Uruguayan president cancels trip to Lasso’s inauguration in Ecuador after minister’s death

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, canceled the trip to Ecuador that he had planned this Sunday for the inauguration of Guillermo Lasso as president of that country after the sudden death of the Minister of the Interior, Jorge Larrañaga.

Lacalle Pou was scheduled to travel tonight together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Bustillo, to participate in the inauguration ceremony of the center-right politician, who won the elections of last April 11 against the leftist candidate Andrés Arauz.

However, after the news that shocked Uruguayan politics on Saturday, the Foreign Affairs Minister will be the only representative of Uruguay in the ceremony to be held this Monday in Quito, at the end of which he will return to Montevideo, informed sources of the Foreign Ministry of this country.

Lacalle Pou announced on Twitter this Saturday around 6.30 PM, the death of the head of the Interior portfolio with the following message: “Jorge Larrañaga passed away. Very sad! I learned to love and respect him. He was affectionate even in the hardness of the battle. We competed, cooperated, respected each other. He was at his best. QEPD.”

Shortly afterward, the National Party (PN, center-right) reported that the minister had suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Last April 11, when the elections were held in Ecuador, the Uruguayan president was one of the first to congratulate the newly elected Lasso publicly.

“I just spoke with @LassoGuillermo to congratulate him on his victory and to start working together on the issues that our countries have in common,” he wrote on his social network account.

At least eight heads of state, among them the King of Spain Felipe VI, and the presidents of Chile, Sebastián Piñera; Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro; or Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, and as many foreign ministers, have confirmed their participation in Monday’s ceremony.

In addition, personalities such as former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar or former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana are also attending as private guests for the investiture and to participate in the Ibero-American forum “Challenges of Freedom”, organized by the International Foundation for Freedom, of the Spanish-Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.