MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Orsi follows Milei and Kast aboard USS Nimitz as opposition alleges unconstitutionality

The entry of the US military aircraft into Carrasco that carried the President airport triggered immediate criticism from the opposition

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi visited the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz of the United States Navy in international waters off the Uruguayan coast on Saturday, in a new chapter of the Southern Seas 2026 regional deployment, following the steps of Argentine President Javier Milei and Chilean President José Antonio Kast, who had toured the same vessel in previous weeks. The invitation was extended by the US ambassador in Montevideo, Lou Rinaldi, and the delegation was transported from Carrasco Air Base No. 1 to the carrier's deck aboard a Grumman C-2 Greyhound military aircraft of the US Armed Forces.

“It is something very unknown. Beyond what you see on television or in movies, there is no other contact. It is a technology and a way of conceiving defence quite different from what we have, from the infrastructure we have here, but also from the geopolitical vision or the dimension of the thing,” Orsi said after the visit in an interview with Channel 5. The gesture took on symbolic weight by occurring just one day after the president's attendance at the PIT-CNT rally for International Workers' Day, held on May 1 on Libertador Avenue under the slogan “May 1, anti-imperialist. For work and wages. Uruguay is its people.” Uruguay's main labour federation warned at the event of “US interference in the region” and called for “sovereignty and self-determination” against foreign powers.

The entry of the US military aircraft into Carrasco airport triggered immediate criticism from the opposition. National Party congressman Federico Casaretto stated on social media that “the government failed to send Parliament the request for authorisation for the entry of this foreign military aircraft into national territory” and accused the Frente Amplio executive of “violating the Constitution of the Republic.” Article 85, paragraph 11 of Uruguay's Constitution states that it is the Legislative Branch's competence “to allow or prohibit foreign troops from entering the territory of the Republic.” The constitutional text provides an exception for forces entering “for the sole purpose of paying honours,” which can be authorised by the Executive Branch.

The constitutional controversy had been anticipated on April 6 by Senator and former Defence Minister Javier García in the Senate's National Defence Committee. The committee chair, Frente Amplio Senator Bettiana Díaz, stated at that time that the aircraft carrier would remain in international waters and characterised the activity as “academic exchange” rather than military exercise, a definition that left the requirement for parliamentary authorisation “ambiguous,” according to the minutes of that session.

The Southern Seas 2026 deployment is part of the military exercises conducted by US Southern Command with nine Latin American countries. The USS Nimitz, the oldest aircraft carrier in active service in the US fleet, set sail on March 7 from its base in Bremerton, Washington state, and will complete its journey on June 20 when it arrives at the US Atlantic coast to begin its final decommissioning. The tour also includes Southern Seas 2026, a component complementary to the Atlantic Dagger exercise being held on Argentine soil from April 21 to June 12, with the participation of around 70 US personnel, including Green Berets and Navy SEALs, alongside 150 Argentine troops.