Environment official admits he should not have defended Carrasco wetlands project and explains Costantini link

Oscar Caputi acknowledged that he should not have spoken publicly about the proposed megaproject in the Bañados de Carrasco wetlands after his comments were interpreted as a defense of the private development.

Speaking on Tuesday, Uruguay’s environment undersecretary said he now understood that his remarks had crossed a line because the project was not even formally within the Environment Ministry’s jurisdiction. “If the project reaches the Ministry of Environment, I will not act. The technicians will act,” he said, adding that he was excluded from handling matters involving clients for whom he had previously worked.

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I now understand that I should not have made them, because they were taken as a defense of a project that is not even within the ministry's remit.

Caputi had said in an August 17 interview with Canal 5 that the development could create an opportunity to require the developer to restore the wetland’s value. He also described the Bañados de Carrasco as a zone on the way to drying out, with rubbish dumps and informal settlements. He later accepted that those comments could be understood as advocacy for the project.

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If the project reaches the Ministry of Environment, I will not act. The technicians will act.

The controversy intensified after reports said Caputi had acted as Eduardo Costantini’s attorney in 2021, while working in the private sector, and had overseen the environmental impact study for the Argentine businessman’s residence in José Ignacio. Caputi said the relationship involved an environmental consultancy that handled the authorization process. The permit was completed in 2023, he said, and he had had no further contact with Costantini since then.

He explained that applicants for environmental authorization must provide proof of their connection to the property and a power of attorney allowing a representative to act before the ministry and the municipality. That power of attorney, he said, expired when the house received its permit. Caputi added that he saw Costantini only once, at the public hearing held in Pueblo Garzón for the residence. He said he felt supported by Environment Minister, President Yamandú Orsi, Presidential Secretary Alejandro Sánchez and his political sector, Asamblea Uruguay.

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I feel supported, not only by the environment minister, but also by the president of the Republic, Yamandú Orsi, the presidential secretary, Alejandro Sánchez, and the political sector to which I belong, Asamblea Uruguay.