Today I visited one of the less populated neighborhoods of Punta del Este, appreciating the architecture of its large and ostentatious houses. Great parks very well maintained and luxurious mansions that are empty most of the time. Being a summer resort, Punta del Este goes from being almost empty in winter to being packed with people in the summer months (from December to February mostly). It creates a great contrast, in summer the traffic is unbearable, in a city that in the first days of January the degree of saturation can reach extreme levels.
And the funny thing is that the neighborhoods with the most beautiful houses are also the less populated areas. The vast majority of these huge houses are empty most of the year, I dare say they are inhabited between one and two months a year. The human being and its pathetic distribution of wealth. While the most humble areas, with the most precarious houses are overpopulated. Lots of people who have nowhere to live, and so many empty mansions ... so lame.
But one subject that is not talked about much and I think it is very real is that behind all these summer constructions there is a history of money laundering. Uruguay is commonly categorized as a "tax haven". Wikipedia explains it as follows: "Tax Haven is a territory or state that is characterized by applying a tax regime especially favorable to citizens and non-resident companies that are domiciled for legal purposes in it. Typically, these advantages consist of a total exemption or a very significant reduction in the payment of the main taxes, as well as bank secrecy" (From Wikipedia)
This means that in Uruguay, if the investment comes from abroad, little is asked about the origin of the money and also the taxes to be paid are reduced. This is done as measures to encourage the entry of foreign capital. Last year Carlos Diaz, who was the director of the National Secretary for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Uruguay, was found dead in a pool. He had investigated cases involving drug trafficking and Panama Papers.
When the director of the National Secretary for the Fight against Money Laundering and the fighter against Terrorism Financing appears dead floating in his swimming pool looks a little suspicious ... added to the ineffectiveness of the Uruguayan Police ... plus the economic interests that hide behind all this made the case to go unsolved, as always nobody was found guilty. The "justice" said that it was a case of natural death by heart attack, but I do not believe anything of that at all. Justice in my country is a fallacy. Without going too far the father of the famous football player Edinson Cavani (PSG of France) killed a young man when driving with very high levels of alcohol in the blood, but after three months of pre-trial detention he was released. Justice exists only for the poor, here paying the necessary bribe everything is arranged.
