Laura Alberti, a trade unionist from the Communist Party and Juan Castillo's substitute on list 1001, was summoned to testify
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In the October 2024 elections, JuanCastillo, Secretary General of the Communist Party (PCU) and current Minister of Labor for Frente Amplio, held the third main spot on the 1001 list as a candidate for the Senate.
His first alternate was Matías Carámbula, the second alternate was Verónica Malinowsky, and the third alternate was Laura Alberti.
None of them were elected as legislators.
A pigsty of corruption
As previously reported by La Derecha Diario, PCU is mired in an unprecedented pigsty of corruption and fraud.
Those who have already appeared before the prosecutor's office before the prosecutor in the case, Gilberto Rodríguez, indicated that PCU used Sunca to finance itself illegally.
Lista 1001
Specifically, they stated that PCU financed its 2024 electoral campaigns and the departmental campaign for the May 2025 elections with stolen money from the Construction Fund.
Additionally, in the prosecutor's office, Óscar Andrade and Daniel Diverio, senator and deputies of PCU respectively, were identified as responsible for the mega fraud of 1,200,000.
Both were the main leaders of Sunca for many years. They also played a very active role in the leadership of PIT-CNT.
Who is Laura Alberti?
She was Sunca's Finance Secretary until recently and a member of the Communist Party. She is also part of PIT-CNT.
Laura Alberti comes from the ceramics industry sector, a minority area within Sunca.
Laura Alberti
Alberti gained prominence in the last decade, being the first woman to hold a position on the Representative Board of PIT-CNT and on the Executive Secretariat of the Frente Amplio union center.
When she was introduced as a leader of PIT-CNT, she was publicly presented as a "feministcomrade defending women's rights" and as a "social fighter."
However, the "feminist comrade" has had a very dark trajectory.
In 2025, Alberti is involved in a criminal investigation for the embezzlement of money from the Social Housing Fund for Construction Workers (Fosvoc).
An audit detected unauthorized transfers of more than one million dollars between 2023 and 2024.
This led to the criminal conviction of three Sunca unionists (Santiago Bernaola, Bruno Bertolio, and Víctor Rivero) for embezzlement, fraud, conspiracy to commit a crime, and aiding money laundering.
These former unionists, activists of PCU, stated before the prosecutor's office that they acted under orders from high-ranking figures, mentioning Alberti, Senator Óscar Andrade, and Deputy Daniel Diverio, all from PCU.
Alberti was summoned to testify as a suspect by the Economic and Complex Crimes Prosecutor's Office, headed by Gilberto Rodríguez, on June 25.
Her name appeared in testimonies from former expelled members of the union, who allege that she was aware of the clandestine financial maneuvers and that part of the stolen money was allocated to PCU's electoral campaigns.
What about Juan Castillo?
Yamandú Orsi's Minister of Labor can't play ignorant.
As stated, Alberti was his alternate on the 1001 list in the October 2024 elections. It is more than obvious that they know each other and perhaps are even friends.
Additionally, Castillo has been the top leader of Uruguayan communism for several years. It is more than obvious that he knows those who were on the 1001 list.
Bandera del Sunca
He knows the union world perfectly well, both Sunca and PIT-CNT.
It is not enough for Juan Castillo to put on a "wasn't me" face and say he doesn't know what happened.
The matter is very serious and highly relevant for the current government and for Uruguayan democracy.
The Communist Party is one of the pillars of the Frente Amplio government and was financed with illicit money stolen from the workers of a union.
The prosecutor's office must act and determine criminal responsibilities, and must request the formal prosecution of all those responsible, whoever they may be.
