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Frente Amplio leader: Coalition denies food to children by blocking bill
🇺🇾 Uruguay /Elections & Politics

Frente Amplio leader: Coalition denies food to children by blocking bill

From El País · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • The president of Uruguay's Frente Amplio party, Fernando Pereira, accused the Republican Coalition of denying food to poor children.
  • Pereira stated that approving the government's "Rendición de Cuentas" (Public Accounts) bill would lift 25% of children aged zero to three out of poverty.
  • He criticized the coalition for prioritizing electoral interests over the needs of vulnerable populations, including proposals for police positions and housing material tax returns.

Fernando Pereira, president of Uruguay's Frente Amplio party, has sharply criticized the Republican Coalition, accusing its members of "denying a plate of food" to impoverished children. Pereira argued that if the government's "Rendición de Cuentas" bill is not approved, these children will miss out on increased monetary transfers intended to alleviate poverty.

What they are denying these boys and girls is a plate of food, it is that these families can access adequate nutrition, it is that they can effectively get out of poverty.

— Fernando PereiraAccusing the Republican Coalition of harming poor children by blocking the Rendición de Cuentas bill.

Pereira emphasized the life-changing impact the proposed unified benefit would have on families. "What they are denying these boys and girls is a plate of food, it is that these families can access adequate nutrition, it is that they can effectively get out of poverty," he stated in a dialogue with Subrayado (Canal 10).

There are Uruguayans who have a lot of money and Uruguayans who have nothing.

— Fernando PereiraHighlighting economic inequality in Uruguay.

He cited economic team calculations indicating that the policy, once implemented, could reduce poverty by 25% among children aged zero to three, a significant figure. Pereira also highlighted other aspects of the bill, such as VAT refunds on construction materials for housing cooperatives and the addition of 300 police positions. He condemned the coalition's refusal to vote as placing "electoral matters above the interests of Uruguayans," calling it "unforgivable."

to vote against it is to measure electorally from the same day they lost.

— Fernando PereiraCriticizing the Republican Coalition's motives for opposing the bill.

Pereira urged former President Luis Lacalle Pou to "be sensitive to such acute issues," recalling that the Frente Amplio supported all of Pou's proposed benefits during the pandemic when he was president. The statements come after the Republican Coalition's legislative caucuses announced they would not vote for the Public Accounts bill, citing disagreements over the management review for 2025. Javier García, a senator from the National Party, stated that the coalition enters the debate with a framework that deems the government's performance "bad."

He knows that in the pandemic the FA voted for him all the benefits.

— Fernando PereiraReminding former President Luis Lacalle Pou of past cooperation.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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