A few days ago, the senator of the National Party, Sebastián Da Silva, gave an interview to the program Panorama 1410 – Radio La R, in which he spoke about various current issues, not only about the political community he represents, but also about the government. coalition and opposition.
In the various queries he received, Da Silva responded to whether the government is currently passing through times that “favors” it, and if it is facing a “tailwind” that it is taking advantage of. “Right now Uruguay is an island, in Latin America, of economic and political freedom, and any country on the continent has the same possibilities, because what is happening today is that there is an energy and food crisis. So the rich world is looking to Latin America. The issue is what the continent does before that gaze. For now Argentina does everything wrong. Uruguay does many things well. So, that tailwind exists, and our government is taking advantage of it very cautiously, with clear messages, not intervening in markets and a spill of record hours in industry and construction. There is a general framework where we are taking advantage of it”.
To his answer, he added that “there is another situation, in my opinion structural (…), the number in this country of people who are on the verge of poverty, or falling into poverty, and there is economic, educational poverty, there is a series of data that is not from now or from March 1, 2020. We cannot politicize that. According to data from CERES, before assuming the government, among those who were about to fall into poverty, and those who did not have income that defined them as poor, there were some 400 thousand people. It’s complex. That is where the State has to go, and not go to pay Ancap’s portland deficit, so that Gerardo Rodríguez (president of Fancap) is happy with his corporate defense”.
Asked if the government does not have to apply “stronger” policies to combat poverty, the legislator replied that “what happens is that the numbers are enormous. The allocation of Mides resources, observed from the front, from above or from below, places an enormous emphasis on addressing this situation. In this Rendering of Accounts, everything indicates that there will be financing for the educational reform, that is, for the gurises who may be in that context but that there is an education that educates them and that makes them be able to finish high school. There is the plan to eradicate the settlements, and if you take a look at where the state effort is going, what is paid through taxes goes there. There are things that should have been seen before, but were not seen by the logic of the facts. The one that you and I suffered when the pandemic arrived. Well, the government suffered too.”
Regarding whether he is aware that the increase in the Accountability budget for the year 2023, if he is aware that it could be between US$150 and US$200 million, he replied that “I am not aware. I do not have the confirmed figure. I know the emphasis, but not the quantification”. The Senate also had words to defend the management of Mides. As to whether that Secretary of State cut social aid and plans, he stated that “in the case of Mides it is not like that. The Mides has a record of promotions and benefits like never before. It’s just that he never had more, and it’s reasonable. We had a pandemic. You may like it, more or less, but here there is a time that has to be repeated ad nauseam, and there is no limit to the family allowance”.
Regarding the strikes carried out last week by public employee unions, regarding these measures, Da Silva said that “they have been encouraging a handle, a destabilization for a long time (…), they are not representative of the working class. Gerardo Rodríguez is not representative of the working class. Someone who earns $200,000 and does not work, who does not have any type of dilemma or risk when it comes to keeping his job, because it is immovable, and who ends up proposing a constitutional reform to privatize the wind and the sun. He is not representative of the Uruguayan working class. He has the conscience of being well off in a public office. And that’s why he says the things he says. The problems of Gerardo Rodríguez are not the problems of the ordinary worker”.
“There will be more conflict. Mainly in powerful guilds, those with the resources to create and be a destabilizing pulley for their partner, the Broad Front. I see a plain and simple association. It is bread with bread, they are the same. I see it in all actions. In addition, the intersocial expresses it in this and that. For me there is a natural coordination. In addition, the president of the Broad Front is a trade unionist, acts as such and speaks as such. The only thing he does are protest platforms, but never a proposal. Then, the action is the same, undermine the confidence of the government to make it weak and then come to power. We have that very clear. And that is why in the face of unusual situations, such as the conflict in the dairy industry, the Broad Front whistles softly. It is an unusual situation. Today it’s up to one guild, tomorrow to another, when if they were in government, it’s a conflict that doesn’t make common sense. They are people who have not lost a single peso in their purchasing power”, he concluded.
