Grenade attack on Uruguay's Attorney General shakes institutions
Two people attacked the residence of Mónica Ferrero, head of the Public Ministry, with gunfire and a grenade. The incident is linked to the seizure of 2,200 kilogrammes of cocaine in August.
Unprecedented attack on the leadership of the Uruguayan Public Ministry
Two people attacked the residence of Mónica Ferrero, Court Prosecutor and Procurator General of the Nation of Uruguay, in the early hours of Sunday, firing shots and detonating a grenade in the back garden of her home in the Jacinto Vera neighbourhood, Montevideo. Ferrero and her family emerged unharmed. According to elpais.com, the incident is unprecedented since the return of Uruguayan democracy four decades ago.
The attackers managed to evade the 24-hour police protection guarding the residence at around five in the morning. They climbed over the roofs of neighbouring houses to reach the back garden of the home, according to a reconstruction published by the newspaper El Observador based on sources from the investigation.
Two detained and a central hypothesis
Interior Minister Carlos Negro confirmed on Sunday afternoon the detention of a man and a woman as suspected participants in the attack. "These are not the only ones, nor will they be the last to fall," the minister warned during a press conference. Negro noted that Ferrero is well acquainted with this type of threat owing to her previous work as a narcotics prosecutor, a position she held until 2024 with repeated intimidation from drug trafficking, before taking on the interim leadership of the Public Ministry.
The principal investigative hypothesis points to retaliation for the seizure of 2,200 kilogrammes of cocaine recorded in August at Punta Espinillo, a rural area of Montevideo. Authorities estimate that the drug would have reached a value of 50 million dollars in Europe, the intended destination of the shipment. The operation would have struck the gang led by Luis Fernández Albín, a local drug trafficker who operates in coordination with Sebastián Marset, the most wanted Uruguayan drug trafficker, a fugitive since he obtained a Uruguayan passport whilst detained in Dubai in 2021.
"A before and after"
Spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor's Office Javier Benech linked the attack directly to that confiscation: "Every time there is a seizure of this type, there are people who lose a lot of money." Benech also recalled previous incidents: in 2020, the Anti-Narcotics Brigade was attacked with a grenade, an act accompanied by a threatening message directed at Ferrero, who was then investigating the Albín gang. In 2024, the headquarters of the National Rehabilitation Institute was subjected to another gun attack.
"Signals have already been received that criminality in Uruguay has changed," said Benech. "I'm not breaking new ground if I say that Uruguay has ceased to be a transit country and become one of storage with routes to the export of narcotics." The spokesperson also acknowledged that "there was not a correct evaluation of risk" when establishing protection for Ferrero, and stressed that on Sunday "we went up several steps," because the criminals entered the residence of the highest authority of the institution that pursues crimes.
The political system closes ranks
Following the attack, President Yamandú Orsi met with Ferrero, Minister Negro and Defence Minister Sandra Lazo on Monday at noon. In a press conference, Orsi stated that security measures would be "heightened" for officials who could be considered "targets of drug trafficking." "We are a country that must defend itself from an enemy that is very powerful," said the president, who also urged political parties to accelerate the approval of a new bill against money laundering, which he described as "a fundamental component of drug trafficking activity."
Centre-right former president Luis Lacalle Pou, who typically avoids pronouncing on domestic politics, broke his silence on social media X: "On this issue there cannot be differences, nor two opinions. On the side of institutions, on the side of order, on the side of protection," he wrote, after confirming that he had spoken with Orsi.
On Monday afternoon, Orsi convened the leaders of all parties to send a signal of unity. The president of the opposition National Party, Álvaro Delgado, was one of those in attendance: "This is unprecedented, at least since the restoration of democracy, 40 years ago," he said at the end of the meeting. "It is a before and after in Uruguay, threatening not only the Prosecution and the Prosecutor General, but the institutions."
Government senator Blanca Rodríguez, from the Broad Front, agreed that the situation "takes on another colour" from this attack onwards, although she warned that previous incidents had already anticipated the growing weight of drug trafficking in the country. "There is a 'before' that has been speaking to us for a while now regarding some things that could happen," she said to radio M24. Rodríguez also warned about the recruitment of young people and adolescents by these criminal organisations.
Source: Google News UY — Crime