In Uruguay’s runoff presidential election yesterday, Yamandu Orsi of the leftist Broad Front (FA) won handily with 52.1% of the vote against Alvaro Delgado of the right-wing National Party with 47.9%. Delgado was affiliated with the Republican Coalition of outgoing, scandal-ridden President Luis Lacalle Pou. The FA had been out of power for four years but had previously governed the country for 15 years, from 2005 to 2020. Concern over rising crime levels and increased drug trafficking in the capital of Montevideo were factors in Orsi’s victory.
Several Ibero-American heads of state congratulated Orsi on his victory with an especially warm message from Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who posted on X that this was a great victory “for all of Latin America and the Caribbean” and announced he’ll meet with Orsi on the sidelines of the next heads of state meeting of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) in Montevideo on December 6. Lula is fighting to preserve Mercosur, a customs union, as a key instrument for regional integration, and sees Orsi’s victory as key to that. Lacalle Pou tried to break up Mercosur by signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China, a violation of the customs union’s regulations which prohibit member nations from signing individual trade agreements with countries outside the bloc. Not willing to cause problems with Mercosur, China backed away from that plan..
Undeterred, Argentina’s unhinged President Javier Milei has indicated he’s willing to bust up Mercosur by seeking an FTA with the incoming Trump administration. Lula is already working closely with Paraguayan President Santiago Pena and Bolivian President Luis Arce, whose government is about to become a full-fledged Mercosur member. Argentina is the wrecking ball. Milei skipped the last Mercosur heads of state meeting in July so as not to talk to or meet with Lula, choosing instead to attend a regional meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) hosted by his fascist pal, former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. Whether he attends the December heads of state summit remains to be seen.
