He president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pouannounced on Saturday that he accepted the resignation of the Minister of the Interior and other officials of his government for the case related to a passport issued to a suspected drug trafficker sought internationally.
The Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber; the undersecretary, Guillermo Macieland the advisor, Roberto Lafluf, will leave their positions as of this Monday, the president added in a press conference. Uruguay’s presidency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Heber’s resignation.
The research investigates how Sebastian Marset, a suspected drug trafficker, was given a Uruguayan passport while detained in the United Arab Emirates for falsified documents. In the end they let him go. Marset is wanted in Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and the United States.
On the other hand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Bustillo, resigned last Wednesday following the publication of a November 2022 phone call in which he appeared to suggest that his undersecretary was hiding evidence related to the passport investigation. Bustillo on Friday denied any wrongdoing and said he did not know who Marset was when the passport was issued.
“That is for the Ministry of the Interior,” he told reporters, insisting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had acted correctly in issuing the document. Lacalle Pou, who returned from the United States, where he met with President Joe Biden, stated that the resigned officials could defend themselves in court.
«That passport should have been given yes or yes. Whether we like it or not,” added Lacalle Pou, stating that this is what the laws allow. The president added that he is “convinced that the Minister of the Interior” as well as two other officials have no “legal responsibility” for granting the passport.
