Last Monday, Casa América hosted the presentation of the book Uruguay: La Democracia en marcha (Democracy on the Move), followed by the screening of the documentary Pueblo soberano (Sovereign People), which reviews the longest democratic constitutional period in the national history of Uruguay, a country recognised regionally for its legal security, institutional stability and, above all, for being a full democracy.
Participating in the event were Enrique Ojeda, Director General of Casa de América; Ana Teresa Ayala, Ambassador of Uruguay; Ignacio Munyo, Executive Director of CERES; Felipe González, former Prime Minister of Spain (1982-1996), and Enrique Iglesias, first Ibero-American Secretary General.
The documentary Pueblo Soberano (Sovereign People) is a work that brings together the testimonies of the people who came to enjoy the Expo Democracia and reflected on the 35 years of institutional continuity. The book Uruguay: Democracia en marcha, shows unpublished photographs of the changes of leadership since the return to democracy in 1985 to date, and compiles, through images taken by the renowned photographer Leo Barizzoni, the main moments of Expo Democracia, a photographic exhibition that took place in September 2021 as a way of celebrating its 36th anniversary. The Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Económica y Social (CERES) paid homage to Uruguayan democracy with this exhibition in Plaza Independencia. The exhibition sought to highlight one of Uruguay’s main attributes: the strength of its institutions and political parties. The success of the exhibition was such that shortly after its inauguration it was moved to Rocha, Florida and Rivera, and was enjoyed by more than 70,000 people.
Throughout the exhibition, an audiovisual team, led by Guillermo Rocamora, Mauricio Rabuffetti and Pablo Banchero, talked with people from different backgrounds and political preferences who came to see the exhibition and reflected on the importance of having a strong democracy. The result of this work was the documentary Pueblo Soberano.
To learn more about the Expo Democracia, in the following link you can see some photographs and a virtual tour of the exhibition when it was installed in the Plaza Independencia in Montevideo.
