President Luis Lacalle Pou reassured the leaders of the governing coalition parties about the advance of left-wing governments in Latin America.
In the conclave in the Suarez and Reyes residence, the president pointed out that “the red stain, not the red one, is not going to arrive here”, a comment that he tried to appease, with a wink to the Colorado Party included.
The meeting took place a few hours after Lula da Silva’s victory in the runoff election in which he won over Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin and brought the Workers’ Party (PT, left) back to power in Brazil.
This electoral result added to the arrival of the government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Gabriel Boric in Chile, and Pedro Castillo in Peru increased the theory of a new progressive wave in the region, which was completed with the government of the Frente de Todos in Argentina.
For this reason, Lacalle Pou put the issue on the table, even though the meeting in Suarez and Reyes addressed educational reform.
With a map showing the left’s advance, the head of state assured that progressivism, “the red stain”, as he called it, “will not reach Uruguay”.
According to the leaders present, the President “transmitted tranquility with what happened in Brazil” and took advantage of the occasion to emphasize his confidence in the direction of the ruling coalition thanks to management with several positive points, among them the Law of Urgent Consideration. He also highlighted the budget law and its accountabilities, which achieved the lowest fiscal deficit since the beginning of his government.
THE GOVERNMENT’S IMAGE
Another argument of Lacalle Pou to reassure the coalition was “the good levels of popularity and support that the government has, which is a product of the fact that things are being carried out well”.
The president’s statement referred to the survey published by Equipos Consultores last October 19, which concluded that 49% of Uruguayans approve the current administration’s management -while 32% disapprove-, which implied an increase of two percentage points compared to the last survey in August.
However, according to the most recent survey by the consulting firm Cifra, released on November 1, the president faces a 16% drop in his positive image compared to the beginning of his administration. Disapproval reached 42%, the highest since he took office on March 1, 2020.
With information from Ámbito