Uruguay: Market gives new leftist coalition seal of approval

Finance minister says the government is will keep the purse strings tight as it reforms taxation, banking regulation and bankruptcy law

Vázquez: proving his critics
wrong

Sometimes the left can be so unpredictable. When Tabaré Vázquez was overwhelmingly elected president of Uruguay in November, many analysts feared the worst. He had broken decades of comfortable two-party rule in the country, and had done so by leading an avowedly socialist coalition including communists and former Tupamaros guerrillas. What’s more, he had a strong mandate, after garnering more than 50% of the vote in the first round of a three-way race.