Pablo Calvo
02/11/2021 7:01 AM
Clarín.com
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Updated 02/11/2021 7:01 AM
The will was lost, was lost, or never existed.
The fortune left by the Cordovan landowner and politician Juan Feliciano Manubens Calvet (1904-1981) became one of the most coveted in Argentina
.
The value of its fields, ranches and properties scattered throughout four provinces was calculated, with 2017 prices, at
225 million dollars
.
And only now, 40 years after his death, the inheritance began to be distributed.
In those years situations typical of a series occurred.
Family disputes, complaints, jealousy, disloyalty, dispersed dynasty, stagnant succession, the appearance of a woman and a man who claimed to be the sons of the landowner.
Nobody asked too much about the origin of that silver mountain built by a man who
sold quebracho and carob firewood
, installed a general store, bought agricultural machines and land for livestock and
had so many cows that he could not count them
because, When he started field by field and completed the turn, dozens of calves had already been born again.
Portrait of Juan Feliciano Manubens Calvet.
Photo: Clarín Archive.
His treasure was multiplying
.
Like their latifundios.
And the gossip about their ties.
"He was accused of keeping his peons in conditions close to slavery,"
wrote the
Madrid
newspaper
El País
on July 28.
Money and territoriality brought him closer to power
: Manubens Calvet was a leader of Cordovan radicalism, a provincial deputy and twice mayor of Villa Dolores.
He promoted the construction of the La Viña dam, with which he changed the history of the Traslasierra Valley.
Never married.
He never recognized offspring, at least in public.
Incredible characters passed through the cast of this novel, such as
the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner
, who accompanied the claim of that woman named Dolores who swore to be the landlord's daughter, but lied;
actress Isabel Sarli
, who had the idea of filming a movie about the case;
and even
the honest leader Lisandro de la Torre
, because he appeared on the deed of one of the sites in dispute, the Estancia Pinas.
"What do you want from me?": A film, because Isabel Sarli wanted to film the life of Manubens Calvet.
Photo: Clarín Archive.
There was so much in that inheritance that the judicial resolution that last year carried out the distribution of assets ruled out some poor horses:
"The equines inventoried by the majority group are excluded, as they are old animals that generate unnecessary and uneconomic expenses
.
"
Subplots were added to the ambition plot.
But
the arrival on the scene of Manuel Antonio Medina altered the scripts
: born in the Esteros del Iberá, on August 5, 1953, he spent years wanting to know
who his father was
.
He was lost as a gourd in the river until the testimonies of the residents and the documentation he collected led him to convince himself that he was the son of the billionaire Manubens Calvet.
"I am Manuel Antonio Manubens Calvet, son of Juan Feliciano Manubens Calvet," he
said then, supported by a paternity acknowledgment certificate dated February 19, 1960 and deposited in the Lafinur Justice of the Peace, San Luis province.
He was born in Corrientes, lives in Misiones, and always has clippings on hand that talk about his history.
Photo: Sixto Fariña, El Territorio de Posadas.
If that was true, the succession was complicated, discussed since 1981.
Manubens Calvet had five siblings
: Herminia Manubens de Medina, Dolores Antonia Manubens de Hormaeche, Reginaldo Félix Manubens Calvet, José Carlos Manubens Calvet and Ramón Carlos Manubens Calvet.
But they had died, so the inheritance passed to their children and grandchildren, that is, the millionaire's nephews and great-nephews.
Now, if Manuel could prove that he was the son, he was going to become the sole and universal heir, so from the family of the potentate they accused him of being a fabricator, they denounced him for
"ideological falsehood"
, they pointed out that a DNA test had given him negative , they managed to get the Justice to persecute him, to issue him a sentence of three years in suspended prison and to
retain his National Identity Document for 15 years, until he was dismissed.
Everything suddenly, last year, changed.
An unexpected turn, out of the script
, for a confidential pact between the actors who wanted his money or his hectares.
It will be known how it was, because the film has a prequel and sequel.
But now, from Villa Cabello, on the outskirts of Posadas, Misiones, there is a 64-year-old man on the phone who tells Viva magazine:
“I, Manuel Antonio Manubens Calvet, am the son of Juan Feliciano Manubens Calvet and this is my story. .. "
.
The front yard of his modest house in Villa Cabello, on the outskirts of Posadas, with hanging clothes.
Photo: Fernanda Iturrieta.
Television is heard in the background, a gossip program with panelists who are agitated by the millionaire inheritance left by Diego Maradona.
That fight is going for a long time too, right?
Just today I was thinking about the entanglements of the Maradona case, back and forth.
Yes, it will take time, I think.
What is the first thing you will do when you collect your share?
I will try to
change a word, in honor of my mother
.
That word is in a book that the journalist Ricardo Odziomek wrote, entitled The Heir.
He was my compadre and, at the time, we did not realize it, but testimonies that he collected when he meticulously investigated the subject and visited the places of my childhood said that my mother was called
La Potranca
.
And that is wrong, it is derogatory, because it is synonymous with "mare".
My mother's nickname was, from what they told me,
La Ama
.
Wrong testimonies spoke of my mother as 'La Potranca'.
I want to change that word.
They called her 'The Mistress'.
Manuel Manubens Calvet
How much of the inheritance will you get exactly is the million dollar question.
The
confidentiality pact
signed by those who will receive money, their attorneys and the judicial authorities makes clarification difficult, but there are official data that serve as a reference.
By this agreement - according to
Viva was
able to reconstruct
- Manuel freed himself of the suspicion of having committed a "procedural fraud", he recovered the surname Manubens Calvet, and by ceasing his claim to be recognized as the sole and universal heir, he unlocked the distribution and it was listed as a "contingent creditor" of the estate.
A text that suggests recognition of paternity, presented by Manuel and questioned by relatives of Manubens Calvet.
Photo: Clarín Archive.
The decision of Judge Carlos Bustos of July 23, 2020 (with valuations that are currently considered outdated) awarded Manuel Manubens Calvet the following:
“Agreed amount: U $ S 7,950,000 or whatever the most result if a price is obtained higher for the value of the hectare when selling Estancia San Enrique.
This amount was paid as follows: US $ 10,000 on December 4, 2019. US $ 215,000 on 12.17.2019 and US $ 125,000 on February 7, 2020. The balance of US $ 7,600. 000 had to be paid with the proceeds from the sale of 800 hectares of Estancia San Enrique at a value that could not be less than the sum of US $ 9,500 per hectare (guaranteed minimum).
A guaranteed minimum of US $ 9,500 per hectare implies that if the San Enrique farm is sold for less than that amount, the Succession must make up the difference ”
.
How much do you earn today, Don Manuel, as a retiree?
Don't make me laugh.
In our beloved and beloved country, I think I charge about 14,900 pesos, around there.
I would have had to go back to work, but now I'm calm, I don't have to go around beating my friends.
A man from Apóstoles lent me money to buy a car once, because I needed to travel a lot at that time, then I paid him back everything.
It's 42 degrees this summer and I don't even have a pool, even though I live two blocks from the Paraná River.
And what do you plan to do now?
Perhaps a trip to Tarragona, a port city in Catalonia, because that is where my father's roots are, the trace of his immigrant parents.
But I don't want to burden my head or my mind with any of that yet.
Even now I am afraid to appear in photos, because of the insecurity.
I am now calm because the main issue of identity is resolved.
And I clarify that the figure is much lower than what they say out there.
Manubens Calvet: after 40 years, the most disputed inheritance in Argentina is shared https://t.co/cHVfsM1N2j
- Clarín (@clarincom) July 22, 2020
You're right, the quotes varied.
“I cannot give details because we signed that
confidentiality pact
in the civil court and we are very respectful of what was agreed, but I can say that the amount you will receive is substantially less.
It has no point of comparison with the sum contained in the resolution.
It is substantially less than half ”, assures the lawyer Vanesa Escalante Paz, attorney for Manuel Manubens Calvet.
"Substantially less than half" of $ 7.950 billion speaks of a sum closer to three million than four million.
Cordovan media estimate that it is eight percent (8%) of Manubens Calvet's fortune.
Let's go back to the beginning of the story, Don Manuel, what do you know about your childhood?
That I was born in a ranch called Santo Domingo, in the Esteros del Iberá.
And that my father was going by plane to visit friends and he was meeting my mother, Julia Valenzuela, who worked there.
She was a very beautiful woman, with a good figure, very dedicated and shameful, because she spoke Guarani and it was difficult for her to pronounce the words of Spanish.
Then my grandmother, Ramona Maidana, raised me because my mother had to keep working.
I say "grandmother" and the taste of chipa guazú comes back.
That corn cake came out so delicious!
He lived to be 100 years old.
When I grew up I went to see that place and with this inheritance I had the fantasy of buying the ranch, but it seems to me that they advanced me and beat me by the hand.
Juan Feliciano Manubens Calvet left fields and ranches for 225 million dollars.
Photo: Clarín Archive.
What did they tell you about your dad?
Like every boy, I wanted to know who he was, I asked the grown-ups.
Some guided me well;
others beat me up.
Mom drank her bitter mate and I harassed her with questions, but she told me to stay calm, that one day my questions were going to be answered.
I remember well that at the age of 13 I began to wander through the rural area of Corrientes to learn about my origin.
Where did that curiosity lead you?
To uncertain, confusing answers.
Despite the difficulties of the first years, I was able to educate myself.
Some time later, at the Montoya Institute, I took advantage of a special course that they gave in voice over and discovered that I liked that job and that radio was exciting.
That is why I went to work at the easternmost point of continental Argentina, at the Bernardo de Irigoyen station, a city that lies where the country ends, on the dry border with Brazil.
I had music programs from the Litoral, chamamé, I spent beautiful years, I still have the trays, I think one day I will return.
Who helped him?
My family.
I had four children, Luis, Ricardo, Gisela and Juanita Elizabeth, she passed away, poor thing.
And I have nine beautiful grandchildren.
I exerted influence so that one, 10 years old, is called Juan Feliciano Manubens Calvet, like my father.
I also believe that some higher being guided me.
I am very devoted to Saint Michael the Archangel, the patron saint against Satan, I have his little picture where he dominates him under his feet and points his sword at him.
I keep my promises whenever I thank him.
A claim that comes from years, from when Manuel still did not comb gray hair.
Photo: Clarín Archive.
Is it true that Isabel Sarli wanted to meet you?
Yes, I met her and we had lunch in a dining room in the city of Corrientes, because she brought up the idea of making a film about my story.
In the end, the project was diluted, but it was a serious proposal, if it even came with Cristina Alberó!
(
Viva
checked the answer with the actress Cristina Alberó: “Yes, it's true, on that trip, where Miguel Core and Isabel Sarli were, they talked about the possibility of filming the life of that interesting character”.)
Have you already started with the inheritance procedures?
I have to go to Córdoba, but because of the pandemic it is difficult to travel.
In addition, I am a person at risk, because I have COPD.
But the good thing is that thanks to Dr. Rosendo Montero, my criminal lawyer, I am now dismissed from everything they accused me of and, thanks to the steps we took, I can use the surname Manubens Calvet and my ID, I take it as a dignity .
(A case is open in Córdoba that would be resolved shortly by virtue of the agreement with the descendants.)
Don Manuel was left out of the "five lines" family that shared 34 percent of the inheritance.
40 percent went to creditors and lawyers.
And the remaining 26 percent for the "contingent creditors", including the protagonist of this note and the descendants of Margarita Woodhouse, the last couple of the billionaire, who for supporting Manuel was uprooted and died in poverty, cared for by Manuel.
The chair where Manuel waits for it to cool down, in northern Argentina.
Photo: Fernanda Iturrieta.
His house is modest, especially for the writing of a book that he has pending.
He also wants to leave his testimony filmed, for the students of the Montoya Institute and law students who do not know what to do before the tangle of interests that are put at stake when there is money in the middle.
The one who untied the knot in this story was the civil court judge Carlos Bustos, who took advantage of the generational change to bring together wills and seek the “unanimous” consensus of the actors to achieve the partition and adjudication of the assets left by Manubens Calvet.
The appraisers and liquidators had to trace information and design a kind of treasure map.
Manuel awaited the resolution of the case in Villa Cabello, a satellite neighborhood of Posadas that was founded in the 1970s thanks to the sale of blonde locks in Germany, by women who collaborated with a priest with a social vision named Juan Markievicz.
Now he could live in Manhattan, but the red earth and his personal history trap him.