Uruguay’s Interior Minister Ebert resigns due to scandal involving drug dealer’s passport

The head of the Ministry of the Interior (MIA) of Uruguay, Luis Alberto Hebert, as well as several other officials, resigned due to the scandal over the issuance of a passport for drug trafficker Sebastian Marcete. This was reported by Diaria.

“President Luis Lacalle Pou announced at a conference on Saturday that he accepted the resignation of Interior Minister Luis Alberto Heber,” the publication said.

It is also reported that the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uruguay, Guillermo Maciel, as well as the Presidential Adviser for Communications and Strategy, Roberto Laflufa, have left their posts.

It is reported that Nicolas Martinelli, who previously held the post of Director General of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will become the new head of the law enforcement agency instead of Hebert. The former head of the country’s Foreign Ministry will be replaced by Industry Minister Omar Poganini.

Earlier, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustilno resigned from his post after audio recordings were made public in which he asks his deputy Carolina Hache not to support the investigation in establishing the reasons for the accelerated receipt of a passport by drug trafficker Marcet, who is wanted in the case of the murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor. As a result, in 2021, within 24 hours, he was able to receive a new passport through the Foreign Ministry, while being imprisoned in the UAE.