At the event, Uruguayan economist Jorge Notaro linked the flow of international investments with the accumulation of capital and recalled that 2016 will be the 100th anniversary of the publication of Lenin’s book Imperialism, which somehow anticipated what would happen later during World War II and the drawing of a new international political map after the war.

Notaro said that from that moment on, the accumulation of capital in developed countries has continued to lead to investment flows to other countries in different ways.

In Uruguay, unlike what happened in Argentina, for example, the trade union movement and other social organizations prevented a wave of privatizations in the country during the 1990s. When Argentinean former President Nestor Kirchner took office he found that all public services were privatized: trains, oil and phone services included.
Notaro said that in the early 21st century there has been a new wave of privatizations now in search for natural resources (land, water, mining resources) protected under bilateral investment protection treaties.

The economist said these treaties and the international arbitration tribunals, such as ICSID, are a loss of sovereignty for the countries. He said there are alternatives. “Brazil never signed bilateral investment treaties and the conflicts with transnational corporations are solved in Brazilian courts. Bolivia and Ecuador are exposing these treaties and renegotiating them one by one. But Uruguay is still signing more treaties and each one of them implies a bit of sovereignty lost”, he claimed.

He believes that there is no reason to say that we need to provide the investors with guarantees and that both Argentina and Uruguay should follow Brazil’s steps besides regulating the flow of capitals, something that in the case of Uruguay is provided under a decree that dates back from the military dictatorship.

Notaro spoke about alternatives and summarized his point of view by talking about the need for a “national and grassroots investment policy”. This would imply that the workers become aware and learn to manage the economy ("to create socialism within capitalism").

He said the National Institute of Colonization of Uruguay is a good tool for this, although it would be a terrible mistake if the government does not deliver the 250,000 hectares of land it promised.

Notaro then recalled how in the case of national company Conaprole the milk producers began to take part in the industrialization process.
He said something similar could be done in the meat processing industry through a tripartite production chain with the participation of workers, producers and the State.