On March 30, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) presented its report on the “Estimation of poverty” in Uruguay in the year 2021.
According to the report -of which LARED21 gave an account at the time-, in the year 2021, 10.6% of the population of Uruguay was below the poverty line, the highest values were registered among children from 6 to 12 years with 19.4%, and from 0 to 6 years with 18.6%.
In the last few hours, El Observador Público reported that there was “a hurry from President Luis Lacalle Pou and the Minister of Economy, Azucena Arbeleche, to show data as favorable when it was not.”
Said media outlet remarked that “in the midst of the campaign for the referendum, both leaders handled data in a non-rigorous manner and attributed a drop, which in the end was not such, to government policies”, since the poverty data fell by 2021 compared to 2020, but remained above pre-pandemic records.
very serious
In this sense, the deputy of the Broad Front Bettiana Díaz questioned that “Arbeleche lied and knew he was lying. The government repeated that lie over and over again in the electoral campaign.”
“There was gross manipulation of data by the Minister. This is very serious!”, sentenced the legislator.
From the Artiguista Side, it was noted that child poverty, in the age group from 0 to 6 years, went from 17% in 2019 to 18.6% in 2021. In this framework, Senator Enrique Rubio said: “We will see if now rush to say that they were seriously mistaken”, and criticized the “illusionism against reality”.
64,000 thousand more poor
Senator Liliam Kechichian spoke in the same vein, speaking of the “post-referendum” effects, and remarked that “there are 64,000 thousand more poor people than in the pre-pandemic” and “poverty is greater in all age groups”.
But the Frente Amplio legislator went further and also questioned the “42% rise in the case of gasoline and 46% in diesel oil accumulated in two years, that real wages fell again and that homicides rose 40%.
While the campaign leader for the Yes to repeal 135 articles of the LUC, Esteban Valenti, stated that “those under 18 years of age, have a poverty level of 19% (according to the INE), they rose, unlike the flagrant Minister Arbeleche’s lie. One in five are poor, and those did not vote.”
