Ministry of Labor Will Debut Luxury Rides

Minister of Labor and Development Alma Cortes and her Vice Minister, Luis Ernesto Carles, have picked out two 200 series Toyota Land Cruisers, each costing $102,149, from the Ricardo Perez dealership.

The cars come with full extras, leather interiors and luxury aluminum rims.  The Ministry of Labor and Development also opted for luxury accessories like bluetooth and I-pod ready.

The price tag is equivalent to two years of subsidy payments that the Ministry annually provided to the Labor Foundation.  It stopped paying earlier this year, however, arguing that the foundation did not report how the funds were used.

Other public officials who have come under fire for buying expensive cars include Raul Rodriguez who as the new President of the National Assembly bought a $94,000 Land Cruiser in 2008, and Guillermo Saenz-Llorens, Director of Social Security, who chose a $74,000 all-terrain vehicle in 2009.

Toyota Land Cruiser

La Prensa Reports.