Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina get best marks in Latin America for pandemic response: poll

[sandensea]

Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina are the Latin American countries that earned the best grades for their response to the coronavirus, according to a poll conducted in the region and released on Friday, while Brazil was tagged as the worst performer.

The survey by the consulting firm Trespuntozero, to which Reuters had exclusive access, shows that in eight of the 10 countries in which the study was conducted, the respondents - around 10,000 - considered Uruguay one of the best controllers of the pandemic.

According to the poll, the performance of Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou against the pandemic had 77.8% approval in his own country; that of Paraguayan Mario Abdo, 76.7%; and that of Argentina's Alberto Fernández, 68%.

Uruguay registered 947 cases with 28 deaths; Paraguay, 2349 cases with 19 deaths; Argentina, 69,941 cases with 1,385 deaths,; and Brazil, 1,539,081 with 63,174 deaths.

"The countries surveyed were clear on which model not to follow: Brazil," Shila Vilker, director of the Buenos Aires-based consultancy Trespuntozero, told Reuters.

At: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/07/03/world/americas/03reuters-health-coronavirus-latam-poll.html

Pedestrians cross an avenue in Buenos Aires, where, as in much of Argentina, face masks have been mandatory in public for the last two months.

Argentina and its smaller neighbors, Uruguay and Paraguay, have received plaudits from both locals and international observers - with just 2.6% of Latin America's cases between them and 1.2% of its deaths despite having 8.7% of its population.

[Judi Lynn]

1. President Fernndez is simultaneously dragging Argentina out of a deep hole left by fascist Macri,

Last edited Sat Jul 4, 2020, 12:39 AM - Edit history (1)

who stuffed his own pockets as well as those of his cohorts with whom he'd been creeping for years while he was the Mayor of Buenos Aires. Along with the demolished economy, he has a devastated state to repair to get the working public and the poor stabilized after they were also bled dry, and cut out of social services they desperately needed, etc., etc., etc.

The other Presidents weren't pitched into the middle of a conflagration the moment they showed up for work after their inaugurations! President Fernández, and what must be, a very capable group of people staffing his administration have been doing the work of many, pulling an amazing burden behind them while the people were facing physical death daily, potentially, from the pandemic.

Congratulations to Paraguay and Uruguay's Presidents, too, for leading, instead of posturing.

[sandensea]

2. It's been one thing after another for him - but he does seem to be doing the best he can.

And of course you're right: with Macri, they would have not only had a Chile/Brazil/Peru-style humanitarian crisis - but also a financial crisis, because Macri would've done nothing (or too little) to stop dollar offshoring.

The minute this pandemic became a crisis in March, a panic would have most likely set in - and panicky Argentines would have pulled most of their dollars out of the country.

Well, mostly banks, corporations, and the well-connected - because middle-class savers (many of who supported Macri because "he's like us" ) would have been left holding the bag just as in 2001.

Argentina's right-wing media, incidentally, tried very hard to trigger just such a panic - but were unsuccessful and are now stewing in it constantly, ranting and raving all the way.

Just like Faux News under Obama.

Hope you had a pleasant 4th of July, Judi. Here's hoping all this will be behind us soon (knock wood).

[Judi Lynn]

3. Seeing your reference to Argentina's right-wing media reminded me immediately of Clarn.

How could I have forgotten about that paper, and its poisonous presence?

I went to look for information on the founder's wife, Ernestina Herrera de Noble, discovered she died 3 years ago, which I didn't know! I did learn she had started out as a flamenco dancer, had a relationship with Roberto Noble, who was still married to his first wife, etc., etc. Yikes!

Last time I heard anything about her, the Mothers of the Plaza were pressing her adopted children to take blood tests to determine if they had been kidnapped, like so many, many children of leftist prisoners were, and given to political allies while the dictatorship murdered their parents. I never really expected anyone to admit it if they had been taken, since the right-wing still has held so much power they could have manipulated the information any way they wanted.

So she was 92 when she went. Amazing! She continued to look far younger than she was.

I learned that Clarín is the 2nd largest Spanish language newspaper in the world, with El Pais being the largest.

That's quite an achievement, starting a newspaper like Clarín, and having it climb to #2, one would think! Too bad it is and has been a mouthpiece for the fascists. What a shame.

Right-wingers don't seem to have anything in their sights but acquisition, and power. Anything else would interfere with their hunger for control.

By the way, I also saw that Goldman-Sachs has a lot of power in Clarín's organization, which I didn't know. That's certainly creepy!

Well, Clarín gained power LONG before Rupert Murdoch had anything going, right?

I hope we will live to see them both broken into tiny pieces!