Uruguayan President looks for a “qualitative leap” in security

The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, said Thursday that with the latest changes in the leadership of the v, he is seeking to make a “qualitative leap” in security management.

“It is not a temporary change,” Lacalle Pou said of the dismissal of the director and deputy executive director of the police, Diego Fernández and Jorge Berriel, and ruled out that it is linked to the case of the former head of presidential custody Alejandro Astesiano, accused of participating in a criminal organization that falsified Uruguayan passports.

In statements reported in the local press, he said that regarding security, “we are not satisfied because we always believe that there is room for improvement”.

“This is what the statistics say: theft, robbery, and cattle rustling (cattle theft) have gone down, and there was a peak in homicides, although below what the (opposition) Frente Amplio had in its government”, he continued.

In his opinion, “whatever this government does, the Frente Amplio will criticize it”.

Public security has been the main concern of Uruguayans in recent years.

However, it was displaced by issues such as health and the economy after the impact of the pandemic, according to public opinion polls.