URUGUAY’S GREAT ASCENT
The parallels are seductive, yet ultimately misleading. There are certain similarities between Uruguay and Argentina, neighbouring countries that face each other across the broad Río de la Plata estuary – a love of football, tango, thick steaks and yerba mate infusions – but they are very different places.
It’s not just a question of size. Uruguay is the second-smallest country in South America after Suriname; Argentina is the second biggest after Brazil. It’s also about culture, politics, economics and, generalising slightly, national character. Both are countries of immigrants, largely from Europe, but if Argentina is more ‘Mediterranean’ in terms of its landscape and the temperament of its inhabitants, Uruguay is ‘Atlantic’: greener, wetter, more reflexive, even a little mournful. Sometimes, it feels like Brittany, Galicia or the Portuguese Minho.
Uruguay is a Latin American success story. has rightly called it ‘an island of calm in a tumultuous region’. It is prosperous, liberal, secular and democratic, with an independent press and judiciary, free healthcare, and education
