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URUGUAY:
RECESSION - 08’ 17”
51:02 It's carnival time and throughout Latin America groups are busy with last minute rehearsals.
51:07 (UPSOUND: Drums)
51:12 In the streets of the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, a troupe bang out the beats of candombe – a uniquely Uruguayan rhythm developed from the chants and dances of slaves.
51:26 But this year there is a hint of protest. Uruguay is in the grips of a recession that is entering it’s third year – and shows no sign of lifting. Many here have had enough.
51:39 The ‘Mercado del Puerto’ is a mecca for meat-lovers from all over the world.
51:46 The ‘Mercado’ is one of Montevideo’s top tourist attractions.
51:50 Despite being high-season singers are left with nobody to serenade as tables lie empty.
51:58 Uruguayans consume more beef per capita than any other people in the world. And it shows. Stalls cook meat of all tastes and sizes. Experts here insist there is none better. But with unemployment at an unprecedented fourteen percent, meat lies uneaten.
52:17 Carmen Posse’s business has been running for fourteen years. She says she has never seen such difficult times.
52:24 SOT – CARMEN POSSE, RESTAURANT OWNER, SPANISH SOT WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION "We are a very small country that depends strongly on our neighbours. We depend on Brazil, and on Argentina. If Brazil is suffering, and Argentina is suffering, Uruguay falls. We do not have the economic power. For us to be well off, our neighbours have to be well off."
52:43 Even last year tradesmen say this wharf market was blossoming. The people that do make it still eat and shop, but the numbers are vastly down on previous years.
52:56 (UPSOUND: Drum beat)
52:59 Martirez Gomez sells yerba mate - the herbal tea that is the national drink. Most of his business is with Argentine tourists. This year he is feeling the pinch.
53:11 SOT – MARTIREZ ECHICHURI GOMEZ – MATTE SELLER, SPANISH SOT WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION "Here, one year ago, Argentine tourists came and would not stop buying. Now they just look. Of every one hundred Argentines who come here ten percent actually buy. Ninety percent just look, they don't buy. Last year eighty, ninety percent would buy because they had the extra money for shopping. Now they don't."
53:32 Montevideo is the elegant capital of a nation of 3 million people, lying along the banks of the Rio Mar de Plata.
53:40 Recession has taken its toll on heavy industry and employment.
53:49 Like its two big neighbours Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay was flooded by European immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
53:59 The city is filled with legacies of that past.
54.04 Uruguayans have long had the reputation of living far better and longer than their counterparts in virtually every other Latin American nation.
54:17 Latin America's most comprehensive welfare state with the government providing blanket health care coverage - but it's expensive.
54:28 President Jorge Battle is completing his first year in office. He insists the only way out for the country is to tackle the cumbersome welfare state, injecting private capital into government-run companies.
54:42 SOT – JORGE BATTLE, PRESIDENT OF URUGUAY – SPANISH SOT WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION "Uruguay needs to modernize the relationship between state and society. Not only in terms of the financial, industrial and commercial sectors managed by the state, but also in terms of the central administration, the actual public administration."
55:05 Uruguay is a member of the MERCOSUR customs union with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay - now the world’s fourth largest trading bloc. In Buenos Aires last year MERCOSUR met to discuss the economic crisis gripping the region.
55:20 SOT – JORGE BATTLE, PRESIDENT OF URUGUAY – SPANISH SOT WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION "We are part of something that we think is very important - the realisation of macro-economic common ideals. Unfortunately this means that when there is an important devaluation in one of the member countries, all the related trade agreements and common economic policies suffer terribly. An example of this has been both with Argentina and Brazil, when they devalued their currency on January 3rd 1999 which led to us suffering throughout 1999 and 2000."
56:00 150-kilometres north of the capital Punta del Este - the playground of the rich. Even here, they are paying hte price of recession.
56:08 Cheap package holiday offers and special hotel deals are opening up the beaches to all for the first time.
56:26 The summer trade may appear to be in full swing, but visitor numbers are down for the third season in a row. Business here is feeling the strain . What they call their very own French Riviera is fast losing its elite status.
56:44 (UPSOUND: Seal noises)
56:49 In the resort harbour seals still swim around undisturbed. . All appears to be as normal. But fewer boats use the harbour these days.
57:02 Some boat names hint at better times. But where wealthy Argentines once took a month or two off in Punta every year, most now just visit for the weekend.
57:10 (UPSOUND: Boat engine)
57:14 With their overvalued pesos pegged to the strong dollar, wealthy Argentines are increasingly holidaying in Europe, the United States and Brazil. But 75 percent of Punta's tourism is dependant on the Argentines and reports of another slump in holiday sales has done nothing to lift the mood.
57:34 The Palace Hotel, like many others, has reduced its rates by 15 to 20 percent.
57:41 Manager Jose Leguisamo says he has no choice. Like the once-exclusive restaurants that are now offering tourist specials, hotels are doing all they can to fill their rooms.
57:53 [SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"It is changing. Punta del Este is changing. It is changing. It is doing things to make it more available to more people and so that it is not just a place for the elite. We have built five star hotels with casinos where people are not charged an entry fee like they are in other parts of the world, we have never had that here before. We are also building a massive shopping mall for the first time. We are basically doing all we can to ensure people from all sectors start coming here, and not just those who have a lot of money."
SUPER CAPTION: Jose Rodriguez Leguisamo, Hotel Manager]
58:33 Many businesses here are going the way of their counterparts in Montevideo. Shop space like this used to be at a premium. Now it's almost impossible to fill.
58:49 Economic predictions for Uruguay this year talk of a nil percent growth with a stagnant labour market.
59:03 The trappings of wealth are still visible in Uruguay. Mardi-gras celebrations will be as noisy as ever over the coming week but with confidence in short supply many of this years revellers may not have much to celebrate.
59:17
PRODUCER: DAVID NOTMAN-WATT
CAMERAMAN: DAVID NOTMAN-WATT/TOM SZYPULSKI