The Broad Front bench decided to summon ministers Castaigndebat and Paganini to “analyze the situation and find mechanisms that allow compliance with the Constitution of the Republic.”
He Wide Front summoned the ministers of Defense, Armando Castaigndebatand of Foreign Affairs, Omar Paganini, to provide explanations to the Parliament for entry to Uruguay of the ship Cutter James of the United States Coast Guard (USCGfor its acronym in English) without the corresponding authorization.
“It is a frankly negative precedent,” considered the Broad Front deputy. Eduardo Brenta, in dialogue with Radio Monte Carlo. “It is a serious error, therefore the Frente Amplio bench decided to convene both ministers to a commission, for the purposes of analyzing the situation and finding mechanisms that allow compliance with the Constitution of the Republic, that requires at every opportunity that troops or military equipment or vehicles of any origin enter, the National Parliament, for a matter of sovereignty, whether or not it authorizes entry,” he explained.
The American ship arrived at Port of Montevideo last Friday morning, as had been announced, but his visit generated controversy because constitutional procedures were not followed. In this regard, and as Brenta indicated, the Magna Carta establishes that the income of foreign military forces the country must have prior parliamentary approval.
Although the Ministry of Defense recognized the “procedural error” and assured that the ship would only carry out protocol activities and supply fuel, the unrest was established and among the legislators of the Wide Front The resignation of Castaigndebat and Paganini was even requested.
“Notorious incompetence” and “very poor management”
Brenta also referred to the twists and turns that occurred in the official communication after the ministries involved recognized the error. In that sense, he said that “the version regarding the entry of the ship and why varied throughout the day.” “First she entered and then a version appeared that she was actually coming only to protocol activities”, He pointed out, in relation to the attempts to calm the controversy due to the lack of parliamentary approval, justifying it – or reducing the seriousness of the situation – in the non-existence of military activities.
However, the Broad Front deputy pointed out that “an invitation had previously been sent to legislators from all parties to attend activities carried out on the ship.”
Furthermore, the bench of Wide Front It adheres to the same statement from the Ministry of Defense in which it recognized the “procedural error.” There he stated that “given the material impossibility of being able to complete the corresponding parliamentary procedure, any military activity that said ship could carry out in coordination with the Armed forces”. That is to say, at first the government recognized the existence of planned military activities or, at least, the possibility that they could occur; Therefore, the entry of the Cutter James was not strictly protocol, as was later officially circulated, but rather it was an a posteriori decision.
“The Ministry of Defense has demonstrated a notorious incompetence and a very poor handling of an issue that, although it may seem formal, is extremely delicate for national sovereignty,” said Brenta, in relation to the reason for calling Ministers Castaigndebat and Paganini to appear.
Source: Ambito
