Brazil’s new Defence minister Celso Amorim said he plans closer links with Unasur (Union of South American Nations) and Africa to ensure the South Atlantic turns into a peace zone free of weapons of mass destruction.
Brazilian Defence and diplomatic sources consider ‘highly inconvenient’ disclosing documents from the time of the military dictatorship (1964/1985) and from other administrations because they could reveal nuclear secrets and affect relations with Argentina, according to Folha de Sao Paulo.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff trusts a Truth Commission can be set up and working before the end of the year to investigate crimes and human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorship which extended from 1964 to 1985.
Contrary to the rest of Latin American countries, Brazil is the only where an amnesty law sanctioned by the military dictatorship in 1979 remains effective, ignoring a ruling from the Inter American Court of Human Rights, according to jurist Helio Bicudo.