This paper describes the main socio-political events that took place in Uruguay in 2023, Luis Lacalle Pou’s fourth year as president (supported by a rightist coalition). During the 2019 electoral campaign, many of Lacalle Pou’s promises were not based on a programmatic shift but on better management (non-policy politics), particularly of economic and security policies. While macroeconomic indicators show moderate performance, security indicators have not improved substantially. Dormant during the pandemic, security became a very important issue in 2023, materialized in high homicide rates and violence linked to drug trafficking and gang conflict. Much like in other Latin American countries, security has become a protracted problem that no single administration can improve. Furthermore, in 2023 there were a series of political scandals, some of which were linked to organized crime and drug-trafficking. We posit that, jointly, these facts undermine the better management capacity rhetoric. This suggests that the current administration lost the advantage of non-policy politics, which could affect its electoral chances in 2024.