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The Secretary of the Presidency of Uruguay, Alejandro Sánchez, commented on the murder of the Cuban delivery worker José Eduardo Cuéllar Arteaga in Carrasco Norte, which occurred last Friday, and expressed “sorrow over the loss of a human being, to the family, to a worker.”
Sánchez spoke in an interview with the news program Telenoche and stated that the case compels the government to "double the effort to ensure that such things do not continue happening in Uruguay," as reported by Infobae.
The official acknowledged that, despite the implementation of the National Public Security Plan and a decrease in crime reported last year, "it is not enough."
"We are not satisfied, we have to keep working," he insisted.
Cuéllar Arteaga, 31 years old, originally from Manicaragua in central Cuba and affectionately known as "Pirolito," was shot in the chest on Friday at 7:15 PM at the intersection of Capri and Máximo Tajes streets while making a delivery for the PedidosYa platform.
Two criminals approached him on foot and demanded his motorcycle at gunpoint. The Cuban resisted, there was a struggle, and one of the attackers shot him in the chest. He died instantly. The criminals were only able to take his cellphone.
Everything was recorded by the security cameras of the Ministry of the Interior.
On Sunday, a 16-year-old teenager appeared accompanied by his mother at the Carrasco police station and confessed to being the shooter, according to Teledoce.
However, the minor was released that same day when the legal detention period expired, without any formal charges being filed in the investigation, remaining under investigation but free.
The police are working to determine whether the teenager is indeed the author of the crime, awaiting confirmation from the camera footage and other evidence.
The murder of Cuéllar Arteaga was the third in just ten days against delivery workers in Montevideo, sparking massive protests.
On Saturday, dozens of delivery workers marched through the center of the Uruguayan capital demanding security. Juan Pintos, spokesperson for the mobilization, directly addressed the government: “How many more deaths do we, the working force, have to endure? How many more deaths do we need to see for there to be an honest discussion about security?”
The Cuban community in Uruguay also expressed its sorrow. The Civil Association Manos Cubanas issued a statement highlighting "the vulnerability to which our workers are exposed as they go out every day to earn a living with effort and dignity."
Cuéllar Arteaga was one of the more than 22,000 Cubans who emigrated to Uruguay in 2025, a record number that makes the Cuban community the fastest growing in the country.
Many of these migrants work as delivery drivers on delivery platforms, exposed to increasing insecurity. Carrasco Norte has become one of the most dangerous areas in Montevideo for deliveries, with direct robberies and false orders set to ambush since October 2025.
The president Yamandú Orsi had already spoken days earlier about the murder of Juan Carlos Mendoza, another Cuban delivery worker killed in downtown Montevideo, describing the situation as “terrible”: “When you hear about it, you can’t believe that this is happening to us.”
A social media post by a compatriot of the victim captured the community's pain: "His life was taken while he was doing honorable work, like so many young Cubans who struggle far from their homeland with the hope of making progress."
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