Than a renowned communist like Juan Castillo and the Rural Association of Uruguay (ARU) support the same candidate it is a strangeness difficult to find in any Uruguayan election. But that has been achieved by Marcelo Ríos (list 22), official candidate in the election of the Social Security Bank (BPS) by the business sector.
In addition to these supports, Ríos -who was assigned to the former Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ernesto Murro, between 2017 and 2019- has the support of the Chamber of Industries and the president of Cutcsa, Juan Salgado, who chairs the Chamber of Transportation, among other business chambers.
“There has been support from sectors that we did not even expect”Ríos admitted in an interview last Thursday on Canal 4’s Buen Día Uruguay. The heterogeneity of the support has surprised the list, they commented to The Observer sources around Ríos.
Such is the support that the leader of the Communist Party and former secretary general of the PIT-CNT, Juan Castillo sent a video for cooperative members and small producers to support that list. “Whether they are entrepreneurs, small producers, cooperatives or monotributistas, we vote flat 22“he said in the video published by the weekly El Popular, a publication of the Communist Party of Uruguay.
Why has such a consensus been given for many to support that list? On the side of list 26, whose candidate is José Pereyra, there is the support of Un Solo Uruguay, an organization that, as understood by the Ríos sector, generates a certain rejection in certain areas and that leads to small social organizations that are more related to the left vote for the same list supported by large business chambers. Castillo spoke in the same vein. “I’m going for the most representative list. On the other side is a single Uruguay and it is far from representing us“, he assured The Observer.
However, sources close to Pereyra pointed out that some of the revisionist proposals of the candidate on list 26 led to this unexpected union.
Castillo’s video was used by list 26 to mark the communist leader’s support for a business list. In a video they pointed out that list 22 was 15 years ago and was supported by Castillo while list 26 is supported “by the whole country and seeks a change in the BPS.”
If you vote as a Company, on Sunday I would enter the 26th, with @pereyradebrun! ?
Of course! Unless you love the class struggle and everything from the last 15 years … not in that case. ? https://t.co/4aXt2kKuh9 pic.twitter.com/XJJh0t5GSj– Alfredo Bruno (@Alfredo_Bruno) November 24, 2021
This reference to Castillo and the Communist Party of Uruguay did not go down well with the associations that support the 22. The Rural Association argued that “the opinions of third parties supporting or discrediting those who apply through list 22 (…) do not influence and less change the decision” to promote the vote for that list. In turn, the representative of the Chamber of Industries on that list, Guzmán Barreiro, said in a letter to Search that “the DNA of List 22 is purely business” and that it rules out “any political party bias.”
In fact, List 22 is preparing a message to communicate in networks during Sunday’s election that emphasizes the fact that businessmen vote for businessmen “without political flags.”
Assigned to Murro
Although Ríos is manager of the Union of Meat Vendors of Uruguay, accountant of the Chamber of Hardware Stores and the Uruguayan Chamber of Pasta Manufacturers and is the representative of that group in the Salary Councils by employers, between 2017 and 2019 He carried out work as an associate of the then Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ernesto Murro.
