The father-in-law of Senator Guido Manini Ríos, Roque Moreira, had to face a court of military honor almost 50 years ago for having bought land 511 from the National Colonization Institute.
INC is now waiting for the report of its legal counsel, which will determine the legal situation of the fields linked to the senator and his family environment. In parallel, he placed the entire case under reserve and opened an administrative investigation to find out how the conclusions of an inspection carried out on the property in question were “leaked” and which pointed out various irregularities committed by the leader of Cabildo Abierto and his environment. .
The topic that focuses public discussion these days, which may have political derivations but which, however, was the subject of another type of investigation almost half a century ago.
“They made me a court of honor, yes”, acknowledged on Thursday The Observer retired colonel Roque Moreira, father-in-law of Manini Ríos and who in 1971 bought the building 511 of the institute, located in the department of Artigas.
The argument with which he defended himself then is the same one he uses now. He bought, through a bidding procedure, a property that the INC decided to put up for sale as it was considered unsuitable and, therefore, had been disaffected from the agency.
Military sources indicated that the investigation was carried out between 1974 and 1975, shortly before the INC approved the renegotiation of the sale of the property. The order came from the General Command of the Army, given the rumors that the business generated in the internal military.
From Colonization, in turn, it was confirmed that at that time there was an inspection, in which it was verified that Moreira, who According to the records of the time, he was considered a “settler”, did not reside on the property. It is there that the purchase contract was renegotiated and the INC, with the vote of four directors, declared the property protected by article 127 of the Colonization Law, for which some of the obligations are withdrawn.
In act 3081 of January 1975, held by The Observer, the address of the INC he ordered the resolutions to be forwarded to the General Command of the Army.
Moreira, who was an active lieutenant colonel at the time, described the episode as a “novel in many fascicles”happened in full military government, “what they call dictatorship”, and assured that the fact had no negative consequences for his career. “Shortly after I was promoted to colonel by contest, so I had no affectation of honor for having won a tender.”
The colonel assured that what is happening now is a “verbatim copy” of what happened almost 50 years ago. An investigation that ended in “absolutely nothing”. “I never was nor am I a settler,” he remarked.
Moreira confirmed that, since he acquired it, the field was never affected by the Colonization Law. The colonel based the agency’s decision to dispose of the asset based on its size. It exceeded, he said, the limit set by law to be colonized.
Thus, he confirmed that he always had “full ownership” of that field, so he could sell it, lease it or leave it as an inheritance without the intervention of the INC.
Moreira considered it illogical that now the burden of proof is being reversed: asking him or Manini Ríos to prove that they are not settlers.
The colonel targeted the director of the INC, Andrés Berterreche, for having instructed the inspection of his property. It was, he said, an “unconstitutional” action and described as “abuse, abuse of private property, arbitrariness and arrogance”, which also “attempted to execute without the presence of the protagonists.”
On his vision, the indications that now arrive about the legal situation of the land are part of a new “baguala charge”, directly destined to “torpedo” the political figure of Guido Manini Ríos. “Obviously, political effects are being sought,” I consider. Even more so when, he said, there are only a few days left for the referendum on 135 articles of the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC).
Fraction 2
The INC investigation not only aims to resolve the issue of Moreira but that of Manini himself, Ríos, owner of fraction 2 of building 511 since 1997. It is a sector that was acquired by another owner in the 1971 tender and that over the years it changed hands. In dialogue with The Observer, Moreira maintained that the leader of Cabildo Abierto negotiated directly with the seller, without the agency’s intervention. But Colonization sources point out that the situation is not so simple.
The inspection disclosed by Search indicates that this lot was deeded on May 9, 1997 and that the deeds were carried out in violation of article 70 of the Colonization Law.
There it is indicated that “all alienation, encumbrance or subdivision, or transfer in any form of enjoyment, must be done with the prior authorization of the National Institute of Colonization (INC) even in the case in which it has fully satisfied its obligations”.
The condition or not of Manini as a settler is, the sources indicated, independent of that of Moreira and the rest of the property.
