas Llosa presents one of the first problems facing Uruguay in this pandemic: Brazil. “The big problem facing Uruguay is its border with Brazil, a city that both countries share, and where, with the Brazilian chaos that Bolsonaro has created, coronavirus infections multiply. Lacalle Pou visited the border city of Rivera twice and , to find out if he has been infected with the virus, he has spent several days in voluntary isolation, “he says.
“I know Luis Lacalle Pou, I have met him in meetings of liberals and democrats, and it is not surprising that this exception to the rule was as soon as he assumed power, after a formidable electoral campaign. He is a young man, of principles, lover of freedom and the ideas of true progress, who, with her brave attitude towards this plague that is beating down on the world, can save Uruguay a good part of the economic catastrophe that will befall the countries where governments, terrified With the pandemic and unpopularity, they rushed to close factories and stores and impose a severe confinement, or to announce tax increases and nationalizations, without thinking that all this would contribute to aggravating the economic tragedy, one of the inheritances of the plague and, perhaps , the most difficult to correct “,adds the writer about the president of the republic.
Along these lines, Vargas Llosa recalled his first visit to Uruguay. It was in 1966, a time of military dictatorships in Latin America, but Uruguay was one of the exceptions to that trend. “Everything was civilized and remarkable in this small middle-class country, where the gigantic economic and social contrasts that appeared everywhere in Latin America were not seen,” he recalls. In this sense, he adds that in our country “everything surprised him” and that seeing the country in that state “raised the morale” of a South American. “The most admirable thing about him was his democracy, the most genuine on the entire continent,” he adds.
“With Luis Lacalle Pou, Uruguay can go even further, despite the coronavirus. If there is someone who can lead a profound transformation of his country, thanks to democratic ideas, it is he, as he has shown in these difficult days, in the who began his administration resisting pressure to follow the example of so many governments that believed they were fighting the scourge of the pandemic with compulsory barracks and closings of offices and factories, which always aggravates poverty and it is not said whether they are accompanied by barbarities such as nationalizations and tax increases, “he adds.
Finally, the writer understands that “it would be formidable” for an example of a society to emerge from our country that ensures social justice supported by a mercantile economy, which guarantees a high standard of living for all citizens, rewards those who contribute the most to common progress, allow free competition and promote culture, for the rest of Latin America.
“In moments as difficult as those on the planet, dreaming costs nothing,” concludes the column.
Source:elpais.es
The Peruvian writer and novelist (with Spanish nationality) Mario Vargas Llosa dedicated a column in the Spanish newspaper El País to Uruguay and its fight against the virus that caused a global pandemic.
In his column, Vargas Llosa highlights Uruguay’s “efficient way” against COVID-19 and wonders why nothing has been published about it. In this sense, he understands that our country is “small”, “hardly three and a half million inhabitants” and “crushed” by nearby countries such as Brazil and Argentina. However, for Vargas Llosa, the neighbors “should follow the Uruguayan example”.
Because private companies would play a central role in the country’s economic recovery after the catastrophe. Classes would only be suspended in schools and there would be border closures, for now, “the column continues.
For its part, collects statements from the vice president, Beatriz Argimón, who said at the time that the freedom of the individual is important to the government and that Lacalle Pou “never wanted to take a measure that did not take into account that fundamental aspect.” For Vargas Llosa the result of this policy, which differs from some in Europe, could not have been more positive. “I have in front of me the results of the last report issued in Montevideo, indicating that 23 people died in Uruguay due to the plague; the infected, 826, and the recovered, 689. Hard to imagine a less tragic balance. It is true that Sweden, which followed a policy similar to that of Uruguay, has had many infections and deaths to regret, especially in nursing homes,
Next, Vargas Llosa presents one of the first problems facing Uruguay in this pandemic: Brazil. “The big problem facing Uruguay is its border with Brazil, a city that both countries share, and where, with the Brazilian chaos that Bolsonaro has created, coronavirus infections multiply. Lacalle Pou visited the border city of Rivera twice and , to find out if he has been infected with the virus, he has spent several days in voluntary isolation, “he says.
“I know Luis Lacalle Pou, I have met him in meetings of liberals and democrats, and it is not surprising that this exception to the rule was as soon as he assumed power, after a formidable electoral campaign. He is a young man, of principles, lover of freedom and the ideas of true progress, who, with her brave attitude towards this plague that is beating down on the world, can save Uruguay a good part of the economic catastrophe that will befall the countries where governments, terrified With the pandemic and unpopularity, they rushed to close factories and stores and impose a severe confinement, or to announce tax increases and nationalizations, without thinking that all this would contribute to aggravating the economic tragedy, one of the inheritances of the plague and, perhaps , the most difficult to correct “,adds the writer about the president of the republic.
Along these lines, Vargas Llosa recalled his first visit to Uruguay. It was in 1966, a time of military dictatorships in Latin America, but Uruguay was one of the exceptions to that trend. “Everything was civilized and remarkable in this small middle-class country, where the gigantic economic and social contrasts that appeared everywhere in Latin America were not seen,” he recalls. In this sense, he adds that in our country “everything surprised him” and that seeing the country in that state “raised the morale” of a South American. “The most admirable thing about him was his democracy, the most genuine on the entire continent,” he adds.
“What led the young Uruguayans to revolutionize that exemplary country by unleashing the armed action of the Tupamaros? The Cuban example, of course, the delirious dream of bringing paradise down to earth by shooting. The armed actions and terrorism of Left were crushed and the Army – who would have said it of Uruguay – established an implacable dictatorship in what until then seemed the exception to Latin American political bad habits. For many years Uruguay was not a shadow of what it had been and even Onetti, Probably the most indifferent writer to politics and revolution in the history of Latin America, he ended up in jail and was saved (thanks to Spain) from spending long years in prison.In the end, he would end up in Madrid;he did not want to return to his country when the dictatorship ceased and the restored democracy decided to decorate him, “the text states.
For Vargas Llosa, all that he related “was left behind” and the passage of “that left coalition”, the Broad Front, for power made it clear that “a left-wing government is possible in Latin America without succumbing to freedom.” “Other Latin American countries have also demonstrated this, with right-wing governments that, unlike the caricatures inflicted on them by the left, also respect the law, criticism of the press and guarantee free elections. And, above all, they do not steal a propensity shared by politicians of all ideologies (there and here), “says Vargas Llosa.
“With Luis Lacalle Pou, Uruguay can go even further, despite the coronavirus. If there is someone who can lead a profound transformation of his country, thanks to democratic ideas, it is he, as he has shown in these difficult days, in the who began his administration resisting pressure to follow the example of so many governments that believed they were fighting the scourge of the pandemic with compulsory barracks and closings of offices and factories, which always aggravates poverty and it is not said whether they are accompanied by barbarities such as nationalizations and tax increases, “he adds.
Finally, the writer understands that “it would be formidable” for an example of a society to emerge from our country that ensures social justice supported by a mercantile economy, which guarantees a high standard of living for all citizens, rewards those who contribute the most to common progress, allow free competition and promote culture, for the rest of Latin America.
“In moments as difficult as those on the planet, dreaming costs nothing,” concludes the column.