This Saturday, February 5, the Broad Front celebrated its 51st anniversary and as of 8:00 am in the Campodónico room of the El Galpón Theater, the National Plenary Session took place.
On the occasion, the new authorities of the various organizations of the structure of the political force took office and the team that will accompany the presidency was presented.
Fernando Pereira officially assumed the position of president of the Broad Front and Verónica Piñeiro as vice president of the political force.
In his speech, Pereira recalled historical figures of the Broad Front. “This February 5 is the 51st anniversary of the FA and we had to be here in an unexpected way. He had not had as a life project to be president of the FA. You know where I come from and I am proud of the PIT-CNT, an organization that I respect and admire”.
Pereira recalled that his mother was a socialist, his Colorado father but accompanied Zelmar Michelini in the founding of the Broad Front and his grandmother was a Christian, who taught him that solidarity is a way of feeling life contributing to those who are having a hard time.
Referendum
He said that by March 27, the main task is to build a modest majority behind the social organizations, of the Uruguayans who led the campaign to repeal 135 articles of the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC).
“On March 27, a majority will be built and it will be a victory, not for the FA, but for the Uruguayan people who defended their right to determine and define,” he said.
He added: “It is very curious to us that it is said that the call for a referendum is a stick in the wheel, because 800,000 signatures are, more than a stick in the wheel, the exercise of direct democracy.”
He promised that all legislators, mayors, mayors, councilors, politicians and members of the Broad Front “will knock on the doors of all neighbors to build that majority, with the conviction of reason”
On the other hand, he listed various achievements obtained by the FA in its 15 years of government, and assured that that time will go down in history “as the best 15 years of the last 70 years.”
He highlighted the achievements in public companies and broadband. “The ANTEL Arena hurts them terribly, but later they go to get vaccinated and watch a show, and it hurts them not to recognize that Uruguay is 99% electrified and that we doubled the investment in education or that the UTEC has been created,”
The former union leader also highlighted that during the FA governments, those who committed human rights violations during the dictatorship were jailed.
“If with all this they tell us that it was a lost decade, it is because they will be recounting a film that did not exist,” he said and compared that the current government lowered salaries and passivities.
He assured that the multicolored coalition was not prepared to govern. “They came to government, but they were not prepared to govern.”
town to town
On the other hand, he reported that as of this Thursday the 10th, each department and each locality will be visited to speak with the living forces and also to speak with those who are not members of the Front, but have social sensitivity.
I assure you that the “people to people” will not end on March 27. “I hope it never ends, because the intention is to visit all the departments of the country eight or ten times a year.”
He asked that few meetings and a lot of militancy be held until March 27 to achieve the victory of the “Yes” to the repeal of 135 articles of the LUC.
Pereira said that the FA cannot allow the government coalition to say that if the LUC is repealed, it means returning to the USSR, that the prisoners will be released into the streets, or that the terms for adoption will be longer. “They call us liars, and in the face of this we have to raise our voices without insults, but with truths.”
“I can’t imagine the scenario where the ‘No’ is the majority. I’m going to work so I can’t imagine it. But if it happens, there are no final battles in the Broad Front, because it survived the dictatorship and today it is more alive, beating and pushing like no one thought it would be just two years after the electoral defeat”, he sentenced.
He stated that in victory or defeat the FA has to continue to mobilize, because a change is being prepared.
Winds of change
Pereira indicated that the Broad Front has to be more forward and broader, and must search, one by one, for the 200,000 Uruguayans who did not vote for it in the 2019 elections.
“The winds of change are blowing, because when neoliberalism reappears, it concentrates wealth again and forgets about the poorest, and the people wake up and change again. Far from questioning the people, we have to learn from them,” she stressed.
He also acknowledged that it is “very difficult to get up from a defeat”, but stressed that the political force has “all the conditions to return to government in 2024”.
He assured that this depends on: “the levels of unity and trust generated by the FA and the ability to speak modestly to people.”
generational renewal
On the other hand, Pereira referred to the role of young people, in this sense he said that during the internal campaign there was talk about the renewal of the generation, and added: “The young members of the Front do not need us to tell them our truth, they need us to open the door for them. so that they do what they have to do, and believe me that they know what they have to do”. He exemplified with the work they undertook during the “No” campaign to lower the age of criminal responsibility.
He also expressed that Uruguayan progressivism is nourished by diverse perspectives and there is an obligation to build the left of the future and look at the Uruguay of 2050, its productive and cultural development.
He indicated that another challenge is to be “government option in each department”, for which it is necessary to train.
“The FA has to open up to science and listen to its people to build the program,” he said.
The new president of the FA assured that his political force “is not only an opposition to the current government, but that it is building an alternative to the government and that it will arrive shortly. “Slow, but it’s coming, we all know it’s coming.”
masculinity and feminism
In another order, he referred to feminism. “We men have to change our masculinity and that is knowing that the macho and patriarchal construction has done enormous damage to society.”
“There is no place for violent or political violence in the FA,” he emphasized.
He assured that the fact that feminism enters the FA is a political and ethical necessity. “It has to be a collective process.”
He affirmed that the Broad Front is going to mainstream all its policies with gender. “We are going to build an FA where women who today do not even go through the door understand the politics of the FA. We cannot be far from the most transformative movement in Uruguay”.
Team
In another order, Pereira appointed his work team, which was presented to the Political Table for approval: Verónica Piñero will be the vice president; Daniel Mariño, as political secretary; Flavia García, finance secretary; Manuel Ferrer, in the organization area; Patricia González, in the area of gender and feminism; Damián Payotti, as communication manager; Gabriela Iribarren, in charge of the culture area; Ariel Bergamino will lead the international resources area; Martina Campos will be in the electoral legal area; Daniel Olesker in social affairs; Adriana Barros in human rights; Aníbal Pereyra indoors; Ivonne Passada will coordinate the government; Álvaro García and Ricardo Ehrlich will have the shared presidency of the FA program, and Christian Di Candia the political formation of the Líber Seregni foundation.
