The Latin American Report # 353

Elections in Uruguay

Yesterday was also election day in this relatively quiet South American nation, a dynamic that is also reflected in the way voters take on the democratic battle. Virtually all press reports and analyses of Sunday's presidential elections in Uruguay echo precisely how distant the political scene there is from the sullen and acrimonious atmosphere felt not only in the hemisphere but around the world, overloaded with polarization. For example, one of the most interesting issues in Uruguay is that no abrupt changes are expected in the economic course, regardless of the candidate who is finally elected in November, when the second round will be held.

Neither Yamandú Orsi (the leftist opposition candidate associated with former President José Mujica) nor Álvaro Delgado (the conservative pro-government candidate) reached the absolute majority required by the Uruguayan electoral system to win in the first round. The Frente Amplio (Broad Front) showed in the field the superiority that the forecasts predicted, although experts assure that its performance was a little below. But now facing the second round, as we know, it is a new game in which alliances are reconfigured, and in such sense, it is likely that even after losing, it has been the pro-government option the one coming out with greater momentum.

Yesterday, a level of apathy “unusual” in Uruguay was diagnosed. The ascetic, profound, polemic, and ailing former president José Mujica called for more work to attract the young. “If [they] don't turn on we are screwed, if they don't turn on it's because we don't make them fall in love, it's because we are disgusting[;] if there are proposals that make them fall in love the [kids] are going to be.” Two plebiscites were not backed by the population. Uruguay is characterized as a high-income country with lower rates of poverty and inequality when compared to the trend in the region, but there are still serious problems to be addressed. Friends and relatives who have settled there tell me that it is an expensive country, where it is generally necessary to be employed in value-added services to keep up. However, security is the factor that has citizens most in check, although its incidence is also far from the Latin American dynamics.

Mexico

Certain areas of the Aztec nation continue to be plunged into a security crisis that at times seems out of control. This is the case of Guanajuato, where the situation has escalated to the point of including the detonation of car bombs, and Sinaloa, where the war within the historic cartel born in the region between “La Mayiza” and “La Chapiza” continues to make blood flow on the ground in Culiacan and other municipalities. In the San Martin neighborhood, San Miguel de Allende municipality in Guanajuato state, an armed attack took the lives of three people last Saturday. In Salamanca, the discovery of the body of a man with signs of violence was also reported.

Meanwhile, in Sinaloa, specifically in Mazatlán, two men were fatally shot yesterday morning in separate events. Indeed, the local press reports that last week was the most violent in Sinaloa—with 56 intentional homicides—since the dispute broke out following the arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States, allegedly kidnapped by one of “El Chapo´s” sons, who lead the other strong faction of the cartel. Nearly half of last week's murders occurred over the weekend, during which human remains—including a head—were also discovered in coolers. Last Sunday, October 20, a priest was murdered in Chiapas, in an event that had notable international repercussions. In violent Guerrero, a former mayor who had just left office was shot and killed last Thursday.

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.