Extremely low temperatures after a day of hurricane-force winds and even snow in several parts of the country led the government to implement additional contingency measures.

The day before, after a meeting with President Yamandu Orsi, several ministers appeared before the press, as well as the director of the National Emergency System, Leandro Palomeque, who explained that, under the law, a decision was made to declare a red-level public alert of national scope.

For his part, the Minister of Social Development, Gonzalo Civila, said that this is the largest Winter Plan yet and added that 32 new shelters have been created from March to date.

Regarding the people who died in recent days, he explained that they had all been on the streets for years and were in very poor condition, adding that forensic reports do not reveal that they died of hypothermia.

“The situation we are experiencing requires evacuation measures,” the minister stated, noting that there are people living in the open who refuse to go to shelters, despite the provisions of the compulsory hospitalization law approved in 2024.

In Montevideo, the mobile teams from the Minister of Social Development, the Ministry of the Interior, and the State Health Services Management have tripled, and three evacuation centers have been created, in addition to the existing shelters, several of which work 24 hours a day.

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