Montevideo, Aug 22 (Prensa Latina) Mayors of Montevideo, Mauricio Zunino, and Canelones, Marcelo Metediera, today voiced their opposition to the decree that establishes the compulsory internment of homeless people in Uruguay.

Montevideo and Canelones are the most populated departments in the country, with the highest incidence of people living outdoors.

To assess the issue, President Luis Lacalle Pou today summoned the ministers of Social Development (Mides), the Interior and Public Health, in a bid to coordinate the enforcement of the decree, starting August 25.

In Zunino’s words the issue “has to be addressed from the perspective of people’s rights.”

“Nobody is living on the street on their free will, but because they are pushed by a social model that excludes them,” he told local TV reporters.

He added that the Montevideo City Hall has always considered that the issue of homeless people should be resolved “with more inclusion and not persecution.”

For his part, Metediera said that “we must resort to all possible measures to try to get people off the street, because they are in a deplorable living condition.”

I don’t think that making it mandatory or imposing it is the best way out, he added.

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