Uruguayan President Tabare Vasquez received an honorary doctorate from the University of Guadalajara this week.
A trained physician, Vasquez spent a good part of his acceptance speech decrying the new “epidemics” — diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer — brought on largely by mass consumerism and affecting the poorest members of society the hardest.
A member of the leftist Broad Front coalition, Vasquez was re-elected for his second term as president of Uruguay in 2015 (he previously served from 2005-2010). Prior to his visit to Guadalajara, he had been in Puerto Vallarta as a guest at a meeting of the Pacific Alliance, a group comprised of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.