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Kirchner, "one of the best neighbours Uruguay has ever had"
Mercopress
June 24, 2009

Former president Jorge Batlle looked at the positive side of the Kirchners aggressive policy towards Uruguay. Former president Jorge Batlle looked at the positive side of the Kirchners aggressive policy towards Uruguay.

"I see Kirchner loosing", said Battle during a television program in Montevideo. And "this is good for Uruguay" but it has also had its benefits, he added.

Next Sunday Argentina will renew half the seats in the Lower House, a third of the Senate and most provincial legislatures. Former president Nestor Kirchner and his wife Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner who is the current Argentine president have turned the election into a referendum on their economic and social policies, and politically, on their style of ruling.

The Kirchners have renationalized several companies, privileged government intervention over private property, have strengthened trade unions' power, capped food and energy prices and have imposed a "federal goodies for allegiance" policy under economic emergency laws to ensure political and Congressional support.

On foreign affairs they have acted erratically: unnecessarily offending United States and Spain, and even Brazil and aligning with Venezuela and Cuba.

But according to ex president Batlle, "looking in retrospective, undoubtedly there have never been such good presidents for Uruguay as the Kirchners".

Batlle said that thanks to the Kirchners, "the Finns arrived in Uruguay; all the excellent Argentine farmers came over to transform Uruguay's agriculture, which has led to a silent technological revolution. And they blocked the bridge with pickets, so nobody could cross to go shopping to Argentina. For Uruguay it has been a dream".

The Uruguayan president was referring to the Botnia pulp mill, a 1.2 billion US dollar investment which the Finnish corporation decided to establish in Uruguay, instead of Argentina. Furthermore some of the most efficient Argentine farmers, hounded by capped prices and over taxed, crossed over with their technology and know-how to Uruguay and finally Argentine pickets, to protest the Botnia pull mill, supposedly contaminating, blocked international bridges linking the two neighbouring countries.

This helped local business since consumers, usually lured by Argentine more attractive prices, were forced to shop in Uruguay.

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