"The INC has no reason to exist". This is what Agr. Eng. Roberto Vázquez Platero stated on May 19 on the program Punto de Equilibrio. Vázquez Platero is not an amateur: he was the Minister of MGAP, president of INAC, and a founder of INIA. In his intervention, he denounced that the National Colonization Institute (INC) not only doesn't contribute to the country's development but also functions as a mechanism of corruption and clientelism.
In any serious country, these statements would have caused a national scandal. But we are in Uruguay.
The reason for the commotion was the recent purchase by the INC of a 4,400-hectare ranch for 32.5 million dollars. The government justified the operation by saying it was within its priorities. Vázquez Platero, with irony, recalled that it was also among those priorities that "Uruguayans be happy".
Since he didn't say it, I'll say it: this is complete nonsense. A total lack of respect for the citizens and their effort. The INC is used to scam the taxpayer.
The project plans to divide the ranch to assign it to 16 families. Result? A subsidy disguised as social work that implies more than 2 million dollars per family. An investment that will not be returned in productivity but will be a debt for our grandchildren. The only beneficiaries? The recipients of the gifted land. They don't even care about decency: the INC assures that the investment will have a return of 8 million dollars annually, that is, a 24.7% profitability. An absurd figure, more than double what Conexión Ganadera promised. In other words, the State turns out to be more than twice as "deceitful" as Basso and Carrasco combined.
According to its website, the INC's mission is to "reverse exclusion processes", "promote sustainability", "consolidate food security", etc. A romantic narrative that captivates fragile minds and, like any state planning project, produces the opposite effect of what it proclaims.
Tabaré Vázquez, uso información del INC para extorsionar a un manifestante
Historical experience is clear. Collectivization in the USSR under Stalin produced hunger and agricultural collapse. In Brazil, the colonization of the Amazon caused abandonment, deforestation, and violence. In Venezuela, Chávez's "Zamorano farms" ruined food self-sufficiency and filled the system with corruption. In all cases, the result was the same: a drop in production, loss of sovereignty, and dependence on imports.
State interventionism destroys the market: it allocates land not to the most efficient, but to those closest to power. It distorts prices, hinders investment, and multiplies corruption. In the 21st century, with global markets and precision agriculture, talking about "colonization" is ridiculous. There is nothing left to colonize. The INC is an obstacle to competitiveness, an enemy of progress.
3. The true function of the INC: laundering political capital
And clientelism? Are we surprised? Enrique Antía, Álvaro Delgado, Gustavo Basso, supposedly Manini Ríos, and even the current president of the INC during the Frente Amplio government have exploited institute fields. And how many more? Dozens. Of all colors.
Presidente del INC
The INC is not a tool of social justice, but a state casino to launder political capital. Just as drug traffickers launder money in hotels and nightclubs, politics launders privileges with colonization fields. All this paid by us: the fools who, unlike them, religiously comply with the property tax.
The INC must disappear. It doesn't redistribute wealth: it destroys it. It doesn't generate development: it sabotages it. Its existence perpetuates a perverse logic of subsidies, corruption, and stagnation. Uruguay doesn't need more settlers: it needs more freedom, more competition, and more respect for the effort of those who work.
