URUGUAY

Noah Moufarrij

11/17/2014

Moufarrij 2

What do people know about Uruguay? Do people know that it is part of the pampas

region, or that most of the citizens have a European background? The following paragraphs will

dive into reasons why one should regard Uruguay as the best country in South America. So,

without further ado, let us look into why Uruguay is the most optimal country in Latin America.

The three arguments that my country is the best country in Latin America are; exports and

economy, also there is the Uruguayans civil war and how Uruguay recovered, and finally their

leader who is an amazing example.

The first reason for thinking of Uruguay as the best representative of Latin America is the

economy. Uruguayans are great at taking care of themselves. Uruguayans export and receive

imports from Argentina, Brazil and China, this is important because Argentina and Brazil are

two of the biggest countries in Latin America, and China is economically powerful. Source 1.1

Uruguay is strong in mainly soybeans, as Uruguay exports 15% soybeans, and gains 1.53 billion

dollars. Source 1.2 Uruguays second largest export is frozen bovine meat, it is 10% of all of

their exports, and it gains 1.02 billion dollars. Source 1.3 Rice is one of Uruguays exports as

well; it comprises about 6% of all of their exports and gains 570 million dollars. To understand

how Uruguayans handle their economy, let us look at what Tabare Vazquez once said; The

wrongs of Uruguayans will be solved by Uruguayans, this simply means that if Uruguayans

should have an economic crisis, then they should rely on themselves to pull through and end it.

Source 5.4 Considering all of Uruguays major exports are food, one deduces that Uruguays

1 (Simoes unknown)

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 (Famous People from Uruguay 2014)

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people will not starve for a while, and because they are not a one-resource economy, they will

prosper fairly well.

Moving on, another reason Uruguay is simply the best Latin American country is its civil

war, a time of turmoil for the country. The military dictatorship of Uruguay started in 1970, but

first, let us looks at why it started. Source 2. 5It all started when a man by the name of Raul

Sendic went to organize the sugar workers to fight for equality, in a nonviolent way. Over time,

riots got a more violent response until a woman was killed and transformed the peaceful riots

into a fighting guerilla force; the Tupamaros. In other words, the Tupamaros hoped to create a

parallel, shadow government with its own courts, a Peoples Prison, tax collection, and

networks for redistributing stolen money Ben Milligan quoted from a man by the name of

Freeman who made this remark sometime during 2003. Source 2. 6In a response to this and to

the economic crises, Uruguays government became strict, violent, and the monster itself, but the

worse is yet to come; the military and police started searching houses and torturing innocent

people. Source 2. 7The Uruguayans would not stoop down to their governments level, no;

instead, Uruguayans shouted for peace. Source 2. 8Other countries helped as well, therefore, with

the power of peacefulness and friendship, a great horror ended. This ought to be how every

conflict is solved, no better of a way to do it, teamwork, non-violence, and unity.

Finally, the greatest reason Uruguay is the best Latin American country is their amazing

leader. Jose Mujica is a former Tupamaros guerilla turned president of Uruguay, if anyone would

want to meet someone wise; one would only need to go find him. Source 3. 9He has often

been labeled the world's "poorest President," since he donates around 90% of his $12,000/month

5 (Milligan Unknown)

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 (Famous People from Uruguay 2014)

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salary to different charities, says famous birthdays.com. Source 3. 10

He is an amazing man who

cares for the well-being of others. Source 3. 11

Jose Mujica will retire in 2015, but his image will

never leave Uruguay, and when he will retire; he will adopt 40 children. Source 4. 12

If that does

not inspire a person, think of the time he was captured and had a close encounter with insanity,

however, because of Joses mental perseverance he escaped insanity due to torture. He was held

captive after being shot six times, because he was a guerrilla. Source 3. 13

Jose lives a normal life

and is happily married to Lucia Topolansky. Source 3. 14

Jose is a good man and an amazing

representative of Uruguay, and one could find no better a leader in Latin America, so with all

this in mind, let us proclaim Jose Mujica the best leader in Latin America.

Uruguay should be thought of as the most outstanding country in Latin America.

After all, it has a good economy that is not about to falter and go into depression. In addition,

Uruguays dictatorship was a bad time, but was solved through non-violence and Uruguay has

definitely learnt its lessons. Finally, Uruguay has a leader in the imprint of what humanity should

be, a man who values unity and equality, a man who stands for justice and learning from ones

mistakes. In essence, this was not just some other essay, but a lesson one would want to

remember. Yet, Uruguay is a vast country with many interesting facts, besides the exports,

dictatorship, and amazing leader. In the end, Uruguay is definitely something people want to

know more about.

10

Ibid. 11

Ibid. 12

(theglobeandmail.com n.d.) 13

(Famous People from Uruguay 2014) 14

Ibid.

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Bibliography

n.d. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/search/?q=Jose+Mujica (accessed November 4, 2014).

Famous People from Uruguay. 2014. http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/jose-mujica.html

(accessed November 4, 2014).

Milligan, Ben. academia.edu. Unknown Unknown, Unknown.

http://www.academia.edu/4179871/Uruguay_1973-85_-

_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Military_Dictatorship_in_a_Democratic_Stronghold (accessed

November 4, 2014).

Quotes about Uruguay and Friendship. n.d. http://www.quotes-friendship.com/quotes/uruguay/

(accessed November 4, 2014).

Simoes, Alexander. Learn more about trade in Uruguay. unknown unknown, unknown.

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/profile/country/ury/ (accessed November 4th , 2014).

English 6, period 6