Another example: people trying to hijack a car stopped in a traffic light. In broad daylight. While a news crew was filming. And a policeman was standing 100m away: https://plus.google.com/+GabrielGambetta/posts/fbZo1YVLeet
They have also given too much power to the unions, to the point that they can legally steal a factory from their owners, for example (in a nutshell, occupying it until it goes bankrupt, and then assuming control "to save jobs") Also, just before their first term in power, Uruguay had just came out of a terrible economic crisis that affected the whole region; basically, Argentina fell, and Uruguay is too small and dependent to have avoided it (and the old government was blamed). During the last decade the whole region has improved, so the economic situation in Uruguay is quite good right now (and the new government takes credit). But the worst thing is the way they're squandering this money in sort-of-well-meaning but very badly implemented "social" policies, so when the "up" economic cycle turns into a "down" economic cycle and the easy money runs out, there will be no reserves, a disfunctional and violent society, truly pathetic education level [3],... it's a ticking bomb.
[1] http://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/ninos-mataron-amigo-hor... (two kids, 11 and 14, killed their 11 year old friend with a machete, and then went playing football)
[2] http://www.taringa.net/posts/info/15613143/Mujica-el-terrori... http://diurnarius.com/jose-mujica-de-ladron-a-presidente/ http://www.periodistadigital.com/opinion/politica/2009/11/30...