Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay’s vice president has resigned amid allegations of corruption stemming from his tenure as head of state oil company ANCAP.

Raul Sendic announced his departure Saturday, after a tribunal of his political party determined he may have engaged in “unacceptable use of public funds” and accused him of lying in his defense.

The allegations surfaced in June, when the weekly publication Busqueda reported that between 2010 and 2013, Sendic used corporate credit cards to make purchases at jewelry, electronics, furniture and other stores apparently unrelated to his official business. Two journalists later published a book showing copies of the credit card statements.

Sendic was unable to explain the purchases to the tribunal other than to say they seemed “strange.”

The case is also being studied by a public anti-graft entity.</s>MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay’s vice-president resigned Saturday amid allegations of corruption stemming from purported credit-card misuse during his tenure as head of state oil company ANCAP.

Raul Sendic announced his departure after a tribunal of his political party determined he may have engaged in “unacceptable use of public funds” and accused him of lying in his defence.

The allegations surfaced in June, when the weekly publication Busqueda reported that between 2010 and 2013, Sendic used corporate credit cards to make purchases at jewelry, electronics, furniture and other stores apparently unrelated to his official business. Journalists Patricia Madrid and Viviana Ruggiero later published a book showing copies of the credit card statements.

Appearing before the tribunal, Sendic was unable to explain the purchases other than to say they seemed “strange.”

Sendic, who is also a senator and president of congress, tweeted Saturday that he had presented his “indeclinable resignation of the vice presidency” and had communicated the decision to President Tabare Vazquez. He did not address the allegations, which are also being studied by a public anti-graft entity.

It is the first time a vice-president has stepped down in the South American nation. constitutional scholar Martin Risso told the newspaper El Pais that Sendic must present his resignation to congress, which will vote on whether to accept it.

Sendic, 54, has been at the centre of several different controversies, making him a frequent target of criticism from the opposition, the media and even his own political allies.

During his time leading ANCAP, the company racked up a huge deficit and required an $872 million bailout to avoid bankruptcy. That provoked a scandal including within his party, with Economy Minister Danilo Astori blaming Sendic and then-President Jose Mujica.

Sendic argued that the deficit resulted from expensive but necessary investments, but opposition politicians filed a complaint citing possible acts of corruption. Among other irregularities, the company allegedly made advertising payments to a nonexistent radio station.

ANCAP also launched a million-dollar TV publicity blitz with a slogan that Sendic later used for his own electoral campaign.

And in 2016, the vice-president acknowledged that he did not have a university degree in human genetics after claiming for years that he did.

In early July, President Tabare Vazquez said Sendic had been subjected to “the most incredible bullying I have seen in my life, and I find the cruelty astonishing.”

But as more sectors of the ruling Broad Front coalition joined in the criticism, Vazquez changed his position and said he would accept Sendic’s resignation if he presented it.

According to the constitution, Sendic should be replaced by the senator who received the most votes in the last elections. That person is Mujica, but the former president could be ineligible due to a prohibition on presidential re-election: He would be unable to take over for Vazquez if necessary.

The senator next in line is Lucia Topolansky, Mujica’s wife.</s>Uruguay's Vice President Raul Sendic presented his resignation on Saturday amid accusations that he misused public funds while heading state oil company Ancap.

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay's Vice President Raul Sendic presented his resignation on Saturday amid accusations that he misused public funds while heading state oil company Ancap.

He first made the announcement at a special meeting of the Frente Amplio (FA) governing party.

"I presented to the plenary of the FA my irreversible resignation from the vice presidency. I also told President Tabare Vazquez," he wrote in a tweet.

The party's ethics committee has ruled that Sendic used his Ancap credit cards to buy personal items including books and furniture. He headed the oil company from 2008 to 2009 and 2010 to 2013.

No criminal charges have been filed against Sendic.</s>MONTEVIDEO, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Uruguay's Vice President Raul Sendic resigned on Saturday amid accusations that he misused public funds while heading state oil company Ancap.

He first made the announcement at a special meeting of the Frente Amplio (FA) governing party.

"I presented to the plenary of the FA my irreversible resignation from the vice presidency. I also told President Tabare Vazquez," Sendic wrote in a tweet.

The party's ethics committee has ruled that Sendic used his Ancap credit cards to buy personal items including books and furniture. He headed the oil company from 2008 to 2009 and 2010 to 2013.

It was the first time a Uruguayan vice president has quit the job, but the scandal should have little effect on policy.

For years Uruguay has mixed progressive social policy, such as legalizing marijuana, with market-friendly regulations that have allowed the country to become known as the "Switzerland of the South," thanks to the low taxes it puts on financial assets.

Uruguay's constitution says Sendic should be replaced by the senator who received the most votes in the last elections. But that person is former President Jose "Pepe" Mujica, who by law could not assume the responsibilities of president should something happen to Vasquez.

Next in line would be the Senator with the second biggest number of votes. That person is Mujica's wife Lucia Topolansky. (Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Alistair Bell)</s>MONTEVIDEO, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Uruguay's Vice President Raul Sendic presented his resignation on Saturday amid accusations that he misused public funds while heading state oil company Ancap.

He first made the announcement at a special meeting of the Frente Amplio (FA) governing party.

"I presented to the plenary of the FA my irreversible resignation from the vice presidency. I also told President Tabare Vazquez," he wrote in a tweet.

The party's ethics committee has ruled that Sendic used his Ancap credit cards to buy personal items including books and furniture. He headed the oil company from 2008 to 2009 and 2010 to 2013.

No criminal charges have been filed against Sendic. (Reporting by Malena Castaldi; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)</s>Mahed, a member of a family of Syrian refugees that arrived to Uruguay on October 9, 2014, makes declarations to the media while demonstrating at the Independencia square in Montevideo, September 7, 2015. REUTERS/Andres Stapff

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Five families of Syrian refugees granted asylum in Uruguay last year protested outside the president’s offices on Monday, demanding they be allowed to leave the South American country in search of better jobs, even back in the Middle East.

Uruguay accepted the 42 Syrians fleeing civil war in October 2014, but the families said they felt the leftist government had failed to deliver on a promise of good incomes.

“I am not afraid to go back to Lebanon,” said 36-year-old Aldees Maher, whose family had initially sought safety in a refugee camp across the border from Syria. “I want a place that guarantees me, my family a life.”

Their protests come as Europe struggles to cope with record numbers of asylum seekers escaping conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and illustrate the challenge host nations face integrating the often-destitute refugees.

In Uruguay, a secular country with a tiny Muslim population of about 300, the refugees receive housing, health care, education and financial support from the government. Even so, they have struggled to settle in and relations with locals have been strained.

“I don’t have any way of getting a job to earn enough money and look after the family. Before we came, the embassy told us we could earn $1,500 a month,” said Maher.

Maher said he would demonstrate in front of President Tabare Vazquez’ office until the families’ demands were answered.

The refugees hold an identity and travel document that is recognized internationally, but other states can deny them entry.

Maher and his family returned to Uruguay after spending 20 days in Istanbul’s airport in August after immigration officials refused them entry to Turkey.

“If they want to go, they can. But it is not up to us whether another country allows them entry,” said Javier Miranda, head of the human rights secretariat inside the presidency.

One 22-year-old Syrian who identified herself as Sanaa said she felt deceived by Uruguay’s treatment of the refugee group.

“It’s not what they said it would be like here. We want to leave,” she said.

Another group of 80 Syrian refugees is expected to land in the country before the end of the year.</s>MONTEVIDEO – Uruguayan Vice president, and head of the Senate, Raul Sendic has stepped down after presenting his “indeclinable” resignation to the ruling coalition plenary and to president Tabare Vazquez, quelling what was becoming a major political and institutional situation given his long string of misconducts, some of them precisely questioned by an ethics tribunal from the coalition.

However the formality of the procedure demands that Mr. Sendic presents his resignation to the General Assembly, which is made up of 99 Deputies plus 30 Senators. Likewise sending his resignation to Vázquez is inconsistent, since it is the Legislative that makes official the communication to the Executive and Judiciary branches.

Early Saturday Sendic attended the ruling coalition plenary which was to consider a report on his conduct from the five-member Ethics tribunal, part of which had been leaked to the media, and unanimously condemned his conduct as “unacceptable in ethical and political terms”.

He was the first to address the almost 200 members of the plenary and after a fifteen minute speech in which he recriminated what he considered his “public lynching” through the media, by some of his “disloyal” fellow coalition members, and attacked some of the “inconsistent, disproportionate and baseless accusations in the report”, Sendic announced his resignation as vice/president to the meeting, adding he had already delivered a letter with the indeclinable decision to President Vázquez.

Following the fifteen minute address he left the meeting and tweeted: “I presented to the FA (coalition) Plenary my indeclinable resignation to the Vice-presidency. I also communicated it to President Tabare Vazquez.”

The Uruguayan vice president image was seriously damaged by his mismanagement of the country’s largest company, ANCAP between 2008/2013, which lost almost US$ 2bn out of a US$ 6bn turnover; when he lied about his alleged academic background and the disproportionate expenses with the company’s corporate cards, and his penchant for overseas travelling, fancy clothes and fast cars and boats.

The situation has been brewing for over a year, and Sendic had anticipated that with the ”necessary serenity“ he would decide what to do following the verdict of criminal justice and the Ethics tribunal of the Broad Front coalition.

But it all precipitated when leaks from the ethics tribunal indicated it was ”extremely critical“ of Sendic conduct, including terms such as ”illicit enrichment“, and there were growing demands for his resignation from the ruling coalition. Further nails to the political coffin of Sendic were added when President Vazquez in an interview said that if he was questioned by the Ethics Tribunal, ”I would have long gone“.

Finally only a few days ago the last bastions of support and defense, the Communist party and the Popular Participation Movement from ex president Jose Mujica anticipated they would not question the conclusions of the Ethics’ report.

Sendic, 55, is the son of the founder of the Tupamaros urban guerrilla movement and the “prodigal son” of ex president Mujica who was grooming him as a strong presidential candidate in 2019, and future leader of his political movement. He was first elected to parliament in 1999 and in 2005 was named vice president of ANCAP’s board. Three years later company’s president until 2013, when he stepped down to run for presidential office, finally making the winning ticket with Tabare Vazquez in 2015.

During his time in ANCAP, which is a government company that has the monopoly of fuel refining and distribution, and is linked to the cement industry, Sendic allegedly was involved in some shady oil purchase contracts, ordered the construction of a tug and barges that never made it to the sea, purchased equipment for cement clinkers that remain in their containers, set up a bio-fuel plant in the north of the country which can only produce at double the international price, promoted a de-sulfurating plant allegedly with Argentine technology and invited then president Cristina Fernandez for the inauguration, in a party which was billed at a million dollars. And the list of failed investments goes on…

To this must be added his over a hundred trips overseas, and princely expenses with ANCAP’s corporate cards and never presenting a balance of the three figures spent.

However it must be said that Sendic’s mismanagement of the company had the strong support of his political mentor, ex president Jose Mujica, who insisted that ANCAP had to make great investments since it had the means.

At the end of the day, Sendic with the backing of Mujica had managed to drive ANCAP to a ”technical bankruptcy“ which forced the incoming government of president Vazquez to recapitalize the company with US$ 830 million. It is estimated the company which has the fuels monopoly and pricing in Uruguay lost some US$ 2bn during the Sendic/Mujica years, and given this condition recovery has meant Uruguayan consumers must pay some of the highest fuel prices in the world.

In a last defense of his “prodigal son”, Mujica argued in his cheeky style that the corporate cards from Uruguayan government companies have never been under control and ”all this fuss because a visiting delegation of business people were invited for a swim in the beach and since they had no swimming trunks, the card was used to purchase them the shorts!!”

It’s hard to forecast Sendic’s next steps, but given his arrogance and awful advising he has received, it would not be surprising if besides the end of his political life and presidential ambitions he ends convicted and even in jail because he has pending criminal court cases and the Ethics tribunal report could be most damaging, since its five members are considered above all suspicion.

But for his political mentor Mujica, it’s not that bad, once the resignation of Sendic is confirmed by the Uruguayan Senate, his wife Senator Lucia Topolansky, as head of the group with most votes, in the winning ruling coalition (November 2014), will become majority leader of the Upper House and vice president of Uruguay, replacing the “prodigal son”.

It should also be mentioned that Senator Topolansky, when Sendic was accused of having faked his academic background, was the only person who dared to insist that she had in effect seen the university degree’s certificate. Sendic in his official Senate biography and official documents would stamp the Licenciado (Bachelor) title, which apparently referred to a degree he obtained while in Cuba.

Uruguayan reporters contacted the Habana University which denied point blank that Sendic ever studied at the house and much less “Human Genetics”, a subject and degree nonexistent in the university’s curricula. Sendic later admitted the issue and the Habana university reported he in effect had registered but for a couple of years in medicine, with no final degree.</s>(Insightcrime) An Italian crime boss and one of Italy’s most wanted criminals has been arrested in Uruguay after decades on the run, highlighting another case in which an international criminal has sought refuge in the country.

On September 3, authorities arrested Rocco Morabito — the so-called “cocaine king” of the ‘Ndrangheta crime organization based in the Calabria region of southwest Italy — at a hotel in the capital city of Montevideo in southern Uruguay, according to an Interior Ministry press release.

Interpol issued a red notice for Morabito in 1994, after he fled the country following his conviction of criminal association, drug trafficking and other serious crimes between 1988 and 1994, according to an Italian Interior Ministry press release.

After six months of intelligence gathering, authorities in Uruguay discovered that Morabito had obtained an Uruguayan identification card using a Brazilian passport with a false name. They used this to track his movements and locate him.

In two raids at Morabito’s home in Punta del Este — just east of Montevideo and where he had allegedly been living for the past 10 years — and a storage unit, authorities seized $54,251 in cash, 2,540 Uruguayan pesos (around $88), 150 photos of Morabito with different “clothes and skin tones,” as well as a Glock 9 mm pistol, among other things.

Morabito was allegedly responsible for organizing logistics for the transport of drug shipments within Italy and distribution in Milan for the ‘Ndrangheta — a violent criminal organization with links to Mexico’s Zetas and Gulf Cartel, the “Tony Montana” of Peru and several other criminal groups in Latin America, El Pais reported.

Specifically, Morabito is accused of attempting to transport 592 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil into Italy in 1992, as well as organize the transport of two cocaine shipments into Italy in 1993, the first of 32 kilograms and the other of 630 kilograms, according to authorities in Uruguay.

Rocco Morabito is just the latest case of the region’s criminals settling in this Southern Cone nation to elude prosecution or unsuspectingly conduct illicit activities outside of their primary country of operation. In 2016, authorities in Uruguay arrested several suspects linked to Mexico’s little-known Los Cuinis crime group, thought to have links to the powerful Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (Cartel de Jalisco – Nueva Generación). One of the group’s members — who also reportedly lived in Punta del Este — was thought to have been laundering money for the group through real estate investments in Uruguay.

Uruguay’s allure comes from the country long being thought of as one of Latin America’s safest and least homicidal nations, in addition to being a “major money laundering” hub, according to the US State Department’s 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR).
Vice President Raúl Sendic of Uruguay resigns amid a graft investigation.