Weekly Report - 07 July 2011 (WR-11-27)

Sold for US$2.5m: an exclusive presidential beachside house in Uruguay's top coastal resort, Punta del Este. The proceeds will go towards a housing project, "Plan Juntos", to put a roof over the heads of some of the country's poorest members of society. President José Mujica, who announced the sale to the state Banco de la República, needed to make a newsworthy gesture of this sort to underline his commitment to social welfare. His approval rating hit a fresh low of 39%, down 19 percentage points in the last seven months, according to a poll by Cifra released last weekend, as the public continues to punish him for his weak leadership in the run-up to the ruling Frente Amplio's (FA) recent failure to strike down the amnesty law shielding members of the military who committed human rights abuses during the dictatorship (1973-1985).

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