Uruguay's success

I was talking yesterday with Richard (in brown next to me in the photo), a friend who had received me at his home in Montes, a charming village of 2000 souls in Uruguay.

" How are things at your place ? I ask him. That's the mandatory question these days.

- We had 24 deaths in the country.
- Sorry ?

Little Uruguay is clearly set apart on its hard-hit South American continent. Stuck geographically and historically between the giants that are Argentina and Brazil, it is nevertheless doing better than all the former Iberian colonies.

Its small spaced population helps it. Montevideo, the capital, contains 1,4 million inhabitants and 40% of the country's population. The rest is pretty much just fields and ranches on pretty green hills.

Above all, they have the highest proportion of Latin America to trust their government, and nearly 80% currently approve of the management of the crisis. As here, public places and businesses were closed until recently. They have been since as early as March 13. People were not necessarily confined indoors as in Europe or Asia, but were asked to do everything possible to limit their movements. Which has been masterfully respected.

What has also helped them a lot is that 3/4 of the jobs are in a legal economy, a rather rare occurrence for an emerging economy. Worldwide, over 60% of workers are outside the system. In Asia-Pacific, almost 70% work in the shadows, in Africa, it is more than 85%.

The world will for a long time to analyze the successes and failures of different systems. The types of economy, the speed of action of governments, the culture of different peoples and population densities are just some of the avenues.

Uruguay, with only around 850 cases reported to date, appears to be one of the success stories. For my friends who live there, that makes me happy.

I was received by Richard, Teresita and their friends in Montes, Uruguay.