2023-05-17 14:02:26
The events that have occurred in recent days in the coalition headed by Lacalle Pou have marked a qualitative leap in its crisis. So much so that it has been classified as the worst so far this period.
By IST- Uruguay
The facts of a new crisis
It originated after “corruption” and “political clientelism” were denounced in the Ministry of Housing*. There the now ex-minister, Irene Moreira, would have accommodated a militant from her own party, the far-right and openly defender of torturers, Cabildo Abierto (CA), to gain access to a house. Now it has also been known that this was not the only case, but that there are at least four others.
Moreira came out to defend what she had done, very satisfied with herself after meeting with the president in Torre Ejecutiva. As she left, she stated: “they understand me perfectly” and justified herself by saying that she had “a quota backup that was mine”.
The next day, Lacalle Pou – who is already surrounded by enough scandals of all kinds and who has not even come out to talk about this issue – asked him to resign. What could remain as a “collection of accounts” due to the constant tug of war between CA and the Executive -and which had been strongly expressed in the negotiations before the vote on the pension reform- was turning into an escalation , in a new crisis in the government.
The accusation of corruption in the Ministry of Housing dirty nothing less than the wife of Manini Ríos and therefore also him, the main figure of the party. Deputy R. Albernaz confessed that “with the Monday newspaper (…) I should have thought twice” to appoint Moreira as a minister since she was “valuable” as a senator (1). All this in a Ministry that, in addition, the ex-member of CA, Eduardo Lust, himself recognized that they had not been able to remove a single person from the settlements (2).
Entangled in this situation, Cabildo Abierto then decided to challenge the resignation and fully defend Moreira’s actions, unleashing the crisis in the Coalition.
The first event was Manini Ríos’s conference where he urged the president to review his decision. Then came Moreira’s conference, where he also claimed responsibility for his actions in a confrontational tone, but hinted that he was definitely going to resign. At that moment, the Cabildo Abierto announces that it will meet to decide whether or not to continue in the Coalition, generating several days of uncertainty and making the situation as tense as possible.
Finally, in his conference on Monday, in prime time and almost on the national chain, Manini Rios announced, not without several criticisms of the president, that they would remain in the Coalition. The cackling of those nostalgic for the Cabildo Abierto dictatorship, who wanted to transform an act of presumed corruption that involves them into an opportunity to occupy “the center of the scene”, ended in a recoil. The charges in the State that had to be dropped if they left weighed more than the false “principles” that they invoke so much.
Such was the reversal that the now new minister, Raúl Lozano (CA), said after meeting with Lacalle Pou that “This regulation should be reviewed so that there are no gray areas in it and that things like the ones that happened do not happen” (3). And Albernaz said that in the Coalition “Relationships after this can only get better.” All this talk was far removed from the false and defiant lobbying speeches and the ex-commander backed down so much that he now says that handing over the house to a militant “wouldn’t have done it.”
The crisis deepens in the right-wing coalition
This new turning point in the government’s crisis only demonstrates a jump in its fragility. All the bourgeois newspapers and analysts reveal their uncertainty about the government and its unity. That is the unknown that remains hovering over and the only thing that unites them is the violent attack against the workers.
No one can rule out new crises that will lead the government to another agony. A clash due to a parliamentary action, new acts of corruption or more derivations due to the scandals of Penadés, Astesiano or others, can be a trigger. The government hangs by a very fine thread. In addition, as the parties prepare for the elections, it is likely that CA -which is also affected by this fact-, wanting to distance itself from the government with a misleading discourse, will continue to deepen the crisis further.
A weakened government and in permanent crisis
This crisis from above is a reflection of the growing discredit of the Lacalle Pou government. From the anger that exists below among the workers against it and also from the dissatisfaction that is growing in the middle sectors.
Anger and dissatisfaction as a result of price increases, especially in food, which in recent times have taken a very important leap, first with the argument of war and now with that of drought. It is the product of unemployment that has been getting worse, especially in various interior departments, especially on the coast.
Also for the serious cases of Marset-Astesiano and now of Penadés; for the successive acts of corruption in various ministries, for the constant resignations of ministers, officials and hierarchs.
And now there is a serious crisis for drinking water that the government is subjecting us to after having increased chlorine and doubled the salt in it, putting the health of workers and the poor who cannot access it at risk. bottled water.
In this framework, the workers have come from carrying out a strong general strike against the pension reform. IAVA students continue to face the authoritarian policy of the government and its hierarchs in education. The Damaso students occupied the high school and there are potential conflicts in all secondary schools. The dairy workers, those of the supergas and those of Bimbo are also in conflict and threaten to deepen it. Two important mobilizations were carried out due to the water problem with a strong youth presence.
All these factors combined to make the government’s crisis permanent, revealing its weakness and instability.
The leadership of the Broad Front
Unfortunately, the leadership of the Broad Front, faced with such a crisis in the government and the pressing situation below, keeps repeating that we have to wait for next year’s elections. This was stated by Fernando Pereira in the midst of all this crisis when he said that this is fixed “changing the government in 2024”. Deputy Gerardo Olmos went further and defended Lacalle Pou without any shame: “dWe must support the president in the face of the institutional crisis generated by the insurgent minister” (4).
As if it were not Lacalle Pou himself who joined the ultra-right, the same one who protected Manini Ríos by agreeing with him so that he could rely on his parliamentary privileges and not go to court for hiding information related to cases of rape to Human Rights. The same one who negotiated to approve the macho law that exposes children to violent parents, called “Shared Tenure”, promoted by CA.
Unfortunately, these fearful leaders of “progressism” do not want to confront him in the streets and want Lacalle to finish his term in 2025. They want the workers to continue putting up with the situation while the FA leaders are very comfortable negotiating with the government in their parliamentary positions.
A worker and socialist exit
We from Izquierda Socialista de los Trabajadores think that this crisis that put into practice the possible rupture of the Coalition and governability, is, as we affirmed above, the sharp expression of a weakened government and in growing discredit. It is a government in recurring crisis. These objective conditions show that their fall is possible if we organize a great fight.
But unfortunately, the leadership of the Broad Front and the leadership of the PIT-CNT have the opposite orientation: they want to reconcile with the government, soften the crisis and channel it for the elections.
We believe that, for all that we have stated above, this government can no longer continue. It is necessary that from the struggles, from the bases in the unions, in the neighborhoods, in the study centers, the factories and offices we organize ourselves for it, in a unified plan of struggle that culminates in a General Strike. From these struggles we will be able to state that this government cannot continue and that its anti-worker reforms must fall and thus impose a constituent Assembly -of which there are already historical precedents in our country- Free and Sovereign.
Not so that the exploiters agree among themselves on the solution to the crisis of the regime as they have done up to now, but rather the opposite: that through the workers’ and popular organizations measures are taken in favor of the workers such as: non-payment of external debt, general wage increase and price freeze, reduction of working hours without salary reduction to give work to all, lower the retirement age, grant no less than 6+1% of GDP to education, nationalize the banking and foreign trade and that, through worker and popular control of large companies, confront environmental problems such as the current drinking water crisis.
In this way we will be able to take steps in a worker and popular exit in the perspective of establishing a workers’ government and its institutions; a Socialist Uruguay as part of the struggle for a Federation of Socialist Republics of Latin America.
To achieve these tasks we have the challenge of build a new direction who wants to confront the government in a consistent way, not to compromise and take care of the rotten capitalist institutionality but to destroy it and build Socialism with workers’ democracy on its rubble.
– Down with Lacalle Pou and his corrupt government!!!
– Let’s prepare the General Strike!!!
– For a Free and Sovereign Constituent Assembly!!!
– Non-payment of external debt!!!
– For a worker and socialist alternative!!!
Fuentes
4)
Article published in ist.uy 14/05/2023
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