Significance: The threatened strike in Salto is symptomatic of wider problems at a municipal level in Uruguay, sparking debate about the level of municipal debts across the country. Salto was one of just two departments (out of 19) run by the right-of-centre opposition Partido Colorado (PC) before May’s regional and municipal elections when it was won by the nationally ruling left-wing coalition Frente Amplio (FA). The incoming intendant (governor), Andrés Lima, who will take office on 9 July, is accusing the PC of bankrupting the department, saddling it with total debts mounting to Ur$1bn (US$37m), the budget for an entire year. The national FA government led by President Tabaré Vázquez is under pressure to sort out the mess but the economy & finance minister, Danilo Astori, came in promising austerity as sharp economic slowdowns in Uruguay’s neighbouring trading partners, Argentina and Brazil, threaten to constrain domestic GDP growth.
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