Uruguay
A Convicted Suspect in an Anti-Drug Operation Worked With a Partido Nacional Councilor in Montevideo
Gonzalo Gómez announced the termination of the employment of a member of his team after learning of his conviction in a case involving drugs, weapons and money. The councilor said the situation took him by surprise and apologized to his party.
The Partido Nacional councilor for Montevideo, Gonzalo Gómez, announced this Friday that he had decided to end the employment relationship with a collaborator at the Departmental Board, after he was detained and later convicted in a police investigation in which drugs, weapons and money were seized, according to El País.
According to that outlet, Gómez said he learned of the situation when the case had already become public. From China, where he has been for several days, he said the episode surprised him and that he considered it necessary to make clarifications.
He explained that he has known Lucio Leiva for years, whom he described as a friend, a trusted person and a collaborator of his. He also noted that Leiva was released and was not formally charged in the case, so, he said, it is not appropriate to attribute responsibility to him for the facts under investigation involving his father. Gómez indicated that Leiva’s father had joined his team recently and maintained an employment relationship with him.
The councilor said he had never had knowledge of or suspicions about a possible link between that man and the facts under investigation, which, he said, were tied to another activity carried out outside the Departmental Board. He also stated that both he and Lucio Leiva found themselves facing a reality that was foreign to them.
In that context, Gómez took responsibility for not having been sufficiently cautious when incorporating him into his team and apologized to the Partido Nacional and to his faction for any difficulties the case may have caused. At the same time, he ordered the termination of the employment relationship.
Still according to El País, three people were convicted this Friday in this investigation, which began after more than 260 kilos of drugs were found in a house in Brazo Oriental. Fiscalía said in a statement that the sentences were reached through plea agreements. The operation also led to the seizure of more than $ 3,000,000, US$ 42,000, AK-47 rifle ammunition, firearms and several high-end vehicles.
The Interior Minister, Carlos Negro, had described the seizure on Thursday as an important blow against drug trafficking, the Uruguayan outlet reported.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this fact.
