URUGUAYANS will vote in a referendum on Sunday to either accept or decline 137 articles of a legislative package promulgated by Congress during the first two months of President Luis Lacalle Pou’s right-wing administration.
The Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC) contains a number of measures strongly disputed by sections of the opposition, trade unions, human rights groups and other civil society organisations.
They include restrictions on the right to strike, greater police powers, tougher jail sentences for adolescents, the creation of a new category of “criminal appearance” and the enablement of “express evictions” in certain circumstances.
Far-right forces are rising across Latin America and the Caribbean, armed with a common agenda of anti-communism, the culture war, and neoliberal economics, writes VIJAY PRASHAD



