Uruguayan candidate compares himself to Milei, but claims the role of the State

The phenomenon is regional and has nothing to do with being left or right, he stated, and mentioned not only Milei, but also the leaders Daniel Noboa (Ecuador), Santiago Peña (Paraguay), Nayib Bukele (El Salvador), Gabriel Boric ( Chile) and Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay), “all leaders of the new policy, who in their territory and in their time broke with everything that existed before”.

However, Ojeda emphasized that “disruption and change cannot be replicated from one society to another.”

“Evidently, Uruguay and Argentina are not the same. I don’t think we could bring a 100% canned Milei here”, he pointed out.

Unlike the ultraliberal Argentine president, Ojeda defended the role of the State “especially in relation to those who have less”, and quoted a phrase by Lacalle Pou, whom he admires: “The State has to support those who are lower.”

Third in voting intention polls, this 40-year-old criminal lawyer presents himself as the “challenger” capable of overcoming Lacalle Pou’s candidate, Álvaro Delgado, and going through to the second round in November with the favorite Yamandú Orsi, from the left-wing alliance Broad Front, the largest opposition force in the country.

“We broke the mold of the traditional politician”, he said, attributing the constant growth in polls to the “power of renewal” and to “talking about all topics”, including mental health, animal welfare and the environment, “which the old politics always classifies as superficial”.