A Year in Uruguay

As you've probably heard, President Bush is coming to Uruguay today. In preparation for his visit, the dumpster in front of our apartment building, along with all the dumpsters along the Rambla, moved. I found this group of them a couple of blocks away. Some people say it's to beautify the route by hiding the garbage and the people who make their living scavenging from the dumpsters, but the more common explanation is security: to prevent terrorists from hiding in the trash.

Montevideans are talking a lot about US security for this visit. Apparently 2500 military and security people appeared in the city earlier this week. The Uruguayans describe them as "big, tall, and fat." Lots of military hardware arrived in huge cargo planes. I'm told that US air power, for this temporary visit, outdoes the Uruguayan Air Force.

Bush isn't popular in Uruguay but there's not much anti-American sentiment here. (Of course, Bush is not popular in the US either.) His visit is an attempt to repair US relations with Latin America and to reduce the influence of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez.

Labels: Uruguay