The story of the delivery of the Uruguayan passport to the drug trafficker Sebastian Marset continues adding chapters to a story that is increasingly complex; The latest was the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber; the undersecretary Guillermo Maciel; and the presidential communications advisor Roberto Lafluf.
Last week, several government officials appeared in court. Monday was Guillermo Maciel who went to the Prosecutor’s Office to give your statement to the prosecutor of Economic and Complex Crimes, Alejandro Machadowho was followed on Tuesday by the former Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday it was the turn of the former vice chancellor, Carolina Ache, who generated a commotion within the government due to the presentation of audios that compromised several leaders, generating the resignation of all of them. On the other hand, the Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Crimes and Complex Crimes Alejandro Machado decided to raise the case to the office of Debugging, Prioritization and Assignment (DPA) of the Prosecutor’s Office to open a separate investigation since it considers that there were acts of a criminal nature.
Ache’s audios
The first audio presented by the former vice chancellor refers to December 14 of last year where Bustillo asks Ache not to hand over the WhatsApp messages in the administrative investigation. In those messages, Ache spoke with the undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Guillermo Macielwho warned him of the danger of Sebastián Marset upon the delivery of the Uruguayan passport, which would finally grant him freedom from prison. United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Let him be sent to the front Maciel, you lose your cell phone. I’m imagining, you see, scenarios that I don’t know, I honestly don’t know. But in December or January you lost your cell phone… But now we are drawing lots, we have to draw lots, see? “This is step by step, you see?” he said. Bustillo, as published by the weekly Busqueda.
In another audio of the audios presented by Ache, she tells Bustillo that Maciel also had the shared messages. “But I don’t think Maciel is so stupid to whitewash them. I can not believe it. He would shoot himself in the foot. Maciel doesn’t get away by sending you to the front. He doesn’t get away. Because the primary responsibility… the only ones who could stop the issuance of the passport or not, is the Ministry of Interior. Thats the reality. So, regardless of the warning he gave you, that does not take away his responsibility,” Bustillo responded.
On the other hand, Ache also disclosed messages shared on November 25 of last year with the president’s advisor Luis Lacalle Pou, Roberto Lafluf, where he called a meeting with Maciel on the 11th floor of the Executive Tower. During the meeting, the president’s advisor asked Maciel and Ache to delete the messages and then get a notary to log the cell phone with the deleted messages. Ache said that he refused at the time since he considered it a crime.
Resignations within the government
The first to be affected by the vice chancellor’s audios was the former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRREE)Francisco Bustillo, lAfter the dialogues between Ache and the former minister came to light and it was confirmed that he asked him to delete the chats that contained warnings from the hierarchy of the Ministry of Interior about the background of Sebastian Marset.
Meanwhile, yesterday President Luis Lacalle Pou confirmed the resignation of the minister Luis Alberto Heberthe undersecretary Guillermo Maciel and Roberto Lafluf. At a press conference, the president assured that “the responsibilities belong to the president, the ministers and the undersecretaries.” “I accepted the three offers and they are going to settle in the Justice if a case is opened. They will know how to defend their honor and their person,” he remarked.
The untimely trip of Lacalle Pou
While the crisis exploded in Uruguay, the president was in the United States, where he was invited by his counterpart Joe Biden to participate in the Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas (APEP). The president’s return began with a round of meetings in Suárez and Reyes.
In principle, the president received the then Minister of the Interior Luis Alberto Heber and the still undersecretary Guillermo Maciel, while the Secretary of the Presidency was also present, Alvaro Delgado; the pro-secretary of the Presidency, Rodrigo Ferres; and the advisor Nicolás Martínez.
Upon his arrival in the country at Air Base No. 1, the president was escorted by Argimon, the Minister of National Defense, Javier García, and the interim chancellor Diego Escuder. He then held a meeting with the president of the Frente Amplio, Fernando Pereira.
The new government
If all the resignations this week are added, there are four positions left vacant within the government. Although the replacement of Lafluf It was not mentioned, there are four leaders who will have a new role from Monday.
One of them is Omar Paganini, until today minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, who will be in charge of the Ministry of External relationships. Instead, it will assume Elisa Facio, the current general director of the MIEM Secretariat. While, Nicolas Martinelli was appointed as the new Minister of the Interior, with Pablo Abdala as his undersecretary.
The opposition’s response
After meeting with Lacalle Pou, Pereira assured that the opposition will “act with restraint” and described the situation as “a very important political and government crisis.” On the other hand, he stressed that “the political force of the opposition has to have the responsibility of guaranteeing the institutions,” although he clarified that this does not mean “stopping saying what we think.”
Regarding the passport investigation, which involved Bustillo, the former vice chancellor Carolina Ache, the Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, among others, he maintained that “Justice and the Prosecutor’s Office have to be able to act.”
The Secretary of the Frente Amplio will meet this Sunday from 5 p.m. at the Seregni’s footprint, where opposition deputies and senators will analyze what was communicated by Lacalle Pou about the scandal over the case Marset.
Source: Ambito
