Own investigation · two sources
The repair shops the public record cannot see
The Soriano departmental council measured spending on private repair shops and found a truck that entered the same shop 96 times. We looked for that spending in the state procurement record. Not one peso is there, and the reason is measurable.
The information request
What the departmental government answered
Councillor Diego Guevara asked for the detail of vehicle repair spending. The departmental government answered in writing, signed by acting intendant Raúl Bruno. The answer says that between January 2021 and February 2026 it paid $207 million to 38 private repair shops. That is about 5 million dollars.
Six shops take close to 65% of that figure. The largest is José Zubiaurre's shop, with $39,324,824. The same answer states it carried out 1,535 repairs of municipal vehicles between January 2021 and July 2026.
The Frente Amplio caucus, 11 councillors, voted to ask the Court of Accounts to audit how the departmental government hires repair shops and outside suppliers. The request needs one third of the council.
| Repair shop | Billed |
|---|---|
| José Zubiaurre | $ 39,3 M |
| La Ruta | $ 35 M |
| Electromecánica Barreto | $ 19,1 M |
| Plácido Ruiz | $ 18,6 M |
| Gonzalo González | $ 12,6 M |
| Tornería Feller | $ 12 M |
| The other 32 shops | $ 70,4 M |
The six amounts come from the information request. The line for the other 32 is a subtraction against the total, which was published rounded to $207 million: it is therefore approximate.
The vehicle
One shop visit every 21 days
The Mercedes Benz truck with plate KOF 0132 entered the Zubiaurre shop 96 times between January 2021 and July 2026. That is 66 months. The average is one visit every 21 days.
The pace rises. In 2025 the truck went in 22 times. In the first seven months of 2026 it went in 12 times. The answer details three repeated repair types and does not cover the remaining visits.
It is not an isolated case. Seven other Foton trucks add between 62 and 86 repairs each over the same window. Intendant Guillermo Besozzi attributed the frequency of the KOF 0132 to the vehicle's age.
The three types come from the information request. The "not broken down" line is the subtraction against the 96 visits: the answer does not say what was repaired in the rest.
In a fleet of these dimensions there is permanently a certain number of units under service, preventive maintenance or repair.
Guillermo Besozzi, intendant of Soriano
Our measurement
The state procurement record sees not one peso
Awards published by the Soriano departmental government since 2021
0
out of its own 373 records on the state portal
The platform indexes 2.17 million records from the public procurement portal since 2002. The Soriano departmental government is in that corpus with 548 records since 2011. All of them are calls. None carries an award, so the normalised total is zero.
It publishes when it opens a call and does not publish when it awards. The $207 million on repair shops never entered the record for a second reason: in the whole series there is not one call for vehicle repair or mechanical shop services. That spending went through direct purchase, with no prior call.
There are calls to buy vehicles. We counted 12 since 2021, for brand-new trucks and pickups. In 2026 it called for four utility trucks, two ten-tonne tippers and one three-tonne tipper. With no published award we do not know how many of those purchases went through.
The comparison
Two of nineteen departmental governments publish zero
Records published since 2021 and how many carry an award. The bar measures that ratio, not spending.
| Departmental government | Records | With award |
|---|---|---|
| Montevideo | 101,485 | 78,51477% |
| Canelones | 8,474 | 4,52553% |
| Paysandú | 5,319 | 1,60830% |
| Colonia | 3,702 | 2,37064% |
| Florida | 2,614 | 2,14982% |
| Durazno | 1,056 | 14814% |
| San José | 931 | 38641% |
| Treinta y Tres | 872 | 31136% |
| Tacuarembó | 789 | 29638% |
| Maldonado | 773 | 608% |
| Río Negro | 621 | 13922% |
| Rivera | 583 | 18532% |
| Flores | 555 | 22440% |
| Lavalleja | 517 | 10% |
| Salto | 416 | 17241% |
| Soriano | 373 | 00% |
| Rocha | 366 | 00% |
| Cerro Largo | 312 | 3511% |
| Artigas | 266 | 11844% |
Soriano and Rocha publish zero awards. Lavalleja publishes one. The rest publish hundreds or thousands. The ratio does not say whether a departmental government spends well: it says whether its spending can be read.
Who they are
Three of the six appear in the supplier registry
The departmental government published no tax ID for any shop. We searched the six names in RUPE, the public registry of state suppliers.
| Name in the information request | Legal name in RUPE | Tax ID | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| José Zubiaurre | ZUBIAURRE SASEN JOSE FERNANDO | 180285360013 | Ruta 14 km 3, Mercedes |
| Tornería Feller | TORNERIA FELLER HERMANOS SAS | 220206750010 | Ruta 2 km 207.800, José E. Rodó |
| Plácido Ruiz | RUIZ OLANO PLACIDO | 180290610014 | Gral. Artigas 1064, Dolores |
The match is by name and department. RUPE does not publish a company's line of business, so this does not confirm they are the shops. All three are listed as active.
None of the three tax IDs has a single award in the 2.17 million records of the corpus. They sell to the departmental government, which is precisely the buyer that does not publish.
The Court of Accounts
It was already flagging the government's spending
Our copy of Court of Accounts rulings covers 2018 to 2022. In that window there are 34 rulings on the Soriano departmental government. Thirteen concern flagged spending or repeat spending over a flag, quarter by quarter.
The ruling does not say which spending was flagged. That detail lives only in the PDF of each file. It cannot be claimed that the Court flagged the payments to repair shops, and this page does not claim it.
What cannot be said
Thirteen rulings on flagged spending are not thirteen objections to the repair shops. They are thirteen quarters in which the delegate comptroller reported flagged spending by the departmental government, on any item.
Context
The intendant's criminal case is a separate file
Guillermo Besozzi was charged in March 2025 with several corruption offences and was under house arrest. He won the departmental election in May 2025 and took office for a fourth time.
In March 2026 prosecutor Luisa Vago requested dismissal for him and six senior officials, and the case was closed. That file does not include the repair shop spending.
On the audit the Frente Amplio is requesting, Besozzi said he considers it legitimate and that the administration is calm about eventual oversight.
Method
The limits of this piece
- The amounts per shop, the 96 visits and the fleet size come from the information request. We did not measure them and cannot verify them against the public record, because they are not there.
- The RUPE match is by name and department. Without the tax ID the departmental government bills each shop under, the identification is not confirmed.
- Our copy of Court of Accounts rulings ends in 2022. A count from 2023 onward would give a different number.
- The total for the other 32 shops is a subtraction against a rounded figure. It is good for scale, not for quoting.
- None of this describes a proven irregularity. The discussion is about control and publicity of spending.
The four facts that would close the case
- The tax ID the departmental government bills each shop under. It confirms or rules out the RUPE match.
- The detail of each purchase order: what was repaired on each of the 96 visits and at what price.
- The capacity of the municipal workshop, which the departmental government says it prioritises.
- The ownership of the six repair shops.
None of the four is in open data today. The first three must come from the departmental government, or from the Court of Accounts audit if the council votes it.
Tell it where you can be protected
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Sources
Where each figure comes from
The spending figures come from the information request published by the press. The measurements on the corpus, RUPE and the Court of Accounts are ours, dated 4 September 2026.
Press and information request
- El Observador — un camión ingresó 96 veces al mismo taller en cinco años y medio (04/09/2026)
- Soriano al día — el Frente Amplio cuestionó gastos en talleres contratados (15/08/2026)
- Prensa Mercosur — el pedido de auditoría al Tribunal de Cuentas (04/09/2026)
- Búsqueda — la imputación del intendente Besozzi (marzo 2025)
- Infobae — la fiscalía pide el sobreseimiento (05/03/2026)
How to read this investigation
This is an analysis of public procurement data, which is public record. It documents verifiable facts — amounts, dates, suppliers, procurement method — and flags patterns worth scrutiny, keeping proven facts apart from open questions.
An exception purchase, a high price or supplier concentration is not, on its own, proof of wrongdoing. Many contracts may have valid administrative justification. The goal is to enable citizen oversight, not to issue a verdict.
Companies and people are named only as state suppliers, as they appear in the official system. Anyone named may add their response or correct a figure, and it will be incorporated.