The government of Luis Lacalle Pou published this Thursday a new decree to regulate the obtaining of a passport in Uruguay, after the high-profile case of drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, who while imprisoned in Dubai for having entered with a false Paraguayan passport, was able to obtain a Uruguayan one. which he used to run away.
The narco is accused of being the architect of the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, who was on vacation in Colombia.
The Lacalle government blames a 2014 decree, issued during the José Mujica administration, assuring that it was legally correct to deliver the passport to the Uruguayan criminal; however, said decree states that the document must be delivered in person and not to third parties, unless it is proven that there is a serious and unavoidable impediment for this to be the case.
Stricter guidelines
The new decree establishes that the Uruguayan passport will only be issued after a criminal record certificate has been required, and it is fulfilled that the person is not deprived of liberty or weigh on himself. “border closure orders, requisitions or arrest warrants at the national level, as well as internationally that have been reported to the General Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime and Interpol.”
Additionally, the applicant must provide a “certificate of lack of background in the resident country”, if he is abroad.
Additionally, it is clarified that the corresponding Uruguayan Consular Office will not initiate the process in the event that the applicant is deprived of liberty, and that the Ministry of the Interior will have the last word on whether or not the passport should be issued, and regarding suspension of the process if deemed necessary.
