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Uruguay's Minister of the Interior, Jorge Larrañaga, today called for a police investigation into signs that appeared with aggressive anti-communist slogans, rejected by various political and social organizations.
The texts placed outside a high school and a medical institution attacked the initiative to submit to a recall referendum for the controversial government Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC).
For the Frente Amplio, this legislation, promulgated by the Executive Branch, embodies in almost 500 articles an electoral program of conservative neoliberal restoration promoted by the coalition of right-wing parties.
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In addition to the expression "out with communism," the posters threaten that "the JUP is back," in allusion to the "Youth on Foot," born in 1970 as a violent paramilitary troop that colluded with the police to wage armed assaults on leftist student organizations. The JUP, until its dissolution in 1974, had among its main references Hugo Manini Ríos, brother of the senator and leader of the Cabildo Abierto military party, current member of the government coalition, Guido Manini Ríos.
The Federation of Secondary Education (Fenapes) denounced the placement of similar posters in other high schools. It declared in a statement that "today the most reactionary forces are being reborn and are once again attacking the organized workers," who are promoting the referendum against the LUC, which was approved July.
DECLARACIÓN PÚBLICA
— ⭕️FeNaPES (@FenapesUruguay) October 13, 2020
Ante la aparición en el día de hoy de cartelería firmada por la agrupación fascista Juventud Uruguaya de Pie (JUP).
Esperamos el repudio y las acciones correspondientes. @LuisLacallePou @beatrizargimon pic.twitter.com/Utq7nrpYyV
In this regard, the president of the Confederation of State Organizations, Martin Pereira, also rejected the occurrence and called for a reminder that "the JUP is related to events in the worst part of Uruguay's history and here we live in a democracy, which is all we want to take care of," he added.
Political leaders repudiated the banner's appearance, and among them was Frente Amplio lawmaker Enzo Malán, who said that 'after a lot of years these fascist slogans are reappearing, challenging us to defend and deepen democracy.'
His fellow member of the party, Micaela Melgar, commented that 'when hate speech is legitimized and promoted, people who hate express themselves."
The Ministry of the Interior will reveal the video surveillance cameras installed in the area to determine who placed and removed the sign.
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