Juan Castillo is targeted for corruption in the Communist Party.

Since January 2025, the Uruguayan Office of Complex Economic Crimes, led by prosecutor Gilberto Rodríguez, has been investigating the diversion of at least 1.2milliondollars from Fosvoc, a fund managed by the National Construction and Related Workers' Union (Sunca) and business chambers.

The investigation points to serious crimes of embezzlement, fraud, and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Destination of the money

According to witnesses cited by the weekly Búsqueda, part of the funds was used to finance the campaign for "Yes" in the referendum on social security reform.

The referendum was held together with the national election in October 2024.

It is also indicated that electoralcampaigns were financed. Both the national and internal campaigns of Frente Amplio, specifically list 1001 of the Communist Party (PCU), were financed.

Union leaders involved

Three former Sunca leaders —Santiago Bernaola, Bruno Bertolio, and Víctor Rivero— were criminally convicted for their role in the diversion.

Bernaola, identified as the main person responsible, stated that the money was allocated to the PCU and political campaigns.

At least five people testified in the case, identifying the PCU as the beneficiary.

The case of Juan Castillo

Castillo is Minister of Labor and Social Security in Yamandú Orsi's government. At 67 years old, he assumed the party's general secretariat in June 2017, eight years ago.

Moreover, since his teenage years, he has been an activist in the Party. It can be stated that he has spent his entire life within the PCU.

If the serious accusations of illegal Party financing are proven, it is more than obvious that Castillo was fully aware of them.

Not only because he has been an activist and leader for decades, but also because for the past eight years he has been its main leader in charge of the general secretariat.

Oscar Andrade and Daniel Diverio

In the prosecutor's office, OscarAndrade, current senator of the Party, and DanielDiverio, current deputy representing the department of Canelones, were identified as those responsible for the massive fraud in the Construction Fund.

Both Andrade and Diverio were the most prominent Sunca leaders for many years. In Castillo's case, it is evident that he would have to be aware of the entire reported fraud.

In addition to being the top leader of Uruguayan communism, Juan Castillo has been, since the early 1980s, a union leader at the National Port Administration, and later became the country's main unionist, heading the PIT-CNT.

Therefore, Castillo should provide explanations and disclose everything he knows about this massive fraud, where the victims are working families, men of labor who were defrauded in good faith.

Juan Castillo is not new to politics. He is a man who has always been active in the PCU and was the most prominent unionist of PIT-CNT for many years.

He should, at the very least, appear before the prosecutor's office to testify voluntarily and explain to prosecutor Rodríguez everything he knows about the matter.

So far, the full statements made in the prosecutor's office have not been released, but it is clear that Castillo is in some way mentioned in this entire dark situation, since the PCU is identified as the beneficiary of illegal financing, and he has been the general secretary of the PCU for eight years.