One week before border reopening, Uruguay Customs alerts to lack of personnel for controls

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With only one week to go, the Customs Officers Association (AFA) warned once again that it does not have enough personnel to conduct the required controls.

The Association stated that “it will be impossible for Customs to control the flow of passengers due to a shortage of manpower. We are talking about 500 people less, we are at less than half the required personnel, and according to the calculations, by the end of the government’s term there would be about 300 officials left out of the current 665.”

In mid-October, the union denounced the situation: only 1 officer per shift, when at least 5 are needed to adequately perform controls. Although there are 665 officers, AFA says that there should be at least 1,200, almost twice that figure.

Minister of Defense Javier García said that “the reopening of borders on November 1 is one of our most important decisions since last year’s health emergency, because it is a very significant step towards normality, taken in a pandemic currently under control, which therefore must be taken with great responsibility.”

AFA secretary general Basilio Pintos said that the last meeting with President Luis Lacalle Pou was on July 7, and no response has been forthcoming. “We raised the issue in Parliament, we raised it with the President of the Republic, we still have not received a reply,” he said in mid-October.

Last Monday, Pintos stated that “the shortage of personnel is due to the failure to renew the staff. We have been saying this since 2014, year after year the staff is reduced and it is not replaced. He told us that there would be an answer, to this day we have not received any from the Presidency or the Executive.”

“We cannot establish controls as required by law. We have a Customs Code that requires us to conduct controls at the border, but we cannot do that because we have no personnel,” Pintos said.

The lack of personnel will mainly affect border posts in the interior of Uruguay: Fray Bentos, Paysandú – Colón, Salto Grande and posts on the Brazilian side such as Rivera – Santana Do Livramento and Chuy.

Minister García added that “on the bridges, mainly here and in Fray Bentos, there is typically a high concentration of tourists at the start of the season. We must implement all measures to ensure that there are as few as possible,” he said in reference to online procedures, such as digital certificates with vaccination and negative PCR tests prior to entering the country.

For his part, Pintos said that “the arrival of tourists will be delayed, especially with all the work that must be done by Migration, in charge of checking documentation and PCRs, and we have to control all cargo crossing the border.”

The Uruguayan government will deploy the military to reinforce customs control. However, Pintos said that “the Army may only be in charge of patrolling, if they start seizing cargo, these documents could easily be invalidated.” The AFA considers the support of the armed forces to be of little use.