José Pereyra elected representative of Uruguay’s entrepreneurs on BPS board

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The election of social representatives to form BPS board of directors was held in Uruguay on Sunday, with Un Solo Uruguay (USU) movement candidate Pereyra securing 48.9% of the vote (about 70,000), against 31.7% for Ríos, from list 22 and supported by the main business chambers.

The compulsory voting had a roll of over 1,800,000 Uruguayans; turnout reached 77%. These elections enabled the population to choose the people who will represent Uruguayans in the organization’s three key areas: liabilities, workers and entrepreneurs.

“In all three categories there was an excellent turnout and that is the contribution of Un Solo Uruguay. Almost half a million Uruguayans voted for a movement that has been in existence for two years,” Pereyra said.

After his election victory, José Pereyra, three times president of the Business Chamber of Maldonado, pledged to “defend entrepreneurs from the abuse that they have suffered from the BPS up to now.” At the end of the election day, he said that “finally it was possible to fight and win against structures that had been in power for over 20 years.”

Pereyra said that one of the main problems he sees in the BPS is “the institution’s anti-business culture,” which is “the culture of division in this country, where to have a different opinion on something is to have a different opinion on everything, and this cannot be.”

“We must start building a culture of development, because there are problems: people who suffer because they had a small business and they are experiencing a crisis, and there are rules that prevent them from retiring. There are also fines, arrears and surcharges that are abusive, he assured, while pointing out that the BPS is undergoing a “financial catastrophe.”

“The results are clear: the election was criticized, but the BPS management never was, with people who have been in charge for a long time. There will be a before and an after: from now on we will have social directors who will have to work, because doing nothing will no longer be possible, because there will always be elections in the BPS,” he added.

Pereyra said that in his tour around the country he found “a serious situation” when he realized that public funds are spent “inefficiently.” He mentioned the example of a visit to Cardona, in Colonia: “There were 8 houses in a housing complex that had not been delivered. There is a company that charges 200,000 pesos (US$4,527) to look after houses that are not delivered, and this was a constant during the visits.”

He also said that “an important problem was detected in the narrative with respect to the interaction with the people”: “If the BPS problem is demographic, Uruguayans are to blame because we want to live longer, well, why is it that when we visit people tell us that they do not want to retire? Why do we find so many elderly people telling us that they will work until they can because they do not want to leave the burden of their lives to their children?”

Pereyra argued that in response to the request made through the Access to Information they were advised that “31.20% of BPS spending is on retirement, 8.70% on pensions and 5% on allowances and assistance.” “Some 45% is strictly spent on what is requested from the agency and the other 55% will be discussed by the Board of Directors.”

Regarding the other elections on Sunday, the Un Solo Uruguay movement did not succeed in imposing itself. The Pit-CNT candidates stood both among workers, with Ramón Ruiz at the head, and with Sixto Amaro among pensioners and retirees.