The president of the Broad Front, Fernando Pereira, called after midnight this sunday to the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, later of being announced the triumph of the No in the referendum for the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC).
Hours before, Pereira had addressed his militancy without admitting defeat in a speech that preceded the president’s press conference, who valued the result as positive and pointed out that the referendum was a “stage over” for the government.
“I called him and we talked for a long time. Either one was clearly exhausted, but yes. we promised to continue maintaining this linkwhich is clear, sharp, of two people who think differently (about) what to do with the country, but that they respect each other and that there is a certain loyalty. When I say determined, (I say) quite a lot,” Pereira told the program Things in their place, from Sarandí.
“Our dialogues have always been reserved. The reservation between a President of the Republic and a President of the most important political force in Uruguay is not a minor issue, it is very important.“, he added.
At the conference this Sunday, Lacalle Pou targeted the former president of the PIT-CNT -who he had limited himself to acknowledging the triumph of the No during his speech– noting that he had not received his call and that they were “looking for him”. According to what he said then, the secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, tried to locate him but could not.
pereira replied this Monday that the comment “was an unnecessary criticism” and clarified that he conceded defeat to the secretary. He explained it this way: “Before the Lacalle conference, I told Delgado that we had concluded the scrutiny and that we had not reached the votes to repeal the 135 articles of the LUC. That he could tell Lacalle at that very moment, that what he was telling him was official. (…) It is seen that there they did not have time to communicate.”
However, he also stated that in his speech he did not mention it explicitly because “the stage was not closed” and they were working on a statement, although, in his opinion, he also gave “all the signs” that the Broad Front and the rest of social organizations that supported the cause had not reached them. “Anyone who listened to the speech may have noticed that I gave all the signs that we hadn’t. But he couldn’t say ‘he didn’t give us’ because it wasn’t finished yet.“, said.
Regarding the electoral result, he expressed that “there is not a divided country” but “a single country”, for which, he understands, those who think differently should not be attacked: “Believing that this is a gap or a crack is a matter for some few senators who make Twitter a way of life”.
“It was an uneven and arrowed campaign. With these disadvantages, having been at 20 thousand votes generates rejoicing. But I am also honest: we did not achieve the goal. We had the objective of repealing the worst 135 articles”, summarized Pereira.
Regarding the referendum, Pereira launched: “When the law was discussed, they told him that 60% of Parliament had backed it. When they went to support it with the people, they did not reach 50%. This is the truth“. In addition, he questioned that analysts – who did not specify which ones – told him that “it was impossible to reach the signatures.”
Regarding the statements of Lacalle Pou, who said the police “were used unfairly these days of campaign when they take care of all Uruguayans”, he retorted: “Attacks on the Police, none. Attacks on those who beat people in police operations. To those who violated human rights. None of the Police, we have the greatest respect for the Police.”
