MACRO ANNOUNCEMENTS OF MICRO ANSWERS: THE MULTICOLOR GOVERNMENT DEALING WITH THE PANDEMIC (AND BEYOND IT) IN URUGUAY

Abstract

After 15 years of left-wing leadership under the Frente Amplio coalition, on March 1Uruguay has ushered in a conservative government led by the Partido Nacional and a centre-right to right-wing coalition with other four political parties. Thirteen days later, President Lacalle declared a Public Health Emergency because of COVID 19 and development of several initiatives begins. This article focuses specifically on those aimed at poverty and vulnerability, based on official communications and considering that beyond this crisis, they are exemplary of the general orientation of the new government. Despite repeated and permanent announcements by the government, public responses tend to be minimal, for a short time and with little clarity on the award criteria. The axis is not placed on the expansion of unconditional cash transfers, and instead, the focus is on food baskets and voluntary donations. In a context of a labor market with difficulties in incorporating an important group of people, and even more in formalizing it, the bet seems to be placed on the protection that families and civil society organizations can provide. This supposes a return to the orientations prevailing in Latin America at the end of the last century and presumably its consequences.