Development: On 13 October the former Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010) announced his “retirement from public political life”
Significance: Vázquez’s controversial comments about a bilateral row with Argentina triggered astonished disbelief, both in Argentina and Uruguay. His decision to respond to the wave of criticism by leaving politics has shocked members of the ruling Frente Amplio (FA). It also brought the tensions within the FA to the fore. Some factions accepted Vázquez’s decision as opportune, seeing it as making space for a new generation of leaders. Others, such as Vice-President Danilo Astori and the FA directorate, immediately called on him to reconsider.
Key points:
• President José Mujica, currently in Sweden as part of an official European tour, has yet to comment on the controversy. However, his wife, Senator Lucía Topolansky, has been very vocal in her criticism of Vázquez. “Inside the FA, we think he [Vázquez] has to give us an explanation, because at that time we were senators of the republic and we knew nothing [about the war scenario], nor did the ministers...If Uruguay needed allies...there were plenty of Latin American countries to give us a hand in the mediation [process]. If I had been in Vázquez’s shoes, [the US] would have been the last country I turned to because, despite ending the Cold War, it has taken a war-like attitude in low intensity conflicts that have cost many lives worldwide”, she told an Argentine radio station yesterday.
• According to Vázquez’s associates, Topolansky’s strong condemnation prompted his decision to retire.
• “This might be a good opportunity to think about a renovation of the leadership within the FA”, said Senator Constanza Moreira, who was previously backed by President Mujica to lead the FA.
• The opposition, however, doesn’t believe that Vázquez will stay out of politics. Pedro Bordaberry, the president of the Partido Colorado, said “I don’t believe anything [he says]. It’s the third time he says the same thing and comes back. He should stop these things [public controversies] and start working”. For the former President Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-1995), who now leads the Partido Nacional, the Vázquez announcement is nothing more than “strategy”.
