Chavista corruption is evident everywhere, such as the irregularities in housing agreements between Venezuela and Uruguay during the administrations of Hugo Chávez and Tabaré Vázquez, as revealed by Eduardo López Mercado, a former member of the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros (MLN-T) recently.
López Mercado described in an interview how funds from the PDVSA trust were redirected to specific projects linked to political figures, notably highlighting the case of UMISSA (Unión Metalúrgica Industrial del Sur Sociedad Anónima) and its connections with the Popular Participation Movement (MPP).
He disclosed that these houses were technically rejected in Uruguay due to their poor quality and safety, yet they ended up being sold to Venezuela through multimillion-dollar agreements. Eduardo López Mercado detailed his role as an advisor and whistleblower, stating that information regarding this “dark business” was intentionally concealed to benefit the private interests of political elites.
Eduardo López Mercado, nicknamed “Tato,” was part of the military apparatus of the National Liberation Movement (MLN-Tupamaros) since 1969. After the dictatorship in Uruguay, he lived abroad and used Venezuela as a “relief zone.” There, he established deep ties with the Venezuelan left, including sectors that would later be part of the Chavista government.
Venezuela-Uruguay Connection: Case of UMISSA Housing
The revelations from Eduardo López Mercado simply confirm the old thesis that Uruguay and its leftist forces, including the Tupamaros, became, with Chavismo, a center for money laundering and terrorist activities.
López Mercado elaborated during an interview with a Uruguayan media outlet about a large commercial and political operation between Venezuela and Uruguay during the governments of Hugo Chávez and the Broad Front, focused on a fraudulent housing agreement worth USD 157 million.
The former Tupamaro was hired by the Venezuelan state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) to oversee its institutional operations in Uruguay.
Key Aspects of the Case
According to the narrative by Eduardo López Mercado, the key points of the case are:
Pre-assigned Agreements
Within the framework of the Artigas-Bolívar Fund, two multimillion-dollar projects were already awarded before the formal business rounds: one linked to Javier Vázquez, son of then-president Tabaré Vázquez, and the housing project of the company UMISSA, driven by the MPP (José Mujica, Fernández Huidobro) and the Communist Party.
Fraudulent Nature of the UMISSA Project
The project involved selling 12,000 poorly constructed prefabricated homes. These homes, made by the Lagrenade brothers (SASEM), had been banned in Uruguay during the 1990s by the Ministry of Housing, which classified them as “warehouses” unsuitable for inhabitance after a fatal incident in which a woman died in a fire.
Denunciation and Exposition
Upon discovering the project’s background and technical infeasibility, Eduardo López Mercado created a detailed report that he submitted to high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including the ambassador and then-President of the National Assembly, Nicolás Maduro. In light of inaction, he leaked the report to the opposition Venezuelan newspaper “El Nacional,” causing a public scandal.
High-level Political Pressure
The agreement was actively pushed from Uruguay by figures such as José Mujica and Rosario Portell, who pressured Venezuelan officials to approve the UMISSA project to the detriment of a technical cooperation agreement with the Uruguayan Federation of Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM), which had the backing of the Venezuelan housing minister, Julio Montes, who was publicly dismissed by Chávez.
Outcome and Consequences
Despite the exposure of the fraud, the company UMISSA received an advance of around USD 70 million. The project was halted, with only 25 homes installed in poor condition in Venezuela, while the rest of the materials were abandoned in warehouses. Following his denunciation, López Mercado was excluded from all Venezuelan institutional activities.
The Artigas-Bolívar Fund
The so-called Artigas-Bolívar Fund was a trust established to channel commercial relations between the two countries.
López Mercado claimed that before the official business rounds began, the most important projects were already assigned “by hand.”
The two main projects were already covered:
Javier Vázquez’s Art-Export project, son of President Tabaré Vázquez.
UMISSA Housing Project, directly linked to the MPP (Mujica, Fernández Huidobro) and with the participation of the Communist Party.
The UMISSA Housing Fraud
The core of Eduardo López Mercado’s complaint centered on the agreement for Venezuela to purchase prefabricated homes from the Uruguayan company Unión Metalúrgica Industrial del Sur S.A. (UMISSA).
The company’s officials were the Lagrenade brothers, who had previously operated under the SASEM name. During the dictatorship in Uruguay, they had a history of negotiating with legal entities from housing cooperatives.
During Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera’s administration (1990-1995), a fire in one of these prefabricated homes caused a user’s death within 10 minutes.
As a result of this incident, a commission led by then-Director of Housing, José Camarda, determined that the structures could not be approved as “housing.” They were granted the “warehouse status” due to their substandard construction: weak fibrocement sheets, flammable plastic material inside, and poor electrical wiring. The Uruguayan Ministry of Housing revoked their competence to build.
The Transaction with Venezuela
Despite being banned in Uruguay, a deal was struck to sell 12,000 units to Venezuela for USD 157 million. This number was later reduced to 8,000 after excluding certain “shelters” described as “doghouses” that were unpresentable.
The houses, measuring about 75 m², were valued at USD 400 per square meter, an excessive cost for their quality.
The General Comptroller of Venezuela, Clodosvaldo Rusán, issued a report warning that the housing “did not meet the minimum standards” and demanded an investigation. The houses lacked a proper structure, were mounted on a simple “carpet,” and the wooden frames sent from Uruguay were poorly cut, preventing correct assembly.
López Mercado’s Denunciation
Eduardo López Mercado mentioned in the interview that, in his role as a supervisor for PDVSA, he thoroughly investigated UMISSA’s background and decided to take action. He prepared a detailed report with names, surnames, and interviews demonstrating the fraud.
Later, he submitted this report to María Urbaneja, the Venezuelan ambassador, who consulted him on Uruguayan internal politics.
Furthermore, acting “on his own,” he presented the report in Nicolás Maduro’s office, who at that time was serving as President of the National Assembly), as well as to Freddy Bernal in the mayor’s office in Caracas and at the Ministry of the Presidency.
He warned his contacts in the Venezuelan government that if he did not receive a response within 15 days, the report would be delivered to the opposition.
The UMISSA project directly competed with a legitimate cooperative initiative with FUCVAM, the federation of housing cooperatives in Uruguay. The Venezuelan housing minister, Julio Montes, supported the Uruguayan cooperative model and backed the agreement with FUCVAM.
For his stance, he was “publicly lynched” by Hugo Chávez during a broadcast of “Aló presidente,” a maneuver attributed to the influence of Diosdado Cabello, who was promoting the UMISSA business.
In light of the lack of official action, López Mercado handed the file to the newspaper “El Nacional,” which contacted José Camarda, the former Uruguayan housing director, who publicly confirmed the scam, labeling those responsible as “bandits” and “scoundrels,” López Mercado recounted in the interview.
Despite the scandal, UMISSA received an advance estimated between USD 69 and USD 70 million, yet only 25 homes were installed in the town of San Casimiro and are now “falling apart.” The remaining materials and components were abandoned in warehouses.
The Uruguayan ambassador, Jerónimo Cardoso, conveyed the request for López Mercado to be excluded from any institutional activities related to Venezuela. He infers that the request came from José Mujica.
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