Poverty in Uruguay: view and orientations of the right-wing government

Abstract

In november 2019, Lacalle Pou was elected as the new President of Uruguay. This was possible as a consequence of an agreement between five rigth parties. During the electoral campaign, one of the axes was poverty and policies and institutiones, aimed at serving it and created by Frente Amplio, since 2005 in charge of national government. This article problematizes the way poverty is conceptualized and the measures proposed to overcome it, based on the analysis of electoral campaign documents and the National Budget Law por the next five years. Within an orientation where freedom is the central idea, it is concluded that the conception of poverty is simplified and explained basically from subjective elements. The bet is on individual improvement, with nearby environments support. State action is essentially seen as negative, dependency generating and centrally formulated in relation to vulnerable sectors. With these, its role is to facilitate transition to opportunities (assumed as present), in particular work, where the axis is put into existence, without discussion about this and its quality.