Ex-Official’s Release From Prison, Uruguay Corruption in Spotlight

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The former chief of presidential security in Uruguay was released from prison after serving time on organized crime charges. But as he starts a new chapter, Uruguay continues to struggle with questions about criminal infiltration within the government.

Alejandro Astesiano, former head of security for ex-President Luis Lacalle Pou, was released from prison on September 20, two and a half years early, due to good behavior, work-study programs, and time served in pretrial detention. In 2023, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on four counts: association to commit a crime, influence peddling, disclosure of secrets, and the conflation of private and public interests.

SEE ALSO: Uruguay Passport Scandals Force Reckoning About Government Corruption

Astesiano was implicated in a scheme to falsify records so that Russian citizens could obtain Uruguayan passports, as well as in abusing his position close to Lacalle Pou to conduct illegal surveillance.

Messages revealed during the trial exposed additional conspiracies, such as attempts to move illicit money through Uruguay’s soccer teams.

“I sent word to [a contractor] that we were going to start laundering money, the president is giving me a hand,” Astesiano wrote to the head of the hooligan squad, or “barra,” for Peñarol, one of Uruguay’s biggest soccer teams.

Astesiano set up a meeting in Uruguay’s Executive Tower with the leader of Peñarol’s barra and the contractor to discuss the matter, but was arrested before it could happen.

This message, among scores of others, was first revealed publicly in a new book, “The Astesiano Case: A Plot of Espionage and Corruption in the Executive Tower.” InSight Crime spoke with author Lucas Silva to better understand the significance of the case and Uruguay’s evolving criminal landscape.

InSight Crime (IC): Astesiano has been one of the most talked about cases recently in Uruguay. Why is this case so important?

Lucas Silva (LS): This case is important because of Astesiano’s closeness to President Lacalle Pou; he was the head of presidential security. And also because of the many crimes that were proven committed in the Executive Tower. For example, there was a delivery of $10,000 to facilitate procedures for Russian investors that took place on the fourth floor of the Executive Tower, and this was proven by the courts. Also, several businessmen and lobbyists testified before the Prosecutor’s Office that they took cash to the fourth floor to win bids or obtain personal benefits. It is clear — and this emerges from the messages — that Astesiano had a direct line to the president and the main government officials, even though there have been attempts to minimize his influence.

On the other hand, it is also important because the justice system was able to prove the use of political espionage against opposition senators. And there is a lot of evidence of similar practices against trade unionists and students.

IC: The book published chats between Astesiano and many powerful individuals, both in Uruguay and around the world, but some messages on his phone were never recovered. Do you think the scale of Astesiano’s crime and corruption could go even deeper?

LS: Many questions remain unanswered — important questions. For example, a retired military man (Marceo Acuña of Vertical Skies) was convicted for espionage against senators, but we still do not know which company was willing to pay money in exchange for that “personal information.” We know that this case is related to the interests linked to the bidding on the container terminal in the Port of Montevideo, but no one has yet been held responsible.

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We also do not know how much Lacalle Pou really knew about the things that Astesiano did, since his conversations were excluded from the investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office. The current prosecutor on the case, Sabrina Flores, requested a new expert opinion on the phone, but her request was rejected.

IC: The original prosecutor for the case resigned on September 4, 2023, and began campaigning for the president’s party in late November. Are you concerned that political leanings in the case may have inhibited the investigation or resulted in a lighter sentence?

LS: I think this is a feeling shared by a good part of the country, unfortunately. Beyond the individuals or their political ties, when a prosecutor investigating a case of this nature shifts so quickly into political activity, that sends a very bad message to citizens. It is a negative situation for justice, for politics and, above all, for the trust that citizens have in government institutions.

IC: A few cases — namely Astesiano’s and drug trafficker Sebastián Marset’s — have received a lot of attention recently. Are they atypical cases in Uruguay, or do they represent a more widespread criminal problem in the country?

LS: In the book, I tried to analyze how the powers that be are linked to political power. The Astesiano case provided a lot of information to examine that question, because of all the information that was on his cell phone. I began to investigate how certain powers are linked to the state — lobbyists in the world of military procurement, companies that win bids — and how they use people like Astesiano to further their financial interests. This was happening before Astesiano joined the presidential team in March 2020 and will surely continue in the future if no action is taken.

Featured image: Cover of Lucas Silva’s book “El Caso Astesiano.” Credit: Penguin Libros.

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