The Brazilian NGO Torture Never Again (Tortura Nunca Mais) has launched a campaign in favor of opening the archives of the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985.
The issue recently came to light following the publication by a Brasília newspaper, the Correio Brasiliense, of previously unpublished photos of a journalist, Vladimir Herzog, who was arrested and died while in custody in 1975.
There is debate about whether or not the photos really are of Herzog, but agreement in many quarters that the matter needs to be cleared up.
According to Cecília Coimbra, the vice president of Torture Never Again, “This is a very important campaign to rescue a forgotten period in Brazilian history. It is a period that Brazilians need to know more about.”
The campaign has two immediate targets: to open the secret archives of the military governments and make the documents there public and also to revoke a decree signed by president Fernando Henrique Cardoso at the end of his term of office allowing ultrasecret documents to be off limits to the public for 50 years or even more.
“We seek to unveil the archives of terror. We have massive national and international support, including Amnesty International,” declared Coimbra.
Torture Never Again was founded 20 years ago by families of people who had disappeared or been killed during the military period and others who decided to work in favor of consolidating democracy in Brazil.
One of the group’s main tasks has been to find the remains of people killed during that period and return them to their families.
Agência Brasil