Hi from Uruguay!

[MickCollins4ever]

Hi everyone! My name's Verónica, I´m from Montevideo, Uruguay (that´s in South America) but I´ve been in love with Ireland since I can remember. I´ve been there three times and it won´t be long, hopefully, before I´m back again. My nick will tell you better than any explanation what I think and admire Hope to share interesting things with you all!

[C. Flower]

You're very welcome Veronica.

[Holly]

Enjoy your visits to Political World, Verónica.
You will find all the members here are friendly and, while this is a political forum, comments are always respectful of members who have differing opinions.
I am sure you will enjoy your visit to Ireland next year as the party of your hero is in power.


Montevideo

[Slim Buddha]

Bienvenidos, amiga!

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Hi Veronica and welcome ... I wondered whether you might like to tell us a little bit about Uruguayan politics at the moment?

We don't see a lot of news from that part of the world so it would be interesting to see your views from Uruguay?

[Apjp]

Interesting on what Collins what make of Kenny there Holly. I'd reckon he'd have had him shot.

[Saoirse go Deo]

Welcome, it's cool to have international members.

How are things in your country?

[Slim Buddha]

Football! Uruguay were brilliant in the Wrold Cup in South Africa. Semi-finals for a nation of 3 and a half million!ace!

Looking forward to much more from you!

[TotalMayhem]

Football! Uruguay were brilliant in the Wrold Cup in South Africa. Semi-finals for a nation of 3 and a half million!ace!

Absolutely not good enough, SB, they've won it twice before.

Oh, and ser bienvenido, Verónica.

[MickCollins4ever]

Thanks for all your warm welcomes!!! I'm certainly sure I'll have splendid times here. Here is some info to answer your enquiries and comments.

I am sure you will enjoy your visit to Ireland next year as the party of your hero is in power.

Uh, to be honest, Holly, I must admit I'm not that keen on FG or Kenny, and I was certainly disappionted and a bit indignated when I listened to his speech at Beal na mBlath this year. You see, it was my first time there (in fact, that was the main reason why I spent over 1500 dollars and flew across the ocean this August ) and, innocent me, I thought it was all going to be about MC, not about how well FG is doing, how intelligently they are handling the crisis, how everything is the previous government's fault and, of course, how if Mick were alive he would absolutely endorse what they are doing! I've never been in favour of hijacking national heroes for political purposes, least of all being so arrogant as to presume to know what they would do in the present circumstances!

Interesting on what Collins what make of Kenny there Holly. I'd reckon he'd have had him shot.

Mmm, I don't think he would go as far as that but... I would gladly shoot him to get that lovely painting of Mick he has hanging in his office!

Hi Veronica and welcome ... I wondered whether you might like to tell us a little bit about Uruguayan politics at the moment? We don't see a lot of news from that part of the world so it would be interesting to see your views from Uruguay?

Aye, Aye, captain!

There are four main parties in Uruguay Two of them are called the "Traditional" parties since they were born in 1836, 11 years after we became independent. They are the National (or White) party and the Colorado (or Red party) The colours have nothing to do with ideology, they are simply the colours they chose for their flags. In their origins, the former was against the capital's centralism and draw its supporters from the rural, traditional classes of tenants, big and small farmers and gauchos. The latter, therefore, was in favour of a centralised state modelled after Bonaparte's First Empire and its supporters were the intelectual and militar classes from Montevideo. Nowadays, their ideas are very similar since their are both centre parties but they still differ not so much on methodology but on historical "credentials" . They have been trying to get back to power since 2004. The problem is they have messy internal situations with different sectors wanting to be more important than the others.

The other two parties are very modern. The Frente Amplio, born in 1971 and the Independent party in 2003. The first one is the one in power now, currently having their second mandate. It is a coalition of assorted leftish movements, where you can have everything from communists to moderates, from trotskists to left-centers, a small anarchist party and some ex-guerrilla movements. Our current President belongs to one of these guerrilla movements, called the Tupamaro party. The problem is that they never seem to agree on anything, so the country's politics pretty much depend on which sector is having the majority in the Party's convention. The Independent party pretty much tries to mediate, and is pretty much ignored by the other parties as well as by the majority of Uruguayans.

When it comes to international affairs, we are too concerned about not being blasted into oblivion by our two economically more powerful neighbours (Argentina and Brazil) to bother about the European crisis. And if you don't hear much from Uruguay, we don't hear much from Ireland, which everyone thinks is a nice green island where everyone drinks beer in the streets and nice leprechauns jump at you from every corner, except when they are busy escaping from IRA bombs or mobs of murdering Protestants. And the motherland of the Holy Trinity: Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Sean Bean. Some dissenters include Pierce Brosnan too
I'm glad to say I've been quite successful in introducing my friends, relatives and acquaintances to a more realistic Ireland!

Absolutely not good enough, SB, they've won it twice before. Oh, and ser bienvenido, Verónica.

Well, actually 99.9% of Uruguayans would tell you that we won the world championship four times, since we won in 1924 and 28 the Olympic games in France and Amsterdam, which were the equivalent, in football, to the present World Cup. As you might have guessed, football is the official religion of the state, which makes me a herectic and an outcast. Except, of course, when we play against Argentina... oh, boy, how we hate them then!

Hope this has been useful, thanks again for the hearty welcomes

[Slim Buddha]

Absolutely not good enough, SB, they've won it twice before.

Oh, and ser bienvenido, Verónica.

Ok, Ok,I get it, Spanish is not a language in which I am proficient. I am aware of the wins in 1930 and 1950 and the fact that they have won the Copa America 15 times, more than Argentina and Brazil.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Thanks for the update on Uruguayan politics Veronica and I have to say you are not alone in wondering about the current Fine Gaelers at Beal na mBlath.

[gerard25]

Hi Verónica and welcome,

Reading your first two posts I can see you are so knowledgeable of what is going on in the world, I like that.

When it comes to international affairs, we are too concerned about not being blasted into oblivion by our two economically more powerful neighbours (Argentina and Brazil)

Knowing that Uruguay was claimed by Argentina and annexed by Brazil in 1821... it does not surprise me that the Uruguayan people feel threatened by its neighbours.

It was good reading your posts, hope to read more

[eamo]

Aye, Aye, captain!

Welcome MickCollins4ever, that is the most respect the captain has been shown here in a long time. Thanks for your post. How is Uruguay managing the present crisis. Yours seems like a very interesting country which we hear very little about.

[Count Bobulescu]

Welcome V, looking forward to your contributions. How about MC4E for short? (No Star wars connotations intended). I understand that the Argentinians are disliked by most of their neighbors, for reasons that have nothing to do with football. I have heard others describe them as arrogant. Is this accurate?