Red, white and new

摘要

Uruguayans miss the past-and who can blame them? In 1950 the national football team snatched the World Cup from Brazil and Uruguayans considered their country the Switzerland of the Americas. But more recent history has been cruel. Since 1998 the economy has been pummelled by foot-and-mouth disease (which hit beef exports), the economic implosion of neighbouring Argentina, the collapse of the biggest banks and a massive devaluation. The economy has shrunk by 15%. In the past decade perhaps 120,000 Uruguayans, most of them young, have left the country; of the 3.4m who remain, around 30% are living in poverty. Uruguay is still better off than most of Latin America, but it is no longer much like Switzerland.