The government of Luis Lacalle Pou has now placed Nicolás Martinelli in the position of director general of the Ministry of the Interior, replacing Luis Calabria who left office last week amid controversy.
The president made the decision together with the Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, this Sunday, and moves Martinelli – Lacalle’s confidant – from having held a position in the Presidency of the Republic and in the Ministry of Social Development to work for the security of the country.
It reaches the Interior portfolio at a point complicated by the wave of homicides that have the authorities working on it, according to Heber himself. He had been working as an advisor to the Presidency since February 2021, and his role was to coordinate certain secondary projects.
A “special” position
The position that he will now occupy in the Interior is the one left by Luis Calabria, who resigned after MVD Noticias reported that he and his relatives were treated at the Police Hospital, as were Minister Heber and his adviser Andrés Capretti, having swabbed for COVID -19 and having received telephone follow-up. Heber justified these facts by stating that they were “emergency” care.
The minister had said that the position was “difficult” to occupy, because “special training” with “legal solidity and political connection” is required. They seem to have found that in Martinelli.
