URUGUAY: Prez. Mujica To Allow Human Rights Abuse Investigations.

BBC

With a new law, President Jose Mujica can soon allow courts to investigate more than 80 cases of alleged human rights abuses committed under military rule...and long blocked by an amnesty law.

Some 200 people were kidnapped and killed by the security forces during the 1973-1985 period of military rule.

URUGUAY: 22 May UPDATE: 8,000 March Again For "Disappeared" After Lawmakers Reject Military Amnesty Change; Protection Continues.

BBC

     Lawmakers have rejected removing an amnesty that has protected military officers from prosecution for decades.
     President Jose Mujica won in his effort to uphold the amnesty...even though he was imprisoned from 1972-85 under military rule.
     Mujica had warned of the "political dangers" of scrapping it.
     Human rights groups have attacked the amnesty and Mujica's support of it.
     "Uruguay has a moral and legal obligation to provide justice to those who suffered from torture and other abuses - not to protect their torturers from investigation and trial," said an Amnesty Intl. spokesman.

ALSO:   In Montevideo...an estimated 8,000 marched in the annual “March of Silence,”(below) to remember their "disappeared" and murdered friends and relatives.

URUGUAY: Prez. Mujica's Popularity Down By 34 Pts; "Insecurity" And Inflation Blamed.

M.PRESS/

    The most popular man in Latin America...is not so popular anymore...as political realities have finally caught up with President Jose Mujica.
   A new opinion poll shows support for Mujica dropped to...41%...or 9 points less than in March...and DOWN an astounding 34 points...from first taking office in March 2010.
    Mujica's problems, according to the survey, are: public insecurity, 51%, increase in prices, 12% and not honouring what was promised, 11%.

URUGUAY: Senate Predicted To Overturn Junta Crimes Amnesty Law.

AP/ M.HERALD/ R. Garces

    Despite the support of voters in two referendums, the senate is predicted to overturn amnesty provisions in a 1986 law for crimes against humanity...committed during the 1973-85 dictatorship.
    With the backing of leftist President Jose Mujica (pictured), the measure will return to the lower house for minor changes and could become law by 20 May.
    Courts could then begin to prosecute human rights violators.
   To date and unlike its neighbors, Uruguay has avoided prosecutions for human rights violations.

   Every 20 May, Uruguay honors the 174 political prisoners kidnapped and killed during the 12-year leftist cleansing.

URUGUAY: IMF Chief Strauss-Khan Praises Mujica's Economic Management.

M.PRESS/
     IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan
(pictured in suit with President Mujica) praised the management and achievements of the Uruguayan economy on his first and perhaps last visit to Montevideo.
   “I must congratulate the different Uruguayan officials for the way they have coped with the crisis”, he said. He said Uruguay has achieved formidable economic progress in the past decade and brought an sizable increase in the nation's standard of living.

URUGUAY: Army Collects 7,000 Tons Of Montevideo's Stinking Garbage Despite Strike.

MERCOPRESS/
    Montevideo residents got relief from a garbage strike that has lasted for weeks when the army began to collect some 7,000 tons of the rotting mess.
   Communist mayor Ana Olivera, city strikers and municipal authorities have refused to act against the unionized workers so President Mujica finally ordered the army in.
    Strikers are demanding a $1,000 US dollars monthly salary for 30 hours a week plus benefits equivalent to another 50%.

ARGENTINA/ URUGUAY: 1ST UPDATE: Prez Mujica Interview: Argentina "A Country Cut In Two."

M.PRESS/
   Uruguay's President Jose Mujica believes it was “unthinkable” and “incredible” that Argentine opposition leaders stayed away from the wake of  former president Nestor Kirchner after an alleged “official suggestion,” calling Argentina “ a country cut in two.”
    In an interview with a Montevideo weekly, Mujica said that “we can’t change that scenario, a country split in two but we must keep improving ours; it was an incredible wake ceremony”.
    Mujica also said he understood what former Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle meant in 2002 when he remarked: “the Argentines are a bunch of thieves, from A to Z”.

UPDATE: 16 NOV: Mujica now claims the opposition media took his comments about Argentina "out of context"  because they were  “looking for anything that could appear to create a fracture.”
FOR MORE, SEE: http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/en/node/3668

URUGUAY: Prez. Mujica Popularity At Record High After 100 Days.

MERCOPRESS/     President Jose Pepe Mujica's public opinion approval is at a record high after his first 100 days in office at 74%, about 13 and 16 percentage points more than his two immediate predecessors Tabare Vazquez and Jorge Batlle. The 74% is also higher than the below 50% Mujica won in the first presidential electoral round in October 2009, which forced him into a run-off a month later. The former   rebel recently declared his entire net wealth to be only an $1,800 USD VW.

URUGUAY: Prez. Mujica's Only Asset Is $1,900 '87 VW !

MERCOPRESS/     President Jose Mujica, 75, has formally declared that his entire wealth amounts...to a 1987 Volkswagen Beatle valued at about $1,900 USD. In a sworn statement, the former guerrilla who spent 13 years in jail claimed no bank accounts or other assets, adding that his small flower farm is in his wife’s name.

URUGUAY: "Over-Stressed" President Mujica Told To Relax By Doctor.

MERCOPRESS/     President José Mujica will skip a Latin American/ Caribbean/EU Summit next week in Madrid on a doctor's orders. Mujica, 74, was experiencing an “over exposure to stress” after almost three months of hyper-activity with visits to Brasil, Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina on several occasions along with 12 to 15 hour work days. “I was told to rev’ down” said Mujica. He said that he has “difficulties sleeping, but it’s not worrisome if I pay attention to what doctors recommend me.”

URUGUAY/VENEZUELA/ Visit Results In Continuing Oil and Refinery Support.

MERCOPRESS/   Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez again played the subsidized oil card while visiting Uruguay's new President Jose Mujica, a 74-year-old former leftist, by offering to expand a refinery and continue to supply it with 40,000 barrels daily of crude.

URUGUAY: New President Mujica Takes Office; Reflects On Mercosur, Homebuilding.

MERCO PRESS/   Jose Mujica officially became president today and admits that Mercosur is “failing” because “we are doing something wrong." He also outlined plans for more home building. “We have a shortage of 100.000 homes and I think that a good immediate solution is to have prisoners in jail help with that task. We have plenty of woods to timber and carpentry shops in jails to keep them busy."

URUGUAY: Leftist Wins Presidency.

BLOOMBERG/ With Foto/
With more than 90% of the vote counted, Jose Mujica of the left-leaning Broad Front coalition, was leading by about 10 percentage points in a runoff against Luis Lacalle, a former president. Lacalle has already delivered a concession speech. Thousands celebrated Mujica's apparent victory in the wintry weather.

URUGUAY: Former Rebel Leads Polls For Presidency.

BLOOMBERG/
Uruguay’s Jose Mujica, 74, who was imprisoned for more than a decade by the military juntas that ruled Uruguay in the 1970s and 1980s, promises to maintain the ruling coalition’s economic policies, and is favored to be elected president in a runoff vote today. Mujica, the governing Frente Amplio's coalition candidate, has 49.6% support, compared with 42.1% for former President Luis Alberto Lacalle of the opposition National Party.

URUGUAY: Presidential Election Goes To Run-off.

AP Via LATIMES/
Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla won the most votes in Uruguay's presidential elections Sunday, but not enough to avoid a runoff. Mujica garnered 48% while former president and free-marketeer Luis Alberto LaCalle won 30%.

Undecided Voters Grow As Uruguay's Presidential Election Nears.

MERCOPRESS/
With three weeks to Uruguay's presidential election, the number of undecided voters has almost doubled.
According to Equipos-Mori pollsters the percentage of undecided went from 7% in August to over 12% at the end of September -- meaning instead of attracting voters, the two leading candidates are repelling them.
The campaign teams of incumbent candidate Jose Mujica and his main opponent Luis Alberto Lacalle say the declines come from the many fumbles committed by both sides in recent weeks.