MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Terrorism is not a crime everywhere, Lacalle Pou decried

“In this globalized world, a terrorist action on one end has an effect on the other,” stressed Lacalle at the Hilton Hotel in Buenos Aires

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou insisted Wednesday in Buenos Aires that there were still countries where terrorism was not a crime as such. He made those remarks during his appearance at a World Jewish Congress gathering in the Hilton Hotel on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters.

 “It is not only violence but also instilling terror,” Lacalle recalled. “In this globalized world, a terrorist action on one end has an effect on the other,” he stressed.

Lacalle Pou, who intends to participate alongside his colleagues Javier Milei of Argentina and Paraguay's Santiago Peña at the tribute to the victims of that terrorist attack, also noted that “raison d'être of a ruler cannot be other than to unite.”

The Uruguayan leader also recalled the stabbing of David Fremd in 2017 in Paysandú, which he claimed to be an “act of terrorism.”

The National Party leader also described anti-Semitism as a “perverse way of seeing humanity” whose underlying feeling is “fanaticism.” Moreover, he condemned those who used the AMIA case to “generate hatred” because “violence, terrorism, attacks, do not begin with a physical act, they begin with the verb; and, in general. they have a petty end behind them.”

“That is why it is important in this globalized world to take care of the verb, to take care of the attitude, to know that our words said at a bad moment and in a bad tone are triggers of violence, that we know where it starts but not where it ends. The raison d'être of a ruler cannot be other than to unite, to seek agreement,” Lacalle also argued.

Lacalle arrived at Casa Rosada at around 4 pm with no specific agenda, it was reported in Buenos Aires. El Observador said there was a “very good climate.” Although there was no official statement or press conference, among the issues discussed were reportedly the construction of an international bridge linking Bella Unión with Monte Caseros as well as Mercosur matters now that Uruguay has taken over the bloc's rotating presidency during the July 8 Summit in Asunción, which Milei dodged to avoid meeting clashing with Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.