(Originally posted by Blasting News Spain here and here)
The protests of four former Guantánamo detainees, who began their protest on Friday 24th April, have coincided with a critical moment in Uruguay's election campaigns in the run up to the country's municipal and provincial elections. The four ex-prisoners were protesting in front of the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo.
These ex-prisoners came to Uruguay along with another group of men on December 7th, under the presidency of José Mujica, whose presidential term ended on the 1st March, when Tabaré Vázquez took office.
Both presidents belong to the political party "Frente Amplio", which wins a lot of public sympathy.
The elections will be held on Sunday 10th May, in all of the country's 19 provinces, where mayors and councillors will also be elected. On Sunday 26th April, Frente Amplio's three candidates, Daniel Martínez, Lucía Topolansky and Virginia Cardozo, held an event at a park in Montevideo, at which they disclosed part of their political programme and answered the public's questions.
But it's not just the protests that were making headlines in Uruguay. On April 24 it was held a ceremony at the Legislative Palace for the Armenian Genocide Centennial.
It was 50 years ago this week that Uruguay officially recognised the Armenian genocide, a holocaust which led to countless Armenians being deported by the Young Turks government of the Ottoman Empire, and which lasted from 1915 to 1923.
Uruguay was the 1st country to officially recognise this genocide in 1965. Therefore, Uruguay is highly respected by Armenia. As a result, there have been many ceremonies in remembrance of the genocide in this South American country throughout the week. It was officially recognised at the Legislative Palace, in Montevideo, by several government ministers, however, there were also been several solidarity demonstrations in Independence Square, led by a group of scouts.
These events form part of an action-packed week in Uruguay, as the country is in the process of preparing its elections which will take place on the 10th May. In addition, since the 24th April, a group of ex-Guantánamo prisoners have been protesting outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Montevideo.
