Uruguay's Foreign Minister Resigns Over Leaked Audio On Fugitive Drug Trafficker's Passport

Uruguay's Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo resigned Wednesday after audio files leaked of him asking a former official to cover up information during an ongoing investigation into how an accused drug trafficker received an Uruguayan passport.

Bustillo issued a statement revealing he had submitted his resignation "to dispel any suspicion that, as an authority figure, I might exert undue influence over third parties, protected by the privileges of my position," AP News reported.

He noted he will talk to media after he testifies before prosecutors Friday.

"I will be available to the media to shed light on the accuracy of what has been done and on the distorted narrative that has been presented," Bustillo continued.

Previously, Bustillo had testified that issuing Sebastian Marset's passport involved an "administrative procedure" and had nothing to do with politics.

"Things are not as they have been presented," Bustillo claimed in a statement.

In the leaked recording, Bustillo was heard asking former deputy foreign minister Carolina Ache to not hand over her phone for investigation, as it contained conversations between her and another official, who had warned her Marset was a "dangerous" drug trafficker. Ache and the unidentified official had the conversation when Marset was detained in Dubai in 2021, and the question arose of granting him a passport.

Ache resigned last year from her position and testified before prosecutors Wednesday amid the ongoing investigation.

"I was the only politician in this government who resigned and went home. And, paradoxically, it was not because I had done something wrong nor illegal, quite the opposite," she told journalists after she testified, adding that she resigned because she was not willing to hide the communications from the judiciary.

She added, "I refused to commit a crime."

Bustillo, however, claimed Ache "decontextualized conversations and acted in bad faith," while insisting there was "nothing illegal" in the passport Marset was granted.

According to authorities, the 32-year-old Marset -- the subject of an international manhunt -- has built a criminal organization not only in Uruguay, but also in Paraguay and Bolivia to sell cocaine to Europe. Furthermore, he has also been accused of killing Paraguay prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in Colombia last year.