The Minister of Public Health, Daniel Salinas, was not elected as the new director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which would be opening the possibility of him being the running mate of the leader of Cabildo Abierto, Guido Manini Ríos for the elections of 2024. On the other hand, a survey released yesterday indicates that Salinas is the best evaluated minister within the ministerial cabinet.
Salinas was a candidate for Uruguay to lead PAHO. In the first ballot he reached 4 votes out of 37. None of the five candidates reached the required 20 votes, so a second ballot was passed. In this Salinas did not obtain any vote. The candidates from Brazil and Panama are the ones still in the race. Finally, the winner was the Brazilian representative: Jarbas Barbosa.
After knowing the result of the vote, Salinas said on Twitter: “We welcome the appointment of the new director of PAHO, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa. We did all our best.” The minister said, “You don’t always win, it’s like life itself. We got 11% of the possible votes in the first round 4 out of 37, the second round corresponds to the concept of «strategic vote» with a view to the 3rd. Round. Uruguay was also elected for 3 years in the PAHO Executive Committee”.
Cabildo Abierto Senator Guillermo Domenech said that Salinas’ candidacy was affected by changes in the government’s anti-smoking policy. “We cannot deny that it had an influence. It was moved as a change in the health policy of Uruguay, a confusion was facilitated that we regret because it negatively influenced his candidacy. (…) He tried to be loyal to the Presidency and blew himself up as a candidate for the direction of PAHO »he maintained.
“We had expectations that Salinas would be elected because he is an excellent professional, an excellent Minister of Public Health, I presume that he will continue to be,” added the legislator.
He said that now Salinas could be Manini Ríos’ running mate in the 2024 elections. “He is an excellent candidate, and I personally see him very favorably, but the interest for Uruguay was different,” he said.
He also stated that “we have a particular interest in Uruguay projecting itself with prestigious people in the international arena, as has been a tradition of the country, I remember Carlos María Velázquez at the United Nations, Eduardo Giménez de Aréchaga at The Hague, They are figures from different parties that gave Uruguay relevance internationally.
performance survey
On the other hand, yesterday a survey by the consulting firm Cifra was published, which indicates that Minister Salinas is the best valued by public opinion.
The question was: “Thinking about the cabinet of ministers of President Lacalle Pou’s government, which minister would you say is currently performing better?”
The most mentioned is the Minister of Health Salinas: one out of every four respondents considers him the best. In a second step appear the Minister of the Interior Heber and the Minister of Economy Arbeleche, with less than 10% of mentions each. In a fourth step, mentioned by less than 5%, are the Ministers of Labor, Education and Social Development. Slightly less than one in 10 thinks that no minister performs well. Also in these negative judgments, party affinities do not change the order: Heber is the minister with the worst performance for most of the ruling party and opposition members who give their opinion, Cifra points out.
If a balance of positive and negative judgments is made, the minister that obtains the most positive consensus is undoubtedly that of Health. A quarter consider it the best and very few evaluate it as the worst performer. The balance of the Minister of the Interior, on the other hand, is negative, since, although 7% place it as the best, 34% judge it as the worst. The other ministers that minorities stand out as the best have a rather positive balance, including the Minister of Economy and Labor.
