“He is not the only politician, it is something endemic. There are many politicians who have land, and every time an election or, like now, a referendum is approaching, they bring it up. We know that this happens and we forget everything. For those who are in charge of Colonization, the important thing, the priority, should be other things”, said Mario Teddy, a member of the National Settlers Committee of Artigas.
In statements to TV Ciudad, Teddy added that the Board intends to dialogue with the Executive Power to analyze the issues that affect the settlers and small producers, but they have not had answers.
Manini denies it
On Friday, March 18, Search published a report from the General Inspection Division of the National Colonization Institute (INC) in which it is stated that Roque Moreira, Irene Moreira and Manini Ríos “manage and exploit” 4,350 hectares in Artigas, of the which 2,856 hectares are affected by the INC, so they could be benefited by the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC) that establishes a relaxation of the obligations of the settlers with respect to working directly on the land and residing on the property.
For his part, the president of the National Institute of Colonization (INC), Julio Cardozo, told El País that it cannot be affirmed that Moreira and Manini Ríos “are colonists”, because for the moment the Colonization Directory has not ruled on the matter. .
While Manini Ríos said that he is not a settler, because the INC considered in 1971 that the reference property could not be colonized, so the following year he called for a tender to which Roque Moreira was presented, who was awarded part of the padrón with an extension of 1,300 hectares.