How can I resolve a persistent Unity (actually Gradle) minsdk error in manifest

I have removed all elements from all AndroidManifest.xml files in my project tree and added to my main manifest at /Assest/Plugins/AndroidManifest.xml the following lines:

<meta-data android:name="uses-sdk" tools:node="remove" />
<meta-data android:name="minSdkVersion" tools:node="remove" />

I see logs in the output as follows:

/Users/mark/dev/unity/MyProject/Temp/gradleOut/unityLibrary/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:4:3-60 Warning: meta-data#uses-sdk was tagged at AndroidManifest.xml:4 to remove other declarations but no other declaration present

Yet I still get the following - "GRADLE ERROR : minsdk-in-manifest" and find the following in my merged manifest:

<uses-sdk
    android:minSdkVersion="19"
    android:targetSdkVersion="29" />

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