Versión Español
Spanish – As of Sunday, March 1, there is a new president in Uruguay. The freshly elected Luis Lacalle Pou explicitly said that Nicolás Maduro, Raúl Castro, and Daniel Ortega were not invited to the inauguration ceremony, and that is how it was. The anthem echoed with greater fury than usual, particularly the stanza “tyrants tremble.”
Easterners, the Fatherland or the grave, Liberty or with glory, we die! Is the vote that the soul pronounces, and which, heroically we will fulfill! This sacred gift, of glory we have deserved: tyrants tremble! Freedom in battle we will cry, and even in dying, freedom we shall shout!
La belleza del himno de #Uruguay en la asuncion de #LacallePou pic.twitter.com/IJ30I5c9pK
— Sebastián Fest (@sebastianfest) March 1, 2020
And it was through their vote that the Uruguayans decided to put an end to 15 years of complicity with the regimes of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. During the decade and a half that the Frente Amplio was in power, first with “Pepe Mujica,” then with Tabaré Vásquez, the eastern nation became an accomplice of Chavismo. So much so that OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro was disassociated from the party because of his harsh criticism of Chavismo, and a Frente Amplio deputy went to Lacalle Pou’s inauguration with the Cuban flag, supposedly in solidarity with the communist revolution.
https://twitter.com/LuisEspinosa215/status/1234232562408665088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1234232562408665088&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fes.panampost.com%2Fmamela-fiallo%2F2020%2F03%2F02%2Frenace-un-uruguay%2F
The links between Uruguay and 21st-century socialism were such that even the son of former President Vasquez was in charge of computer security for the Maduro regime. The terms dictator and tyrant are commonly confused as synonyms. But they are certainly different. The dictator takes power by force to stabilize a country amid a crisis, especially with the support of the armed forces and gives up power once his mission is accomplished.
The tyrant, on the other hand, comes to power by democratic means and does not leave power without the use of force. Such is the case of leaders Raúl Castro (before him, his brother Fidel, who died in power), Nicolás Maduro, and Daniel Ortega. The neighboring Argentina (whose president did not attend Lacalle Pou’s inauguration) serves as a hideout for Evo Morales, who held power for 14 years in Bolivia and tried to stay in power by canceling the runoff election. Meanwhile, Uruguay recognized and invited Jeanine Áñez, Bolivia’s interim president. In fact, Uruguay’s largest union, Inter-Union Assembly of Workers – National Workers’ Convention (PIT-CNT), repudiated both Presidents Áñez and Jair Bolsonaro as well as Uruguayan Luis Almagro.
In contrast, President Lacalle Pou’s inaugural speech clarified the change of vision regarding the role of the state, and above all, the temporary position of president, the opposite of what is happening in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua- regimes defended by the Uruguayan political left. “We are temporary tenants of power. We are employees of the citizens, and we are here to serve them. Politics and government are a service. The government that is taking office today wants to have a transparent relationship with its employers, one of constant communication to build trust,” he said.
He highlighted the role of trade, as the material basis for creating both freedom, justice, and opportunity. That is why he raised “the right of those who earn their livelihood and those who generate those jobs,” that is, both the employee and the employer, breaking through this false dichotomy that divides society between proletarians and bourgeois in true socialist style. The same applies to criminality. He reinforced the importance of defending the rights of prisoners, also of those who are victims of crime, and those who fight it, the security forces. Diametrically opposed to the tyrants who did not admit to his assumption, who persecute the opposition, Lacalle Pou defended “the freedom to criticize the government when it deserves it, and the freedom of each individual to seek their own happiness by their chosen paths.”
In conclusion, the Uruguayan president said, “In five years, Uruguayans will be able to evaluate our performance. We are convinced that if at the end of the period the Uruguayans are freer, we will have done things well; otherwise, we will have essentially failed.”
