The private health unionist from the Communist Party would be criminally reported for corruption
Compartir:
The trade unionist from the Communist Party, Jorge Bermúdez, was the former secretary general of the Uruguayan Health Federation (FUS) for 26 years (from 1998 until September 2024).
He has been at the center of a scandal due to serious financial irregularities in the management of union funds.
He currently holds the position of Secretary of International Relations at PIT-CNT.
Bermúdez en acto de la FUS
The case arose as a result of an external audit ordered by the new leadership of FUS, which revealed enormous anomalies in the last five years of Bermúdez's administration.
Among the main dark findings, the appropriation of funds from the Training Fund stands out: Contributions from mutualists (26 million dollars per month per non-medical worker).
These funds were deposited into personal bank accounts of Bermúdez and the former Secretary of Finance, Héctor Dos Santos.
In July 2025, FUS demanded that Bermúdez return in three days approximately 180,000 dollars (around 7.5 million Uruguayan pesos) from an account at Scotiabank, which he transferred on August 1, 2025, after the public scandal.
Juzgado
Unjustified expenses
The audit detected national per diems for $613,627 (without receipts), and car service expenses for $457,799 (with the company Senderos Group), totaling more than one million pesos in outflows linked to Bermúdez between May 2024 and July 2025. These are gigantic figures for a Uruguayan union.
Additionally, Bermúdez enjoyed a luxury car: a 2024 BMW with a driver.
Other irregularities
A lack of documentation was detected for about 57,000 dollars in various expenses, which has led to accusations of "corruption" and "theft from workers" within the union itself.
It is also suspected that the Communist Party used FUS union funds to finance its 2024 and 2025 election campaigns, just as that Party did in Sunca, the construction union.
Criminal complaint?
Until early October, FUS has not formally filed a criminal complaint against Bermúdez, although the current union leader, Marcos Franco, indicated that the case "will go to the Ethics Tribunal" and that, if the rest of the leaders consider it necessary, it will be taken to court once the audit of the remaining 45 months is completed.
Franco emphasized that "he would not like to reach that extreme," but he prioritizes the "collective interest."
Local de la FUS
Bermúdez has been questioned in Uruguayan unionism for many years.
For a long time, he has been pointed out for his frequent trips to the narco-dictatorships of Cuba and Venezuela, where he travels with union-paid money and stays in the best hotels in Havana and Caracas.
He is the typical communist trade unionist who leeches off the workers. He spent years without working because he enjoyed union leave, and he filled himself with privileges using FUS money.
