Brazil truth commission: Abuse 'rife' under military rule

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

10 December 2014 Last updated at 14:01 GMT

Brazil truth commission: Abuse 'rife' under military rule

Brazil's national truth commission says illegal arrests, torture, executions and forced disappearances were performed systematically by state agents under Brazil's military rule.

In its final report, the commission also called for the armed forces to recognise their responsibility for the "grave violations" that happened.

More than 400 people were killed or disappeared between 1964 and 1985.

Many others, among them President Dilma Rousseff, were arrested and tortured.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30410741

[Eugene]

1. Brazil truth commission urges prosecution of dictatorship crimes

Source: Reuters

Brazil truth commission urges prosecution of dictatorship crimes

BRASILIA Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:05pm EST

(Reuters) - A truth commission investigating humans rights abuses committed by Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship called on Wednesday for the overturning of a 1979 amnesty law so that those responsible can be prosecuted.

The long-awaited report identified 377 people as responsible for what it called crimes against humanity, including torture, killings and forced disappearances of activists and ordinary Brazilians who were believed to oppose the regime.

The commission was created in 2012 by President Dilma Rousseff, herself a former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured at the hands of the military in the early 1970s, to shed light on a dark chapter in Brazilian history in an attempt to promote national reconciliation.

The commission's report increased the number of people killed or disappeared during the dictatorship to 434 from a previous official estimate of 362. It also shed light on cases in which private companies helped the military identify leftist activists who opposed the right-wing regime.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/10/us-brazil-rousseff-dicatorship-idUSKBN0JO20L20141210

[Judi Lynn]

2. This Reuters article launches this new information with a public "outing" of Dilma Rousseff

as a former "Marxist guerrilla" who was imprisoned and tortured. As I see it, trying to nail her as a "Marxist" first is an underhanded way of implying she got what she had coming, getting in the first kick in what should be a simple information piece.

Smooth move, Reuters.

However, as the article continues, there is a stunning revelation due to the Truth Commission's work:

Unlike some other Cold War-era dictatorships in South America, Brazil's military officers never faced trial, in part because they negotiated an amnesty law several years before leaving power that protected them from most future prosecution.

But leaders of the truth commission said the 1979 amnesty law should not apply to crimes against humanity.

Their detailed accounting of abuses did not initially appear to contain any unexpected bombshells, in part because much of the report's content was released beforehand.

Instead, the greatest impact may lie in its recommendations - primarily, that the amnesty law be changed, ignored or otherwise put aside so that trials can go forward.

Also, of great value, thanks to the Truth Commission:

BLACK LISTS

The truth commission also detailed how private companies, including many foreign automakers, helped the military put together "black lists" of union activists. Many of the activists were harassed by police or unable to find jobs for a long period, Reuters reported earlier this year.

The report said that Germany's Volkswagen AG had been a particularly active provider of information to the military, providing detailed accounts of union meetings, as Reuters has also reported.

In an e-mailed statement, Volkswagen repeated a previous vow to investigate "any eventual participation of company officials in providing information to the military regime."

The commission also said state-run oil company Petrobras , which is currently at the center of a corruption scandal shaking Rousseff's government, was an "iconic" case of a company that suppressed labor unrest with military assistance.

This new stage of public knowledge has been made possible ONLY because people kept pushing, all these long years, until a formal investigation was made. Think how long this has been.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Wouldn't blame the people of Brazil for believing they would never learn the truth about this.

The hard-right criminals in Brazil's government had gotten by with keeping such a tight lid on their criminality all these long years it probably looked as if they had completely gotten away with it, and defeated democracy.

This is an excellent article, and it includes something the writers at Reuters failed to mention, in the last line of the article. It's absolutely no small matter, and deserves respect for having been noted at all:

Earlier this year a former colonel, Paulo Malhaes, told the commission in some detail how he had tortured and killed many victims.

Under the protection of immunity, Malhaes, who has since died, also gave specific details about training on torture techniques he and others had received in the United Kingdom.

He was one of very few former military men to give such candid evidence as the commission had no powers to subpoena witnesses.

Moment of Truth for Brazil's military past

Grey line

The commission says the number of victims is probably higher but it could not confirm more cases because it could not access the relevant security forces documents, many of which have reportedly been destroyed.

It says that abuse and torture were official policies and widespread on military premises.

It stresses that they were not isolated incidents, as members of the security forces have argued.

The commission concludes that human rights violations such as illegal and arbitrary arrests, executions, torture and forced disappearances continue today because the crimes committed under military rule were not denounced, investigated or punished.

The Truth Commission has made this a living statement, having force in the present. The same right-wing power in the Brazilian government, allied to the military, etc. still retained, through practice, its ability to abuse human beings simply because it was able to continue without check for all this time since the 1960's. It's enough to make the saints weep, or enough to make a maggot gag.

If there is any residual resistance within the country now to this manner of treating the human race, now is the time to remove these powers over ordinary citizens of Brazil from the control of the military. "Usurp" those powers back! Now is exactly the time to organize and legislate. They must be checked immediately.

A tribute should be made to Brazil's president who has had to cope with these monsters her entire adult life, and who bore her burden with true dignity while the right-wing behaved like absolute power-mad fiends.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Brazil: Debate Revived Over Amnesty For 1979 Military Junta Leaders

Brazil: Debate Revived Over Amnesty For 1979 Military Junta Leaders

BRASILIA, Dec 11 (BERNAMA-NNN-EFE) -- Brazil's Truth Commission issued on Wednesday a report documenting "systematic" human rights violations during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship that has also revived debate over the 1979 amnesty that shields the junta and its agents from prosecution.

The document from the seven-member panel was formally presented to President Dilma Rousseff, who was herself a victim of imprisonment and torture under the military regime for her ties to armed leftist rebels.

Thanks to the report, she said, "the ghosts from a very painful and sad past cannot shelter in the shadow of omission."

The usually reserved Rousseff broke down in tears at one point, though she insisted that the Truth Commission's findings "should not be the motive for hatreds or score-settling."

More:
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1092665

[Judi Lynn]

5. Report paints bloody picture of Brazil’s junta

Report paints bloody picture of Brazil’s junta
December 11, 2014 12:00 AM
By Jenny Barchfield / Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil took its most significant step yet to address the human rights violations of its military dictatorship on Wednesday, releasing an exhaustive report that documents nearly two decades of government-approved political killings and torture.

After 30 years of impunity for crimes of the state, the National Truth Commission report names 377 people allegedly responsible for 434 deaths and disappearances, and thousands of acts of torture. The list includes top regime figures who instituted policies of persecution, and lowly soldiers who carried them out.

The nearly 2,000-page report describes crimes against humanity in excruciating detail, and calls for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.

But while the commission’s work has renewed debate on how Brazil has handled its dirty-war legacy, there’s little political will for overturning a 1979 amnesty law that has protected both military figures and leftists ever since the 1964-1985 dictatorship. Only 46 percent of Brazilians said they want to scrap the amnesty, while 37 percent supported it and another 17 percent said they were unsure in a survey published in March by the respected Datafolha polling group.

Even President Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla who was savagely tortured in the 1970s, seems unwilling to push for prosecutions.

More:
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/world/2014/12/11/Report-paints-bloody-picture-of-Brazil-s-junta/stories/201412110227

[Judi Lynn]

6. Brazil panel details dictatorship's brutality

Brazil panel details dictatorship's brutality

"Truth commission" probing abuses during 1964-85 military regime presents 2,000-page report to President Rousseff.

Last updated: 11 Dec 2014 03:43

A "truth commission" investigating abuses during Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship has called for the prosecution of former military officers and some private companies for their role in human rights atrocities, in a long-awaited report.

The probe's leaders presented their 2,000-page report on Wednesday to an emotional President Dilma Rousseff, herself a former Marxist who was jailed and tortured by the regime in the 1970s.

They identified 377 people, including some generals, as responsible for what they described as crimes against humanity, including the systematic use of torture, rape, forced disappearances and murder of the military's opponents.

About 200 of the alleged perpetrators are still alive.

Unlike some other Cold War-era dictatorships in South America, Brazil's military officers never faced trial, in part because they negotiated an amnesty law several years before leaving power that protected them from most future prosecution.

More:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/12/brazil-panel-details-dictatorship-brutality-20141211351714137.html