A new private report, paid to the study of the agrarian specialist lawyer, Horacio de Brum, “concluded” that the senator of Cabildo Abierto, Guido Manini Ríos, does not have land affected by the current colonization legislation, also exempting his wife, Irene Moreira , and her father, Roque Moreira.
The INC Board of Directors voted 4 to 1 to clear Manini Ríos of all accusations, based on this study that would have cost US$10,000 (according to journalist Diego Martín Lemos), with the support of the four directors of the multicolor coalition, and a vote against Andrés Berterreche, who is a representative of the Broad Front, indicates the Network.
The three settler-settler reports
Last November, a report from the law firm, convened by the INC itself, concluded that the lands in question have the characteristics to be affected by the current legislation on colonization, and that Manini and the Moreira had the status of settlers by consequence.
In June of this same year, a report by the INC’s Legal Counsel also found that the conditions were ripe to affirm that Manini Ríos, his wife, and his father-in-law were settlers. A previous report -for a total of three- also pointed in the same direction, but the INC Board preferred to ignore them all to make room for the report purchased from Horacio de Brum’s study, says the Network
Horace de Brum of the multicolored coalition
The lawyer Horacio de Brum was hired to prepare the report that freed Manini Ríos from all guilt, going over three previous legal reports. He is a specialist in agrarian law, graduated from the Catholic University of Uruguay and has been a political activist in the past.
His report has been questioned precisely because of his political affiliation and because the Colorado Party, in which he has been a member, is part of the multicolored coalition that voted in favor of freeing Manini Ríos from accusations in all this controversy. Even from the Broad Front it is affirmed that de Brum is a member of the Cabildo Abierto, which further amplifies the controversy.
