With electoral campaigning ahead of the October 2009 elections kicking into high gear, the two presidential frontrunners for the “broad front” coalition—a former professor and the ex-Minister of Economy, Danilo Astori, and the ex-Minister of Agriculture and one-time guerrilla, José “el Pepe” Mujica—are living reminders of the road the Uruguayan left has traveled and the unique path on which it hopes to continue governing. […]
Today, as Uruguay finds itself governed by the first non-traditional party in its history, composed of parties once repressed by authoritarianism, very distinct questions and contemporary considerations stimulate the reconstruction of an era now part of the historical past. […]
In Uruguay, as in all other countries in the region, the expansion of single-crop agriculture (monoculture) combined with the powerful presence of agri-multinationals, has led to the creation of new power blocks. This in turn creates a policy environment where important decisions are made to facilitate these groups. […]
At the end of June, thirty-five years will have passed since the small, oft-forgotten South American country of Uruguay entered a dark period of political repression, military dictatorship, and state terror.
In the streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, Afro-Uruguayans celebrate an often-ignored part of their history – Candombe and resistance. For more than 200 years Afro descendants have maintained the tradition of Candombe, a rhythm that traveled from Africa to Uruguay with African slaves. The music carries centuries of resistance and liberation.
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It’s a social movement and a housing cooperative, a massive self-help program for the poor and a new way of life for thousands. With 20,000 member-families living in cooperatively owned homes in 400 communities across the country, it is one of the largest and most radical housing cooperative federations in the Americas. […]
Two proposed World Bank financed pulp mills in Uruguay have been put on hold, but are expected to be approved within the next two months. The governor of the province across from the mills has […]
The story is very similar to that of Brukman.* A factory of suits and coats owes large amounts of back pay to its workers. After several attempts at negotiation the seamstresses decide to take the factory. They occupy it once, and are thrown out. They return to enter, this time with tactics straight out of a movie, and they are tossed into the street again. The third time is victory. Now they produce 2,500 garments a month.
March 1st 2005, marked a huge political change in one of South America’s smallest countries. Uruguay welcomed its new president Tabare Vasquez, leader of the ‘Frente Amplio,’ at the parliament house in Montevideo in front […]
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