The leaders of the opposition closed ranks after asking the government not to send the tax information exchange treaty with Argentina to parliament now that the neighboring government has decided to suspend the process of dredging the Martín García canal while they investigate reports of corruption surrounding it.
“We told them not to send the treaty because we won’t vote for it. We think it’s a very weak position to accept everything Argentina tells us when they don’t accept anything” Colorado senator José Amorín told EL PAÍS digital.
The senator believes that the letter sent by foreign minister Héctor Timerman to External Relations minister Luis Almagro is proof that the Argentinean foreign minister “is only interested in obstructing this [the dredging] and not moving forward, but this something that Uruguay needs”.
He saw that the parliament has to vote on a treaty that is of special interest to Argentina (it will stop Argentinean citizens from using Uruguay as a tax haven) and that this exchange treaty could be used as an element to pressure them in the same way that “they have been using the dredging”.
The same sentiment was shown by blanco senator and president of the National Party, Luis Alberto Heber, who told EL PAÍS digital that “Uruguay should not hurry to sign the tax office information exchange treaty and that we suggested to the executive office not to send it to parliament” he added that now “we will have to wait” to see what happens.
Nationalist senator Jorge Larrañaga told Subrayado (a Uruguayan tv program) that “it would be good to delay the treaty agreement in parliament as a signal to Argentina. It is very difficult to discuss this agreement when Argentina has postponed dredging the canal again”, he explained.
LETTER.
The opposition leader also closed ranks behind the government, to support the tone of the reply letter that Almagro sent to Timerman about the request to initiate an investigation into the alleged corruption.
“the note that Timerman sent to our foreign minister is unacceptable” said Heber and he emphasized that Almagro’s reply mentioned the publication of the proceedings and their dissemination to the public.
“No one doubts the honesty of Almagro and the delegates of the Rio de la Plata Administrative Commission (CARP) but we want to stand firm, we won’t vote on what they [Argentina] asked when they don’t do anything to honor our interests. We there to be feedback[sic]”.
This article is a translation of one that appeared in the Uruguayan Newspaper El Pais. The original news article can be found, in Spanish, here. Translation by Donovan Carberry.
Uruguay Business Reports 