MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Major cabinet reshuffle in Montevideo amid scandal

Lacalle made the announcements upon his return from Washington DC

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou announced a cabinet reshuffle Saturday evening from the Torre Ejecutiva after meeting earlier in the day with leaders of the ruling Multicolor coalition at the Suárez y Reyes residence to address the crisis sparked by the resignation last Wednesday of Francisco Bustillo as foreign minister amid a scandal over the issuance of a passport to known drug trafficker Sebastián Marset.

”You already know about Bustillo's resignation, a resignation that I accepted. And these days, [Interior] Minister Luis Alberto Heber, Undersecretary Guillermo Maciel, and (presidential advisor) Roberto Lafluf, who has no governmental responsibilities or powers, offered me their resignations and I accepted all three,“ Lacalle Pou said on the same day he returned to Montevideo from a summit of the Americas in Washington DC with US President Joseph Biden.

Read also: Uruguay: Deep political crisis awaits Lacalle Pou upon returning from the US and Biden pledges to boost regional trade before leaders of the Americas

Lacalle also pointed out that he was confident that all the resigning officials would ”know how to defend their honor and their persons” before the courts where the Marset scandal will be settled. The president also stressed that his government does not hide when things do not go according to expectations and is always ready to explain its successes and mistakes.

Heber's job will be taken over by Nicolás Martinelli, who was third in line, with Pablo Abdala - former director of the Institute for Children and Adolescents (INAU) - as undersecretary.

Energy and Mines Minister Omar Paganini will become Uruguay's new top diplomat, Elisa Facio replacing him in his previous post. Facio had headed the ministry's general secretariat until Saturday.

Bustillo resigned after a series of audio recordings between him and then-Deputy Foreign Minister Carolina Ache came to light. In those conversations, Bustillo had suggested that Ache lose her cell phone in order not to hand over to prosecutors the evidence in which she discussed the case with Maciel in 2021 when Marset was in jail in Dubai for attempting to enter with a false Paraguayan passport and had requested a Uruguayan one. Ache also pointed the finger at Lafluf in court.

Regarding one of the meetings at the Torre Ejecutiva where the issue was reviewed, Lacalle admitted on Saturday that he had only “stopped by to say hello.”