With the presence of President Luis Lacalle Pou, Defense Minister Javier García, government leaders, senators and deputies, the Day of the National Army.
During the ceremony, held at the Army sports complex in Montevideo, Commander Mario Stevenazzi made a speech in which he criticized the increase in the retirement age provided for in the pension reform although he appreciated the efforts to improve the situation of junior staff.
The general also rejected the proposals to eliminate the Army, mentioned by some sectors of the Broad Front, and pointed out that there are proposals that are inspired by “urban legends” that cause officers to “disbelieve” about the political system.
Stevenazzi said that the soldiers do a weekly average of more than 60 hours of work and that most of them do not go home or see their family for 3 or 4 days.
“Even so, we continue to hear public proposals to reduce the Army, in some cases even with almost humorous ideas, not to say ‘simple’, it would seem that regardless of the effort of its members and their families, trying to minimize their work“, said.
Then he mentioned that “hopefully” that the day this is “seriously analyzed” it will be done in an “exclusively professional sphere” detached from “all ideology, as part of a global study of the entire State and for the good of the country.
“The concept of ‘why do we want the Army if we are never going to go to war’ does not seem real either, it depends on what is called war, it is enough to look to the side, or a little further away to answer this,” he added, according to the speech that was broadcast by the Army.
In another passage, Stevenazzi stressed that approaching the elections is “undoubtedly” an opportune moment to listen to “ideas and proposals.”
“HoweverWhen reference is made to the National Army with concepts that are sometimes not understood and that can become half-truths or even falsehoods, they immediately cause a negative effect on its members and their families., that they are attentive to this and that forces them to be clarified through command actions; I don’t know the final results, because there are no surveys here, but I am fully sure that one of its effects is disbelief”, he stated.
The retirement reform
Stevenazzi dedicated another passage of his speech to talk about the new organic law and the retirement system of the Armed Forces, something that was modified in the last government of the Broad Front and also included in the pension reform.
The general said that there are “different aspects” that are in the process of change – referring to the bill with changes to the organic law under study by Parliament – that affect in one way or another the “members of this force”, particularly in what refers to “professional and personal development”.
“Different studies have been carried out, serious and detached from any subjectivity and the command has been informed about the need to readjust some regulations that modify, in my opinion, the right to progress as a soldier and as a person,” he said.
In turn, he pointed out that since 2015 issues related to social security have been discussed, which has generated “great uncertainty in several generations.”
“In 2018, Law 19,695 was approved where the system is modified. Today the process of a new restructuring culminated. Within this discussion, different aspects were presented to the public opinion, by multiple actors, each one with their imprint, in some cases in a very professional manner, others with little real knowledge of each topic and more inspired by urban legends and some with manifest intentionality. to other interests,” he said.
Stevenazzi opined that in his opinion “retirement ages are too high to comply with the military professional activities that each hierarchy implies” although the new law allows junior personnel “to raise the percentage of the withdrawal amount, provided for in the current law, giving them the possibility of achieving better replacement rates”.
“The National Army is a vertical institution, those who want to be officers enter through a contest and there is a permanent evaluation process until their retirement, having to meet certain physical and training requirements to continue in service or go up,” he added.
In turn, he mentioned that once the junior staff enters by contract, whoever possesses the desire, the will and the attitude required to excel is promoted by passing mandatory courses, also with a great personal and family effort.
“In all cases, it requires clearly regulated minimum times to promote, so that, in addition to their professional training, their assets improve gradually, with mandatory deadlines that are beyond the will of each employee, in this sense the years for the calculation of their replacement rate play a fundamental role in their final retirement,” he said.
Finally, he said that it is difficult to separate the activity situation from the salary point of view from the retirement situation because “clearly the ‘replacement rate’ is directly linked to the salaries received in the years that are considered.” “I must acknowledge and thank the effort that has been made, in times of difficulty for the country, mainly due to the harsh pandemic experienced, and now with very negative effects of an extensive drought, to improve the assets of our troops and we maintain hope that it is possible to continue working in this direction”, he stated.
