Brazil’s president of the Chamber of Deputies, João Paulo Cunha affirmed today that the legislative and executive branches want to reach a common solution regarding the possibility of opening archives from the period of the military regime.
Cunha made this declaration after a breakfast meeting with the Minister of Defense, José Viegas, together with the president of the Chamber’s Human Rights Commission, Mário Heringer and federal deputy Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh.
Cunha said that the conversation was a preliminary one and that there is still no consensus.
He emphasized that the government and Congress are doing their parts.
“I know that the Executive has held internal meetings involving various Ministries, and we are doing the same in the area of the Legislature.
“I am talking with various deputies, from various parties, to see what we can work out in the Legislature, what they can do in the Executive, and what we can do mutually,” he explained.
For Cunha, the discussion over opening archives from the period of repression demands caution.
“It is something that has to be done with care. Brazil is not the first country, nor will it be the last, to confront this debate,” he pointed out.
He announced the formation of a commission of deputies to study how other countries deal with the question of opening secret archives.
Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein