Uruguay was today placed under a tough system of security laws suspending normal constitutional liberties by President Jorge Pacheco Areco in a desperate attempt to counteract a prolonged campaign of strikes.

After weeks of industrial stoppages, reflecting the steadily worsening political and social situation, the Uruguayan Trades Union Congress (C.N.T.) had scheduled a national strike in the private sector to begin this afternoon. The municipal workers in Montevideo , the capital, are already out on a three-day strike, and all state employees were to join them tomorrow. The meat packers have been out for almost three months.

There have been no newspapers since the middle of last week when the Government ordered the closing down of a left-wing newspaper for alleged subversion. This brought out the journalists and printers of the capital in an indefinite solidarity strike.

Less than 48 hours after the departure of Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, the Uruguayan Government has now given itself powers akin to those under a state of siege. It can prohibit union meetings and arrest union leaders for holding them, take over public services by placing them under the Army, and forbid public information about stoppages and strikes.

Leftovers, Luis Camnitzer, 1970

President Pacheco Areco has already governed with these powers for six months, only surrendering under parliamentary pressure three months ago. Uruguay ’s democratic system of government is breaking down as President Pacheco Areco has offered only repressive measures and failed to implement any of the economic reforms needed to give the country incentives to hard work.