During the past few weeks
Montevideo has been taken over by the 2014 general election, the
campaigners virtually chase you down the streets to hand you flyers.
Thank God for giving Uruguay so much land so they can re-plant all
the trees they've cut down. One elderly gentleman shouted at me as I
walked past: “I don't want to see any student votes go to the right
wing”, and yesterday I found myself humming the jingle to the left
wing party in the shower, and I innocently thought that in the shower
of my own locked bathroom I would be safe, I couldn't have been more
wrong.
And
to make things worse Uruguay is also voting in a referendum to make a
decision on the controversial topic of lowering the legal age at
which people can be incarcerated from 18 to 16. NO A LA BAJA
(literally, “no to the loweing”) is written on every street,
every public building, every university, even the Pride Parade was
taken over by the symbol of this campaign, the image of a colourful
origami humming bird:
Whereas
the campaign for SI A LA BAJA ("Yes to the lowering") has
been incredibly quiet, almost non-existent to the public eye. Whether
that's because they are confident they will win or maybe they think
psychology is behind them as you the only option when in front of the
ballot box is SI (Yes), if you'd like to vote for NO (no), all you
need to do is not vote. Therefore, maybe the human nature's desire to
participate is behind the SI (yes) campaign.
This
week, the week before the general eletions and the referendum, I
heard of an incident that may have tipped the scale a little towards
the "Yes". As we all probably know, Uruguayans love their
footbal, their passion is comrable to that of Brazil and Argentina.
Therefore when a group of underage hooligans attacked a bus taking
the footballers of one of Ururguay's main football teams, Club
Nacional de Football, to a game and suffered no consequences, a lot
of the supporters of this very popular team may have changed sides to
SI. I believe this to be a very suspicious incident.
I'm
still unsure about this topic as I believe that it is wrong for
teenagers under 18 to remain unpunished but I donnot believe that a
prison is the right place to educate someone so vulnerable to the
people and influences around them. I used to be pretty sure that
the age of legal responsability for minors should be lowered but after speaking to Uruguayans. Epeciallymy colleagues at Gurises Unidos, who work so hardto make sure young people do not follow the same path as their delinquent parents. But then again, is 16 that much different to 18?
This
topic arose from the ashes after a period of stagnation. This
metaphorical phoenix, or humming bird, arose from the theme that most
plagues the population of Uruguay: insecurity. Many people think
lowering the age is the answers but others think it only make things
worse. This Sunday Uruguay must make a decision. And either campaign
must collect 51% or more in order for the constitution to be changed.
Returning
to the topic of presidential elections. This Sunday the whole of
Uruguay will vote in order to decide who will be their next
president. Unlike their neighbouring country, Brazil, there is no
such thing as re-election here, therefore, their beloved current
presisent, José Mujica, must stand down from presidency. His place
will be taken (probably) be taken by one of the most popular parties:
Partido National (also called Blanco), Partido Colorado, Frente
Amplio (current party in power with Mujica) and Partido
Independiente. Partido Nacional, or Blaco, a centre-right party,
under Luís Lacalle Pou, a young candidate who uses his age as an
advantage. Frente Amplio, left-wing party, under Tabaré Vazquez, a
much older candidate with whom Lacalle Pou competes. Partido
Colorado, a right wing party, which together with Partido Nacional is
one of the oldest and most traditional of Uruguay, under Pedro
Bordaberry. Partido Independiente, social democrats and christian
socialists, under Pablo Mieres.
