(26 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Montevideo, Uruguay - 25 June 2025
1. Evacuation center for homeless people
2. Lucas Bilhere with his puppy Alaska
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Lucas Bilhere, 19, homeless:
"When starts to get later than six in the afternoon onwards is the worst time because the darkness and cold start to come down and your body can't take it anymore, and to have something warm, the only way is to go into a shelter."
4. Bilhere and his dog
5. Various of volunteers preparing food packages
6. A volunteer distributing food
7. Various of Mauricio Rodríguez speaking with anotoher homeless man
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mauricio Rodríguez, homeless:
"(I came) because of the cold weather. I am from Las Piedras (a city 30 km from Montevideo), and I was lying on a small table and the police came and told me I couldn't be on the street. I didn't want to, but they brought me here."
9. Close of Rodríguez
10. A man setting up his bed
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Agustín Lanusse, volunteer:
"We explain a bit about how the system works so they can come and not stay out in the cold all night, which has been complicated this week. From what I understand, six people have died due to the cold, from hypothermia and we try to lend a hand from this side."
12. A man sleeping
++ NIGHT SHOTS ++
13. People arriving at a community kitchens
14. Various of volunteers distributing food
15. Various of a makeshift tent of a homeless person
STORYLINE:
Authorities in Uruguay are enforcing mandatory sheltering for the homeless since the government issued a public alert on Wednesday due to cold weather and the death of at least seven people.
The mandatory internment imposed by the Ministry of Social Development is an exceptional policy; however, the shelters have been offering better accommodations to those who need them.
Lucas Bilhere huddles under a blanket while his puppy, Alaska, runs among the mattresses on the floor of an emergency evacuation center in Montevideo.
The worst part of winter, he says, is at dusk when "the cold starts to set in and your body can't take it anymore."
The 19-year-old is one of hundreds of people housed nightly in shelters provided by the Uruguayan government earlier this week after seven homeless individuals died of hypothermia, leading to a public red alert nationwide.
The operation required opening 32 new shelters extending and reinforcing three existing others, such as Sports Plaza Nº 2, where Santiago Flores and many other young people sleep.
Aside from receiving warm food and shelter, some who struggle with addictions also get support from social workers.
The new shelters house about 1,700 people, but according to the Ministry of Social Development, there are around 2,500 people experiencing homelessness.
In these centers, beds are arranged in parallel, and unlike traditional shelters, good food is served, personal belongings and pets are allowed, and there's hot water.
"I was lying on a smal... [truncated]
--
Support podtube.me continuity as a free service. Become a Patreon or make an one-time donation
--
Video at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T_GpQ5TLB4