{"id":182428,"date":"2015-09-23T21:46:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T02:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2015\/09\/23\/uruguay-is-now-my-favorite-latin-american-nation\/"},"modified":"2015-09-23T21:46:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T02:46:00","slug":"uruguay-is-now-my-favorite-latin-american-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2015\/09\/23\/uruguay-is-now-my-favorite-latin-american-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Uruguay is Now My Favorite Latin American Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, they legalized Marijuana, and now they have regected the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) international trade deal<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Often referred to as the Switzerland of South America, Uruguay is long accustomed to doing things its own way. It was the first nation in Latin America to establish a welfare state. It also has an unusually large middle class for the region and unlike its giant neighbors to the north and west, Brazil and Argentina, is largely free of serious income inequality.<\/span>

<\/span>Two years ago, during Jos\u00e9 Mujica\u2019s presidency, Uruguay became the first nation to legalize marijuana in Latin America, a continent that is being ripped apart by drug trafficking and its associated violence and corruption of state institutions.<\/span>

<\/span>Now Uruguay has done something that no other semi-aligned nation on this planet has dared to do: it has rejected the advances of the global corporatocracy.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>Earlier this month Uruguay\u2019s government decided to end its participation in the secret negotiations of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). After months of intense pressure led by unions and other grassroots movements that culminated in a national general strike on the issue \u2013 the first of its kind around the globe \u2013 the Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez bowed to public opinion and left the US-led trade agreement.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>TiSA involves more countries than TTIP and TPP combined: The United States and all 28 members of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey.<\/span>

<\/span>Together, these 52 nations form the charmingly named \u201cReally Good Friends of Services\u201d group, which represents almost 70% of all trade in services worldwide. Until its government\u2019s recent u-turn Uruguay was supposed to be the 53rd Good Friend of Services. <\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>
TiSA has spent the last two years taking shape behind the hermetically sealed doors of highly secure locations around the world. According to the agreement\u2019s provisional text, the document is supposed to remain confidential and concealed from public view for at least five years after being signed. Even the World Trade Organization has been sidelined from negotiations.<\/span>
But thanks to whistle blowing sites like WikiLeaks, the Associated Whistleblowing Press and Filtrala, crucial details have seeped to the surface. Here\u2019s a brief outline of what is known to date (for more specifics click here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>):<\/span>
1.<\/b>TiSA<\/b> would \u201clock in\u201d the privatization of services<\/i> <\/b>\u2013 even in cases where private service delivery has failed \u2013 meaning governments can never return water, energy, health, education or other services to public hands.<\/span>
2.TiSA<\/i><\/b> would restrict signatory governments\u2019 right to regulate stronger standards in the public\u2019s interest.<\/i> <\/b>For example, it will affect environmental regulations, licensing of health facilities and laboratories, waste disposal centres, power plants, school and university accreditation and broadcast licenses.<\/span>
3.TiSA would limit the ability of governments to regulate the financial services industry<\/i><\/b>, at a time when the global economy is still struggling to recover from a crisis caused primarily by financial deregulation. More specifically, if signed the trade agreement would:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n