Luis Lacalle Pou announced that Luis Alberto Heber would be the new Minister of the Interior after the death of Jorge Larrañaga

Luis Alberto Heber will be the new head of the interior after the death of Jorge Larrañaga last Saturday, the president announced this Monday Luis Lacalle Pou.

“I asked @Luisaheber (Heber’s official account) to take over @Minterioruy in order to continue with the management led by Jorge Larrañaga. A process of change will continue, the defense of the Uruguayans, the respect and support of the police ”wrote the Uruguayan head of state on his official Twitter account.

“Success in this new @Luisaheber challenge! Let him follow the path that Jorge started with important changes in the defense of the Uruguayans, ”added Vice-President Beatriz Argimón.

“There is an order not to release,” was the brief message Heber posted a few minutes after the announcement, alluding to Larrañaga’s well-known political harangue, and which many prominent figures have used as a tribute in recent days. .

Larrañaga was buried this afternoon in Paysandú (west), his hometown, after having died on Saturday at the age of 64 in Montevideo after suffering a cardiopulmonary arrest. He was mayor (regional governor) of Paysandú and senator, as well as candidate for the presidency of Uruguay in 2004 and for the vice-presidency in 2009 – with the father of the current president, the former president Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera (1990 -1995) -.

In the 2019 elections, he was a pre-candidate for the internal elections of the National Party, from which the current head of state came out as a presidential candidate.

For his cabinet, Lacalle Pou chose Larrañaga for his interior portfolio, considering the importance that the nationalist politician attached to public safety to the point of developing a proposal entitled “Live without fear.

Heber, 63, was a deputy and senator, chaired the House of Representatives (lower house) and headed the board of the National Party (PN, center-right), along with the Uruguayan president and the deceased minister . Since March 1, 2020, when Luis Lacalle Pou took office, Heber was Minister of Transport and Public Works.

The new Interior Minister issued a moving message last Saturday, after Larrañaga’s death: “The loss of this BIG WHITE AND BETTER PERSON is devastating news. We have fought many battles together, electoral and parliamentary, always with the whole SOUL, she never gave up. A fighter for the ideas of our Party. This leaves us with a huge RIP void ”.

For his part, the Uruguayan president also confirmed that José Luis Falero, current deputy director of planning and budget, will replace Heber. The 55-year-old civil servant also belongs to the PN, of which he was mayor (regional governor) of San José (south) between 2010 and 2020.

With the two meetings, the fourth change in Lacalle Pou’s cabinet ended in 15 months of government.

The first change of the executive took place in July 2020, after the then chancellor, Ernesto Talvi, resigned on July 1 in the middle of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) summit, during which Uruguay entered its pro tempore semester of presidency.

He was relieved by Francisco Bustillo, who was until then Uruguay’s Ambassador to Spain and, in addition to being a career diplomat, is a personal friend of Lacalle Pou.

The second case took place recently at the Ministry of Social Development (Mides). On May 3, Martín Lema took office as head of this portfolio, two days after the president announced the departure of Pablo Bartol, who had been in charge since March 1, 2020.

The sudden death this Saturday of Larrañaga supposed a forced change of holders in the portfolio.

With information from EFE

KEEP READING: