Yamandú Orsi assumes as president of Uruguay, after the steps of “Pepe” Mujica

Yamandú Orsi assume this Saturday as president of Uruguaycollecting the torch of his political sponsor, the popular ex -president José “Pepe” Mujicain the return from the left to power after five years of centrodechar government.

Orsi will happen to Luis Lacalle Pou to lead until 2030 a country of 3.4 million inhabitants, one of the most stable and prosperous in the region, which this March 1 celebrates 40 years of uninterrupted democracy.

“We will know how to comply!”, Said the dolphin of Mujica, to win in November with the promise of benefiting the most disadvantaged with “a safe change that will not be radical.”

Orsia 57 -year -old history professor who ruled Canelones, the most populous department in the country after Montevideo, arrives at the Executive Tower with 44% of favorable expectations about its management, according to a consulting option survey.

Juan Carlos Martínez, a 70 -year -old construction worker, was hopeful. “He will govern for the poor, not for the rich,” he told AFP.

Romina Maciel, 20 years old and an employee of a cleaning company, trusted her salary to improve, that she can feel “safer” and “that there are no people living in the street.”

Orsi will be the eighth presidential investiture since 1985, when a 13-year-old civic-military dictatorship ended that left about 200 detainees-disappeared, a wound still open for many.

“I hope justice is finally done,” said Claudia, a 59 -year -old nurse who preferred not to give her last name.

Orsi, the third left-wing president in Uruguay after his mentor Mujica (2010-2015), and the late Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010 and 2015-2020).

Then he will move by car to the central Plaza Independencia, where Lacalle Pou will give him the presidential band and will be officially invested in office.

Delegates from more than 60 countries, including the king of Spain and the presidents of Germany, Armenia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic will witness the Assumption.

President Javier Milei will be missing due to the inauguration of the new legislature in Argentina.

Orsi has already held several bilateral meetings on Friday, when he shared a roast with Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil, Gabriel Boric de Chile and Gustavo Petro de Colombia.

Mujica, 89 years old and ill of irreversible cancer, will not miss the assumption of his disciple and also plans to meet with his friend Lula.

Challenges and goals

Orsi faces not a few challenges.

Politically, he will deal with a divided Parliament, in which the ruler Frente Amplio (FA) will only control the Senate and there will be anti -system voices in the lower house. But according to analysts, the internal of the ruling will generate even more problems.

“He will devote more time and energy to manage his most staunch supporters than to deal with his political opponents,” economist Arturo Porzecanski wrote in the Americas Quarterly magazine, warning tensions with the “powerful” central union Pit-Cnt central, related to FA.

Orsi must meet social demands without increasing the fiscal deficit, which reached 4.1% of GDP by 2024, and at a time when the lack of rains threatens to affect growth, estimated at 3% for this year.

The new president will have the challenge of giving crime linked largely to drug trafficking, something that despite attempts did not achieve Lacalle Pou. Uruguay has a homicide rate of 10.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, and some 16,000 prisoners with low educational level and difficult social reintegration perspective.

On the other hand, the protectionist policies of US President Donald Trump will impact Uruguay “through the lower growth potential in China,” Nicolás Saldías told AFP, the EIU, the Unit of Analysis of The Economist.

According to Porzecanski, “Orsi inherits an economy and a country whose foundations are very solid.”

Lacalle Pou, a 51 -year -old lawyer who leaves office with 54% popularity, stressed that his government “took care of public resources”, was “humanist” and sought to go “to all corners of the country.”

“I would live it again, correcting mistakes,” he said Friday, excited about a crowd that acclaimed him.

With a broken voice, travel agent Cecilia Antía, 60, regretted that in Uruguay a second consecutive presidential mandate is not allowed. “We need it!” He exclaimed among followers who expect it to be reelected in five years.