A controversial boss who closes his cycle in Río Negro

By Brittany Solano

Retired Chief Commissioner Sergio Solé, 61, said goodbye to the Río Negro Police Headquarters, assuring that he is leaving “in peace.” His departure occurred after the National Party demanded his removal for having attended a political meeting of the Frente Amplio and for publicly criticizing the transparency of white leaders during the previous administration.

This Wednesday was his last day at the head of the Fraybentina Headquarters. He commented to those close to him that, in just five months, Río Negro achieved outstanding security figures compared to other departments.

The former leader insists that he is leaving in harmony, ready to rest in Solymar, where he lives a few meters from the coast, surrounded by his family. “I'm going to enjoy it, zero stress,” he repeats when talking about his separation.

Solé maintains that the regulations prevent police officers from making political demonstrations until two years after retiring. Remember that he resigned eight years ago and that, as a civilian, he is free to give his opinion. Regarding his resignation in Río Negro, he noted that he had a “beautiful meeting” with the Minister of the Interior, Carlos Negro, and the undersecretary Gabriela Valverde, where he understood the position of the authorities.

He has a long-standing relationship with Negro: they worked together between 2003 and 2005, when the current minister was a prosecutor in Young and Solé served as commissioner in that city.

Solé's career is not limited to the Police. He is a percussionist of popular music and folklore, plays sports and is a soccer coach with recognition from the Uruguayan Soccer Association. He usually appeals to football to explain his departure: "It's like a game, sometimes you play and sometimes you stay on the bench. I'm not hurt or sorry. There is freedom of expression," he says.

He highlights that his file is clean after four decades of service, without summaries, and that he only needed to reach the rank of commissioner general. In 2017, when he was close to that promotion, the then minister Eduardo Bonomi proposed that he take over as police chief of Tacuarembó, his native department.

Upon taking office, he remembered his roots in Barrio López and visited the school where he attended primary school, sharing anecdotes with local children.

In 2018 he testified as a witness in a court case linked to a former subordinate, on which occasion he was asked about “Likes” on National Party pages on Facebook. He acknowledged having social networks, but said he did not know how to use them and that his daughter had created his profile. The matter had no consequences for him.

In 2020 he left Tacuarembó after receiving the award from the Ministry of the Interior for outstanding agency. In those years, he claimed to have reduced the daily thefts from 15 to five, and then to 4.9, which led the Criminalistics Observatory to recognize Tacuarembó as the safest department in the country. Robberies and homicides also decreased.

He attributes these results to measures such as neighborhood foot patrol, citizen attention, community work and the fight against drugs. During his career he received multiple distinctions and often repeats that, if he wanted, he could “hang many badges on his chest.”