This Saturday the president Yamandu Orsi traveled from Carrasco Airport to the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz of the United States Navy.
The president traveled on an aircraft Grumman C-2 Greyhound that belongs to the United States – and is used to transport personnel – to the aircraft carrier sailing off the coast of Uruguay, according to journalist Eduardo Preve.
Orsi thus continues in the footsteps of its regional peers. In the last two weeks the president of Chile, José Antonio Kastand the president of Argentina, Javier Mileiwere also aboard the aircraft carrier as part of the official visits that the ship received.
But the entry of the aircraft into national territory generated accusations from the opposition when they understood that the entry of the plane occurred without due authorization from the legislators. “The government failed to send to Parliament the request for permission for this foreign military aircraft to enter to national territory,” wrote the nationalist deputy Federico Casaretto on his social networks.
“We had a session of Deputies on Tuesday and of the Senate on Thursday, where we could have perfectly discussed and approved it. The Frente Amplio government chose to violate the Constitution of the Republic“he noted.
Article 85 of the Constitution of the Republic, in its number 11, establishes that It is up to the Legislative Branch to “allow or prohibit foreign troops from entering the territory of the Republic”. According to the text, if entry is allowed they must also determine the period of permanenceor “the time in which they must come out of it.” “There are exceptions to forces that enter for the sole purpose of rendering honors, whose entry will be authorized by the Executive Branch,” it states.
According to the stenographic version of the National Defense Commission, dated April 6, the senator and former Minister of Defense, Javier García, consulted – based on information published by The Observer– if the Executive Branch would send a request for authorization for the entry of the American personnel and aircraft carrier.
At that time, the president of the commission, Bettiana Díaz, assured that the aircraft carrier would pass close to Uruguayan jurisdiction but would remain in international waters.
“If you are going to participate, that is, if Uruguayan personnel are going to leave or foreign personnel are going to enter, there is no doubt that these are operational activities and, therefore, they must be authorized”the senator then said.
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) of the United States Navy arrived in South American waters as part of the “Southern Seas 2026” deployment, framed within the military exercises that the Southern Command carries out together with nine other Latin American countries.
According to the Fourth Fleet, the mission will include “passage exercises and operations at sea with the maritime forces of allied nations”while the units circumnavigate the South American continent.
The Nimitz set sail on March 7 from its base in Bremerton, in the state of Washington, and the aircraft carrier’s journey will end on June 20, when it arrives at the US Atlantic coast to begin the procedures for its definitive deactivation.
