The judicial chapter of the case that involved the Argentine trade unionist in Uruguay Marcelo Balcedo adds a new episode with the auction of his lavish mansion “El Gran Chaparral”, located on the Cerro de los Burros in Playa Hermosa, with the aim of covering labor debts of about US$ 2 million. That amount increased over the years after Balcedo and his wife Paola Fiege were arrested in January 2018 to later be sentenced for the crimes of smuggling, money laundering and internal arms trafficking.
The auction will take place on May 8 and includes, in addition to the house, about six hectares of countryside. Among the 13 workers represented by the lawyers of Guillermo Ahlers, María Eugenia Nocetti and Mikaela Díaz there are babysitters, security guards, kitchen staff and gardeners, among others. After being released, Balcedo returned to live in Gran Chaparral – in fact he lives there now – a mansion that looks more like a luxury hotel than a house.
The auction will take place without base and in dollars. However, if the final offer is considered “vile” (extremely low compared to the real value), a new auction may be called.
If the proceeds are not enough to cover the entire labor debt, other hectares will be auctioned until the commitment to the workers is settled.
The auction process faced delays due to the claims of the Court of La Plata, in Argentina, which requested the maintenance of precautionary measures on the assets so that the proceeds of a possible liquidation would return to their country of origin. However, the Uruguayan justice system ratified the priority of the labor credits of local workers, confirming the ruling in appeals courts.
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The case process not only involved the seizure of luxury goods and cash, but also set a precedent in the fight against money laundering and the management of confiscated assets linked to transnational crime.
Among the numerous criminal and civil trials that derived from the court case for which Balcedo and his wife were convicted, a ruling was recently released that considered that there was no damage from the State in the seizure of an aircraft which, after verifying that it was not Balcedo’s property but rather that it was leased, was returned to the owner company.
The ruling of the 5th Civil Court of Appeals partially revoked a sentence that had condemned the Presidency of the Republic and the National Drug Board to take responsibility for the damage caused to the owner company due to the lack of maintenance of the plane Gulfstream Aerospace G-IVwhich had been seized in January 2018, when Balcedo and Fiege were arrested and the process began.
Animals and a corpse
The mansion at auction has a varied history. The National Directorate of the Environment (Dinama) carried out an operation there in January 2018 together with Interpol to determine if there was trafficking in fauna species prohibited by national regulations.
Among the exotic species that were found, two macaws, a talkative parrot, five llamas and two alpacas; Among the native species, which are prohibited by national legislation to be kept in captivity, 5 capybaras and 14 rheas (one rhea was hatching eggs) could be identified. A Dynama source told The Observer that “the consolidation of a kind of illegal zoo” could be confirmed.
Besides, In March 2020, a decomposed body was found on the property.. The body was discovered when the water level of a cutwater dropped as a result of a drought.
“We couldn’t believe it. I have no idea, really, except that because of his clothes he seemed to be a homeless man,” Paola Fiege said at the time.
In 2009, Balcedo had bought the land on Cerro del Burro from a Frenchman where there was a house from the early 20th century. The union member expanded the property from having only three hectares to stepping on the road. Many of the lands that it acquired originally belonged to Banco Caja Obrera and had remained as recovery funds after its closure.
In addition to expanding the property, Balcedo paved the dirt road that led from the road to the property gate and tore down the old warehouses of a meat processing plant in the area. He built a luxurious swimming pool, tennis courts, and populated the place with animals
