The president celebrated 40 years of uninterrupted republic that the country has lived. Photo: EFE.
Montevideo, March 2 (RHC)-- In front of an excited and joyful crowd of Uruguayans gathered in the Plaza Independencia, Yamandú Orsi received the sash from Luis Lacalle Pou, the outgoing president, which marked the beginning of a new left-wing government in the country, with the promise of carrying forward the democracy recovered forty years ago, as well as introducing changes such as a salary increase, among others.
In his first speech as official president of the nation, Yamandú Orsi maintained the conciliatory vocation that he maintained during his campaign and assumes as a principle for this new stage: "We are beginning a period not only of a new government, but also of a call for all actors: from politics, from the academy of Uruguay," said the president.
The president sent greetings to all corners of the country, "to that deep interior that sometimes we do not seem to take into account," and emphasized that they should travel through their wonderful homeland.
Orsi recalled the regional conflicts that kept Uruguay as a territory of dispute for a long time and, in turn, highlighted the values of those who founded the State and began the construction of the Uruguayan identity, also born of those conflicts. In that sense, he called for assuming that spirit of conciliation and construction in the next five years.
During the transfer ceremony, the secretariat and the ministerial cabinet of the new Executive also formalized their assumption of office. The president and his running mate are part of the Popular Participation Movement, the most voted political force in the country and led by the beloved former president José "Pepe" Mujica.
Despite celebrating forty years of uninterrupted democracy, both Orsi and Cosse have acknowledged the failure of the State and the open wound that comes from not knowing the whereabouts of almost 200 people who disappeared during the last dictatorship.
That is why, during the tour of Avenida Libertador on the way to Plaza Independencia, Orsi and Cosse broke protocol and got out of the car to greet representatives of the Association of Mothers and Relatives of Detainees Who Disappeared during the Dictatorship.
This is a symbolic gesture towards those who continue to fight for unrestricted access to military archives and to clarify what happened to their relatives who were detained and disappeared during the last civil-military dictatorship in the country (1973-1985).
In an interview, Mujica spoke of Yamandú with affection and confidence, and highlighted the president's internal origins: "I have known him for almost 40 years, he was a kid when he joined our ranks. He was becoming a man. Canelones is like a small Uruguay, all of Uruguay's problems are in Canelones."
A new government begins, with a renewed generation of the Frente Amplio, which promises to maintain democratic continuity, respect the rights of Uruguayan workers and maintain macroeconomic stability, which is state policy.
