Security: “We are better, but not good”
The security was one of the central themes that Ojeda raised in his speech. Taking advantage of his training as a criminal lawyer, the candidate got into some of the current heated debates, such as crime figures and the proposal on the night raids.
“Robberies, cattle rustling, even femicides decreased. The homicides, They rose again and fell again, always without reaching the historical record of 2018 of almost 420 homicides. I do not accept or tolerate that it is said that this period had more homicides than the previous one because one cannot have convenient readings of the situation. No one can seriously claim that we are doing well in public safety. “We are not okay. Are we better than before? Yes. Are we okay? No,” he mused.
“We had 15 years of failure with the Frente Amplio that left us with the worst public security of the millennium. And we had five years led by the National Party I think they made a good effort. But obviously we have a debt and we have to accept it,” he said.
On the night raids, which came into debate following the popular consultation which will take place with the upcoming elections in October, the lawyer and candidate assured that “they already exist, they are already being done and they are already authorized” and added that “the only disqualification refers to homes, everything that is not a home today can be broken into at night.” “So all those who are enthralled against breaking and entering at night should be seeking to prohibit those that are already being done today and I don’t see anyone caring too much,” he ironically said.
On the other hand, he mentioned that “the guarantees In a search, they are not allowed night, day, breakfast or a nap. They are given by a judge of the Republic. When someone goes to request a search, the prosecutor will have to argue why he wants to carry out that search in that place, why he needs it at night and the judge will have to say whether he allows it and whether he allows it at night. If you do not argue well, do it during the day, you do not have to do it at night.
Ojeda took the opportunity to criticize the position of the Frente Amplio formula on the point. “On the day of the conference, when the Frente said no to this, what they said was that it is not the magic solution. We all agree. No one has maintained it and I would say more, no individual tool is the magic solution on any issue. But it helps, it helps and the Frente members themselves have said so many times.”
The PIT-CNT is a “Bolivarian plebiscite”
Ojeda also strongly questioned the campaign of PIT-CNT and some sectors of the Broad Front to repeal the social security reform. Surprised by the numbers from the latest polls that mention a high approval of the referendum, the candidate stated that “if 45% of citizens would vote to annul this reform, it means that there is a lot of information missing here.”
“And when I tell you that this election is a debate between the future and the past, between the new and the old, gentlemen, there is nothing more stale, regressive, sixties and Bolivarian than this reform of the PIT-CNT. I am going to say it here and where I have to say it. They have mothballs everywhere,” he said.
Along those lines, the Colorado leader said: “I find it hard to believe that there is still Uruguay There are people who sleep with a cobblestone Berlin Wall under the pillow. I think it is clear here who looks to the past and who looks to the future. They want to look like Venezuela, I want to look like Europe and the United States”, he stated vehemently, drawing further applause.
Mental health, a programmatic priority
The topic of the mental health has been present in several of the messages that the various pre-candidates have issued in this electoral campaign. Also in that of the lawyer. “Talking about mental health is talking about employment and of security. Today is the real one pandemic of the 21st century and all of us sitting here have either experienced it firsthand, or have a family member, relative or friend who has had some mental health pathology, and let’s not think about serious addictions, let’s not think about suicides, let’s think about daily hypotheses that happen to people,” he said.
And he added: “Today the anxiety, he stress and the depression They challenge our lives and we do not have this issue on our agenda or on the table as a central issue. I believe that our goal here, for the next government, is to try to make access to it universal.”
Chicana to Delgado about “the key to the Tower”
In a joking tone, the event moderators Miguel Nogueira and Alfredo Dante They reminded Ojeda of Delgado’s comment that he represents continuity by putting up the image that “he knows where the key to the Executive Tower to make everything work.”
Ojeda also responded with a smile. “Álvaro always says that he knows where the key is and that he arrives on the first day and turns it on and everything works. Well, I take this opportunity to tell him that Luis Lacalle Pou He didn’t know where the key was, but he found it very quickly.”
International insertion and the relationship with Argentina
Ojeda, one of the youngest candidates in this race, also referred to what he called new and diverse political leaderships in the region, without avoiding referring to what his relationship with the current Argentine president could be. Javier Milei.
“I believe that for better or worse, the entire region has been filled with new leaders, all different in ideologies, but with a common core, both disruptive and novel. Gabriel Boric, Santiago Peña, Nayib Bukele and Javier Milei, All different, absolutely innovative, I may like them more or less, but I think that the region is moving towards new leadership,” he said.
Regarding the Argentine leader, he said: “What I think first with Milei is that what was there could not continue, whatever came would be better. I open a letter of credit to him, I do not want to prejudge him, and in hyper pragmatic terms, I hope it means an opportunity for Uruguay”.
“We have already started better with the dredging of the 14 meters of the Port of Montevideo, It is already 1 to 0 with Alberto Fernandez, If not more,” Ojeda emphasized, going even a step further by stating that “it is perhaps the most important challenge of growth that Uruguay has, without the shackles of neighbors who are governed by their ideology above all else.”
“I am not proud to say that an Argentine president picked up a phone China to push for an agreement with Uruguay. I believe that Alberto Fernández is an enemy of Uruguay, and I hope that Javier Milei can be a friend tomorrow,” he said.
The coalition’s small table “to avoid tantrums”
In terms of proposals, another of those that Ojeda mentioned at lunch was related to the functioning of the government coalition, proposing that there be a kind of “small group” of leaders for daily operations.
“We have to have a coalition operating body, a discussion table, because it is not reasonable that we are partners for investment and for loss, but not for making the decision. So, obviously I think that the coalition partners have to have a seat at a table of equals, which does not have to be public, which does not have to be many things, but it has to be a place where we can settle our differences and comments internally, and we can suddenly, for the next period, avoid the tantrums coalition partners at the door of the Executive Tower, which would be fantastic,” he warned.
Source: Ambito
