RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro boarded a flight yesterday, March 1st, at around 9 AM, bound the the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo. In the afternoon, the president attended the inauguration ceremony of Luis Lacalle Pou, the country’s new president.
In addition to Jair Bolsonaro, the King of Spain, Felipe VI; the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera; of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez; and of Colombia, Iván Duque, among heads of state, also attended the event.
The inauguration ceremony took place in three different locations. It began at 2 PM at the Legislative Palace with a formal session of Pledge of Honor and Declaration of Fidelity.
At 3:15 PM, in Independence Square, the mandate was transferred with the outgoing president, Tabaré Vázquez, handing over the presidential sash to Lacalle Pou. The new ministers were also sworn in.
And finally, at the Estevez Palace, at 18.15, the protocol greetings of the heads of official delegations will be given to the new representative.
There was also a dinner at 7 PM on Bolsonaro’s agenda, hosted by the Brazilian Ambassador to Uruguay. The president flew back to Brasília at 9:45 PM yesterday.
Lacalle Pou, a center-right politician of the ‘Partido Nacional’ (National Party), won last year’s presidential elections in a heated dispute against Daniel Martínez, the left-wing ‘Frente Amplio’ (Broad Front) coalition candidate.
Lacalle Pou’s victory represents a change of power after 15 years of left-wing governments in Uruguay.
In the second round, Lacalle Pou built a “multicolored” coalition. The reason for this is that he joined forces with Ernesto Talvi of the Colorado Party and Guido Manini Ríos of the Cabildo Aberto. With the coalition, he managed to overcome the first round voting disadvantage and beat Daniel Martínez.
Lacalle Pou, 46 years old, has held the positions of deputy and senator. From a family of politicians, he is the son of former senator Julia Pou and Luis Alberto Lacalle, president of the country from 1990 to 1995. He is the great-grandson of Luis Alberto de Herrera, one of the most influential politicians in the history of the National Party.
Bolsonaro’s visit to Uruguay could represent a new stage in the relationship with the neighboring country. The Brazilian government is expected to be an ally in trade issues, particularly in Mercosur. Brazil intends to reduce the bloc’s common external tariff, in addition to boosting new trade agreements. And the new president of Uruguay has already shown that he also intends to progress on a more liberalizing trade agenda for the bloc.
The new Uruguayan chancellor, Ernesto Talvi, who was also a candidate in the last elections, is a liberal economist and holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, as does Paulo Guedes, Brazil’s Minister of the Economy.