“That remains for the monarchies. In a republican democracy, the judiciary must have access to the messages that were sent between Astesiano and the President of the Republic,” the Red leader Margarita Machado told EL ECO.
Machado, who is a member of the National Executive Committee (CEN) of the Colorado Party, joined a group of colorados that this week issued a strong statement against the attitude of the government and the multicolor coalition made up of colorado leaders.
In the letter that criticizes the actions of President Lacalle, the Colorados maintain that “one of the points that we raised was fundamentally that the delivery of the cell phones where there were communications with Astesiano with the President of the Republic himself, had to have been immediate and delivered no restrictions”.
“We did not think it was right that the president objected to or restricted the delivery by not allowing the messages that he personally kept with his custodian to be heard,” said Margarita Machado.
“It does not correspond because the presidency of the Republic, like any institution, has a limit that is the limit of respect for the laws, and no one has absolute power, that will be for the monarchies, but in a republican democracy, the presidency like Parliament Like all of us, we must limit ourselves to respecting and complying with the laws”, he remarked.
In this sense, he pointed out that “now that has been corrected because the president announced that he was going to allow it, but it is a bit untimely. Those delays are not good for democracy,” he said.
She also criticized the fact that the police officers and authorities of the Ministry of the Interior who are being investigated remain in their posts, “how are they going to give testimony in a procedure where she herself is investigated, she is going to give testimony as an authority.”
For Machado “they must be removed and investiture removed from their position, because in the investigation procedure they are under investigation. These are also irregularities that we were claiming from a legal point of view, not to interfere or to put pressure on justice, but to point out a wrong attitude from a political and ethical point of view”, he highlighted.
And the fish?
On the subject of fish, he pointed out that he finds it “incredible”, since “I am from the border, I am from Rivera and we all know there that you cannot pass a plant, a meal”, and this is a very irregular situation “in how did that fish arrive, without bromatology review, without any type of control”, he remarked.
The spread letter
“The undersigned, colorados and batllistas, identified with the republican and liberal values of Rivera, Suárez, Brum and the four Batlle presidents, express our deep concern over successive events in public life that we understand mean an institutional setback for our Republic. The criminal acts carried out by the head of presidential custody seem to be expanding to alarming situations of increasing severity, due to the institutional damage they cause, so we understand that his investigation must be carried out without any limitation or political interference of any kind. The mistakes made in the hiring of the former head of custody entail responsibilities that cannot be reduced by the argument of protecting personal matters. In principle, the President’s conversations with his chief custodian must refer to work issues (this should be the rule). Therefore, the Prosecutor’s Office must know, analyze and qualify them, and, after that, decide which of them should be kept confidential, as they are unrelated to the facts that are being investigated. The exclusion of presidential responsibility derived from the investiture has the scope and limitations established by our Constitution and cannot be interpreted outside of them, without prejudice to respecting the presumption of innocence to its full extent. Concern over the alleged use of State tools to violate the rights of who knows how many citizens, as it violates the Constitution and the laws, cannot be dismissed as “handling.” And it is unacceptable that the police officers who would have enabled access to these tools in an absolutely illegal manner remain in their posts: without judicial authorization, without any official investigation and by persons outside the state sphere. The current and – conjunctural – binary logic, of blocks, cannot curtail our republican vocation, which implies unrestricted attachment to truth and justice. Illuminated by our history and party identity, we must fight for the clarification of the facts, the real assumption of responsibilities of all, without exclusions, and absolute respect for our institutions and our best republican traditions.
Firms: Margarita Machado Mariella, Demarco Baltasar Brum, Leopoldo Trivel Yeanneth Puñales, Horacio Pla, Eda Machado, Aníbal Gloodtdofsky, Juan Carlos Nassif, Ramiro Tafernaberry, Alejandra Caino, Jose Pablo Franzini Batlle, Martín Pérez Banchero, Guillermo Quintela, Ma. Florencia Soca, Juan Ignacio Rivero, Santiago Bianchi, Toáas Vassallucci, Lorena Massanet and Leandro Guarteche
