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Bolsonaro names military officers to the truth committee investigating dictatorship disappearances

Friday, August 2nd 2019 - 09:57 UTC
Full article 8 comments
The move comes after he questioned the credibility of a report published by the National Truth Commission investigating abuses committed by the dictatorship. The move comes after he questioned the credibility of a report published by the National Truth Commission investigating abuses committed by the dictatorship.
Bolsonaro also appointed two legislators from his Social Liberal Party (PSL) to the commission Bolsonaro also appointed two legislators from his Social Liberal Party (PSL) to the commission

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday appointed two members of the armed forces to a commission investigating deaths and disappearances during the 1964-81 military dictatorship.

The far-right leader is an unapologetic admirer of the dictatorship, under which he served as an artillery officer, and has caused outrage by branding it a “glorious” time in Brazilian history.

The move comes two days after he questioned the credibility of a report published by the National Truth Commission investigating abuses committed by the dictatorship.

Retired Colonel Weslei Antonio Maretti and army officer Vital Lima Santos will now sit on the seven-member Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, which is under the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.

Bolsonaro also appointed two legislators from his Social Liberal Party (PSL) to the commission.

“The reason is that the president has changed; now it's Jair Bolsonaro, from the right,” the president said.

The women, family and human rights ministry said the changes were aimed at “accelerating” the process by which the families of the disappeared will get “answers regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones.”

The special commission, set up in 1995, aims to find the bodies of and identify those who died or disappeared when in police custody during the dictatorship.

It also issues compensation criteria for the victims' families. It has processed 480 requests for identification and compensation.

On Tuesday, Bolsonaro said the debate about the 2014 report by the truth commission, set up by leftist former president Dilma Rousseff, was “hot air.”

The report found that 434 assassinations were carried out in the years after the 1964 coup, as well as uncounted arbitrary detentions and cases of torture of political opponents.

“Are you going to believe the truth commission?” he asked reporters.

“It was made up of seven people, appointed by who? By Dilma Rousseff.”

Rousseff, a former guerrilla who was tortured under the dictatorship, was impeached in 2016.

Categories: Politics, Brazil.

Top Comments

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  • Trimonde

    He's a shameless killer . Poor Brazil . I'm not sure if I should think they never saw him coming, or that they were taken by surprise .
    ... had that guy only shoved that dagger in a little deeper, things would be so different now, but then again, Lula would not have been freed so quickly ... !

    Aug 02nd, 2019 - 11:41 am 0
  • Terence Hill

    Removal of Moro and Dallagnol and in defense of press freedom

    1. … the right to source confidentiality is consecrated, ..Constitution. The threats against journalist Glenn Greenwald are absurd, either by the President or by illegal acts, such as Ordinance 666. …
    2. ..we support all investigations against invasion of privacy. ..without undue interference, such as that practiced by Minister Sérgio Moro. This agent insists on accumulating functions are not his. In Curitiba, he commanded accusations that he himself would judge next. Now, in the ministry, although he is a directly interested party, he shows that he has command of the investigations, including revealing confidential acts in phone calls to authorities of the Republic.
    3. the removal of, ..In any other democratic country in the world this would happened, as it is clear that Moro does not behave according to legality. ..the Lava Jato in Curitiba cannot continue prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol's role in view of the illicit acts.
    4.“file burning” is misplaced. We are facing very serious facts, which deserve investigation. The Republic demands equality of all before the law.
    5. We are in favor of continuing all prosecutions against acts of corruption. in obedience to the Constitution. we reiterate the defense of the immediate freedom of former President Lula, who was not entitled to a fair trial.
    6. When the rulers show authoritarianism, this contaminates the society and stimulates violence, such as against the Wajãpis indigenous people in Amapá, with the murder of a leader after the invasion of their territory. We charge the Federal Government, especially the Ministry of Justice, for immediate measures to secure Wajapi land and punish the murderers.

    Signed: Fernando Haddad,Flavio Dino,Guilherme Boulos,Ricardo Coutinho,Roberto Requião,Sonia Guajajara
    https://www.redebrasilatual.com.br/politica/2019/07/haddad-boulos-sonia-dino-coutinho-e-requiao-pedem-afastamento-imediato-de-moro-e-dallagnol/

    Aug 02nd, 2019 - 11:50 am 0
  • :o))

    REF: “truth committee investigating dictatorship disappearances”:

    Isn't appointing thieves to look after the Safe-Keys; a tradition?

    Aug 02nd, 2019 - 12:22 pm 0
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