Brazil has established a National Truth Commission (NTC) to investigate the country’s military dictatorship of 1964-1985, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last week. But opposition groups have yet to be convinced.

By Stijntje Blankendaal, Sao Paulo

The idea of starting a truth commission to investigate Brazil’s dictatorship has recently become part of the country’s political debate. The idea was first put forward in the third National Program of Human Rights in December last year. It was the most sensitive of all the controversial subjects addressed at the time, including the legalization of abortion and insinuations about the ‘non sustainability of agribusiness’.

Unlike other Latin American countries such as Chile, Paraguay and Argentina – or, most famously, South Africa - Brazil never had a truth commission after its dictatorship ended in 1985, although in 1979 a general amnesty was put in place, giving immunity from prosecution to both state officials and those who opposed them.

Since then, Brazil has struggled with its past. The military wants to forget, while the families of those killed or tortured under the dictatorship want to know what happened to their relatives. About 350 people died or disappeared between 1964 and 1985 - mostly during the 1970s – while close to twenty thousand were tortured.

But some military archives are still closed for research. Groups including Tortura Nunca Mais (Torture Never More) and the Commission of the Disappeared have urged for more openness for many years. Thus far, however, the military has been protected by the different democratic governments.

“Unilateral” design
The NTC, as described in the new Human Rights Program, almost provoked the resignation of two ministers. First the minister of defence, Nelson Jobim, said that he couldn’t accept “the unilateral way” the commission was designed: the document describing the proposed commission contained reference to ‘political repression’, something Jobim interpreted as a direct attack on the military.

Once Jobim threatened to resign, human rights minister Paulo Vannuchi said he would follow suit if changes were not accepted by the president. Conceding to their demands, Lula da Silva excised the words “political repression” and broadened the mission of the NTC.

Since then, Vannuchi has been fighting for international recognition. When Lula announced the establishment of the NTC in Geneva last week, Vannuchi looked to UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navanethem Pillay, for help. He asked her to write a technical report on the Brazilian human rights programme and, hoping to pre-empt any criticism, later declared that he hopes she will certify that the programme follows international guidelines.

“Not going to judge”
In the meantime, to buy himself some time, President Lula has established a working group to prepare the NTC. Six people, representing home affairs, justice, human rights, defence and civil society will first have to come to an agreement.

Jurist Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, former secretary of human rights, was appointed to the working group by the Commission for the Disappeared to represent civil society. “The commission will probably only start after the general elections later this year,” Pinheiro says. “Nobody wants to show their hand before then.” The proposal should be ready by the end of March, Pinheiro added. “It will be more or less the same as NTCs in other countries. The commission is not going to judge. We’re not going to condemn anybody.”

Although the words “political repression” have been removed from the proposal, the commission will still focus on the military dictatorship, Pinheiro says. “The truth has to become clear. History must be reconstructed...Military officials now recognize that, although some older ones are still opposed. Brazil still needs to get its official, democratically written history. This is a golden chance.”

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