The attackers targeted the interim prosecutor general of Uruguay at his home following a major drug crisis linked to the most advanced traffic suspect, Sebastián Marset, in a sign of the growing influence of violent criminal organizations in the underground world of Uruguay.
In the early hours of September 28, two people entered the home of the Uruguayan acting prosecutor and opened fire in what the government is considering an assassination attempt. The authorities also found a hole in the backyard of the prosecutor in which they believe that the suspects were planning to place explosives. No one was injured during the attack.
Two suspects have already been arrested and would be linked to the local drug gang, Albín. The government is investigating additional persons who may have been behind the attack.
“They will not bring us back and they will fall. Two have already fallen, and they will not be the only ones or the last to fall,” said the Minister of the Interior of Uruguay, Carlos Negro, in a press conference.
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This is the second time that Ferrero has been threatened and targeted. The first occurred in 2020 when a Molotov cocktail was launched at the Office of the Anti-Narcotic Brigade in Montevideo. Subsequently, Ferrero received a threat warning him to end the surveys on cocaine traffic.
“It is not an isolated incident; it is something that could happen at any time,” said anarisis estrategico – Centurión, an analyst of organized crime at the Latin American Center for Strategic Analysis (Centro Latinoamerican of Análisis Estrategico – Clae). “There have been warnings on this subject for at least 15, 20 years, it was clear that it would happen sooner or later.”
An analysis of insightful crime
Uruguay has rarely undergone attacks on civil servants by organized crime, but as the country plays an increasingly important role in international cocaine trade, global criminal networks are more encouraged to use violence to protect their illicit activities.
Primary assumption is that recent attack is a response to more than 2 tonnes epilepsy crisis From cocaine linked to Albín to Punto Espinillo in August. “Why (Ferrero) has become a target for drug traffickers? Well, because she does her job well,” said Centurión.
This last threat against Ferrero and that in 2020 could be linked to the Uruguayan drug dealer Sebastián Marset. Like this year's attack, the first attack occurred shortly after an investigation led by Ferrero seized approximately 2 tonnes of cocaine. Authorities suspect that cocaine was that of Marst and that the main suspect in the 2020 attack was an alleged member of the Marset Criminal Network.
Marset, who was found guilty of drug trafficking in 2013, is currently on the run and wanted to coordinate multiple cocaine expeditions in Europe. It was also accused of having ordered the assassination of the paraguayan anti-mafia marcelo peccci prosecutor. The Albín are suspected of working with Marsé to secure the cocaine base for local drug trafficking and the supervision of international cocaine expeditions passing through Uruguay.
See also: Paraguay's narcocopolitics exposed by a colossal anti-drug operation
The assassinations are rare in Uruguay, but the violence linked to local groups which mainly sell the cocaine base has become a major concern in the country. The fighting between the rival clans sparked a wave of murders in 2018, and despite cooling, the country has never returned to homicide levels before 2018.
While these groups tend to be small and focused on local drug trafficking, Uruguay has become a increasingly used Pays of transit for cocaine during the COVVI-19 pandemic. In the past year, Uruguay authorities have discovered more and more cases of local groups storage Large quantities of cocaine to load on containers and dispatched to Europe. “All these drugs require many weapons and greater organization,” said Centurión. And as a result, the links between local groups and international criminal organizations should be strengthened.
Featured image: The authorities enter more than two tonnes of cocaine in Punta Espinillo, Uruguay. The shipment would have been stored by a local gang called Albín. Credit:: Uruguay government
