DOMINANT ANGLE
Montevideo contrasts the Nobel awarded to a judge of international law with the American sanctions against the ICC, two facts that its press reads as a confrontation between law and power politics.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Navi Pillay, 85, received the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize "for her efforts to promote peace and international law" (Subrayado, La Diaria).
- 02
Marco Rubio stated: "Either the ICC ends its threats, or we will end the ICC", as he announced the ban on transactions with the Court (El Observador).
- 03
The Court responded that "history will judge this moment" and qualified the sanctions as an attack on the rule of law (El Observador).
ANALYSIS
Montevideo, October 10, 2026. Uruguayan media are covering two events from Friday, October 9: the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay and the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court.
Subrayado presents the laureate as a "South African judge," a former lawyer for Nelson Mandela and former judge of the ICC, aged 85. The media recalls that she chaired the UN's independent commission of inquiry that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. It relays the jury's statement, according to which she was "fundamental" in pursuing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
El Observador, in a dispatch reproduced from BBC News Mundo, emphasizes the speech of the committee's president, Jørgen Watne Frydnes. He sees a common thread between the defense of Mandela and opponents of apartheid and her work as a judge in major international cases. He warns that international law is under "enormous pressure" and that what he calls "política de poder" is gaining ground: "When force imposes itself on reason, it undermines stability." The newspaper also reports the reaction of the laureate, who initially thought it was a joke: "This must be a joke."
The second part comes from El Observador. Marco Rubio states that President Trump "will never allow" the ICC to judge Americans and announces the prohibition of transactions with this "illegal court." He says: "Either the ICC puts an end to its threats, or we will finish with the ICC," and asks allied member countries of the Court to control it, otherwise Washington will continue to dismantle it "brick by brick." The newspaper recalls that the Court has ordered the arrest of Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Court rejects these measures and states that "history will judge this moment." It sees this as an attack on the rule of law and the principle that no one is above the law. La Diaria headlines the Nobel and notes that Donald Trump attacked the committee that awards the prize, while his government issued new sanctions "a few hours after" the announcement.
Uruguayan coverage thus focuses on the tension between a judicial institution and the power that combats it, more than on the Israeli-Palestinian dimension of Pillay's career, mentioned without development in the available excerpts.
SOURCES (3)
- SubrayadoMEDIUM
- La DiariaMEDIUM
- El ObservadorMEDIUM
