Friday, March 04, 2005

It seems that the new President in Uruguay is keeping some of his campaign promises already, including a package of economic relief for the poor. There's a follow-up article in the NY Times. According to the article:

As his first official action, Dr. Vázquez announced a sweeping "Social Emergency Plan" that contains food, health, job and housing components. The program, whose cost is estimated at $100 million, is to be aimed at the hundreds of thousands of Uruguayans who have fallen below the poverty line as a result of economic crises of recent years....

The new president's second act in office was to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba. Ties were broken in 2002 as a result of a dispute that began when Dr. Vázquez's predecessor, Jorge Batlle Ibáñez, suggested that human rights observers be sent to Cuba to document abuses there.

The economic crises mentioned in the text above were largely a result of the extreme economic crisis in Argentina. Uruguay's large neighbor had to devalue it's currency by 2/3s in 2001 and quickly went into a economic decline not seen since the Depression.

posted by Michelle @ 10:07 AM,

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