Uruguay Hails a New President Today
Montevideo, March 1 (Prensa Latina) Tabare Vazquez will be sworn in Tuesday as the first socialist president of Uruguay with a broad political support, breaking with a nearly 180 year-old tradition of conservative administrations.
Leader of the Frente Amplio Coalition (FA), Vazquez, who has pledged to fight poverty and boost economic growth as key goals, is taking power with the support of a new Parliament with an unprecedented leftwing majority.
A professor of medicine, Vazquez, 65, won the October 31 elections as leader of the center-left FA, whose 52 percent poll win was a massive rejection to neoliberal policies so far implemented by right governments.
The FA Coalition, founded in 1971 by the Socialist and Communist parties, broadened its political basis in 1989 when the former urban guerrilla group Tupamaros and the Christian Democratic Party joined its ranks.
The FA will control 17 of the 30 Senate seats and 53 of the 99 seats in the Lower Chamber of Parliament. It will also control local governments in 10 of 19 Departments (provinces).
International analysts consider this win to be in line with the regional trend of progressive forces gaining power, like Lula in Brazil, Kirchner in Argentina, Chavez in Venezuela and Lagos in Chile.
Vazquez favors an independent and strengthened Southern Common Market (Mercosur), and opposes the US-planned Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) and the war in Iraq, and has pledged to reestablish diplomatic ties with Cuba.
As announced in his agenda, Vazquez will implement a National Action Pan (PAN) geared to meet the needs of poor sectors of society, mostly affected by current neoliberal economic and political policies.
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Analysts agree his administration will have to make short, medium, and long-term efforts to tackle a crisis that lead to the closing of companies and increased unemployment -currently affecting nearly 800,000 Uruguayans.
Official figures reveal 50 percent of children in the country are born below the line of poverty, with nearly 480,000 citizens living in extreme poverty.
Vazquez also announced he would re-establish, maintain, and strengthen diplomatic relations with all South American countries, and spare no effort towards regional integration. In fact, a day after Vazquez swears in as president, he will sign an important agreement with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
As many as 160 delegations and Latin American top leaders have gathered in Montevideo to attend Vazquez´ inauguration ceremony Tuesday.
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