(Brasilia) General Hamilton Mourao, vice-president of Brazil, reacted in a mocking tone on Monday to the possibility of opening an investigation into torture during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), after unpublished revelations on these practices.
Posted yesterday at 3:50 p.m.
“Investigate what? They are all dead! Are you going to pull them out of their graves? said the 68-year-old reserve general, laughing, about the alleged torturers who have never been tried.
The contents of recordings of hearings of a military court were revealed for the first time on Sunday by the daily O Globowith chilling details of the torture of opponents of the regime.
In an extract from these more than 10,000 hours of recordings analyzed by historian Carlos Fico, a general mentions, for example, the case of a pregnant woman who had an abortion after receiving electric shocks on her genitals.
“It’s part of history, it’s in the past, these are subjects already covered in books, which have been the subject of many debates,” added the vice-president.
Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has never hidden his admiration for the military regime.
He denies the existence of the 1964 coup that established the years of lead, with serious deprivation of individual freedoms and violent repression of opponents.
“Everyone had the right to come and go, to study, to work,” said the Head of State on March 31, at 58and anniversary of this coup.
A report published in 2014 by the National Truth Commission created by the left-wing ex-president Dilma Roussef reported 434 assassinations perpetrated by the military regime, not counting the hundreds of arbitrary detentions and cases of torture.
Unlike other South American countries that have experienced military dictatorships, Brazil has never tried those suspected of being responsible for these abuses.
An amnesty law adopted in 1979 allowed thousands of exiles to return to the country, but also the alleged torturers to avoid any trial.
Two weeks ago, MP Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the president’s sons, caused a scandal when he said he felt “sorrow for the snake” used to torture a journalist in the 1970s.
This journalist, Miriam Leitão, now a famous columnist for the daily O Globohad been locked up naked in a dark room with a reptile.
It was she who published the extracts from the recordings of the hearings of the military court on Sunday.