English · Español
25 September 2009 | Interviews | Human rights
Taking the Stand
Uruguay: case of land occupants is reopened
1:28 minutes
Download: MP3 (1 Mb)
In January, 2007, Mandiyú, a group of Uruguayan milk producers, occupied approximately 400 hectares of land of the National Institute of Colonization (INC) in Artigas department, to the north of the country. After the Institute filed a criminal complaint in 2007, the occupants had not been called to appear until now.
Mario Teddy, member of the Mandiyu group, is “extremely surprised” that the calls to appear were sent in the middle of the electoral campaign for the presidential elections that will take place on October 25th.
“We have nothing to lose, but we were confused by this situation. Since we occupied the lands we haven´t stopped working, and we´ve never bothered anyone”.
The members of Mandiyu occupied the lands on the first anniversary of the occupation of Colonia España in Bella Union, which had the participation of the unions of the city. The fields chosen by the milk producers were part of Silva and Rosas large estate of land, a symbol of the claim of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional (MLN) on early 60s, which were acquired by the INC during the last military dictatorship.
Tired of useless proceedings, irregularities in the allocation of lands and the need to continue living in the countryside were some of the reasons alleged by the occupants to justify their decision in that moment.
