Paraguay marks 25 years of partial democracy

On 3 February, Paraguay will commemorate a quarter of a century of "incomplete" democracy. Alfredo Stroessner, head of Latin America's longest-running dictatorship, was finally forced out by a further coup in 1989. Shortly afterwards, he fled to Brazil, where he died 17 years later.

The overthrow led to a certain political opening up, the recovery of some political freedoms, the progressive reintegration of Paraguay into the international community and slow steps towards democracy, at least nominally. But in elections in May 1989, the Partido Colorado - the party of the dictatorship - won with 74% of the votes. The historic transfer of power away from the party did not come until 2008, and it returned to government in 2013.

The crimes which took place during the dictatorship remain largely unpunished. These are thought to include 425 deaths or disappearances and 20,000 politicial prisoners.

A recent survey illustrates how far the process of democratisation has to go in Paraguay: 32% of the population today would prefer an authoritarian government. This is the highest proportion in Latin America, according to Latinobarómetro.

Fernando Masi of the Paraguayan economic research institute Cadep judges the country to be "a low-quality democracy". He also explains that 1989 was not the moment when Paraguay "regained" its democracy but rather when it started building it - and this without a clean break, since the Partido Colorado remained in power.

Paraguay is still the country with the second-greatest concentration of land ownership in the world, according to the UN. 2.6% of landlords own 85.5% of agricultural land. Nepotism remains a major issue, although some protests highlighted the problem in the last year.


Paraguay: A 25 años del golpe que terminó con la dictadura mas larga de Sudamérica (Telam)

Paraguay conmemora 25 años de democracia incompleta (Terra)

Argentina celebrates 30 years of democracy

On 30 October, 1983, elections were held in Argentina which heralded the return to democracy under president Raúl Alfonsín. When you consider that there were six coups d'etat between 1930 and 1976, 30 years of democracy is a real achievement. As an opinion piece in the Buenos Aires Herald comments, back then, thinking that democracy was here to stay would have seemed "rash", at least. Yet the disappeared are always a part of the commemorations as well.

Acts and rallies mark 30 years of democracy (Buenos Aires Herald)
Argentina celebrates 30 years of democracy and free elections in 1983, 16 months after defeat in Malvinas (Mercopress)

Artist Marta Minujin recently constructed a huge work called "Agora de la paz"of 25,000 books, which were given away at the end of the installation.

Art icon Minujin commemorates 30 years of democracy in Argentina (ntd.tv)

There is an exhibition in Buenos Aires of the art of León Ferrari, who died this year, and who tackled complicity with the dictatorship in series like "Nosotros no sabíamos" (We didn't know), which used newspaper clippings to give the lie to people's denials. A further exhibition of his work is also taking place in Rosario.


‘We knew nothing’ was no excuse (Buenos Aires Herald)
“Nosotros no sabíamos”, de León Ferrari (Clarín)
MUESTRA HOMENAJE A LEON FERRARI EN EL MUSEO DE LA MEMORIA DE ROSARIO (Terra)

Art Icon Minujin Commemorates 30 Years of Democracy in Argentina - See more at: http://www.ntd.tv/en/news/world/south-america/20131006/82947-art-icon-minujin-commemorates-30-years-of-democracy-in-argentina.html#sthash.2Ea0pXqW.dpuf

Art Icon Minujin Commemorates 30 Years of Democracy in Argentina - See more at: http://www.ntd.tv/en/news/world/south-america/20131006/82947-art-icon-minujin-commemorates-30-years-of-democracy-in-argentina.html#sthash.2Ea0pXqW.dpuf

Chile: Elections

This week's edition of "Time" has a piece on the Chilean presidential elections called "Chile's Haunted Vote". It's only available online to subscribers, but here are a couple of quotes from the candidates, Michelle Bachelet and Evelyn Matthei.

Bachelet: I have been evolving too. I mean, there was a time in my life when I had so much pain, so much rage. But that pain transformed into a constructive force, to say, O.K., the pain is because I lost not only my father, but my country's democracy. [The challenge is] to enable a democratic way of doing things so that nobody has to go through this again... so that we can be political adversaries, but never again enemies.

Matthei: Of course very bad things happened to my country, both before the coup, after the coup, during the coup. People died. People suffered. On the other hand, you cannot judge what happened in Chile if you do not judge what happened all over the world. It was a horrid time for humanity.... I have never, ever said that I was not aware, and when I had the opportunity to talk about it, I did openly.

Brazil textbooks omit info on dictatorship

Textbooks used to teach history in Brazil's military schools omit essential information for the understanding of some episodes of the military dictatorship (1964-1985), reports Folha in a story that will astonish, I imagine, precisely no one, but is still important. 

In recounting the "revolution of 1964", a volume from the Marechal Trompowsky collection says that the coup was organised by "moderate and law-abiding groups."

The book says that Congress declared the presidency vacant before electing Gen. Castello Branco president shortly after the coup, but omits the fact that ousted President João Goulart was still in the country.

Another book, "500 Years of History of Brazil," says the Araguaia Guerrilla (1972-1975) ended after its leaders fled, without reference to the deaths and disappearance of the guerrillas carried out by the army.

There are 12 military schools in the country. They offer places from the 6th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of high school and currently have 14,000 students enrolled, many of them children of military personnel.

The coordinator of the national truth commission, Cláudio Fonteles, said that the books may be subject to recommendations of the TC, set up to investigate violations of human rights which occurred especially during the dictatorship.

"This is an issue which it would be suitable to make recommendations about," he said. "We must respect the autonomy [of the military schools], but they cannot completely escape the curriculum adopted in other public and private schools."

For Carlos Fico, history professor at Rio university UFRJ , the government should promote a general reform of the military curricula. "We do not know how the schools for officers work," he says. "It is not a military issue. It concerns the safety of society."

The National History Association (ANH) intends to ask the ministry of education and the ministry of defence to assess the books used in military schools.

In a statement, the education ministry said it cannot interfere in the curriculum of military schools. For its part, the defence ministry said that it only oversees the educational content of institutions aimed at training officers and members of the armed forces.

Gen. José Carlos dos Santos, responsible for the Marechal Trompowsky collection of publications and head of the army education board (DEPA), declined to comment on the issue and suggested that any questions be directed to the staff of the army.

In a statement, the army said it took three years of research to produce the collection and said that it is updated annually by the authors, but declined to discuss specific issues.

Omissões marcam livros usados em escolas militares (Folha de S.Paulo)

Chile reading

So, I'm trying to clear a little of the backlog in my "starred articles" folder of Google Reader, and first up are a few interesting pieces on Chile.

Richard Seymour has a comment piece in the Guardian online:
Chile, the country Pinochet terrorised, is no longer afraid (Guardian)

Robert Funk has a response to some points raised in the article:
The Guardian on Chile (Robert L. Funk)

And IPS interviews student leader Camila Vallejo, who, among other things, explicitly links her aims to addressing the legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship:
“Another Chile Is Possible, with Greater Democracy and Social Rights” (IPS)

Making tyrants do time

A fascinating opinion piece by Kathryn Sikkink in the New York Times compares prosecutions of human rights abuses across the globe. Often, one excuse given for not pursuing atrocities is that it leads to "destabilisation", including the threat of a (further) military coup (see the justifications for the introduction of the "Full Stop" and "Due Obedience" laws in Argentina in the '80s). Yet, according to Sikkink,

transitional countries — those moving from authoritarian governments to democracy or from civil war to peace — where human rights prosecutions have taken place subsequently become less repressive than transitional countries without prosecutions, holding other factors constant. [...]
Of 100 countries that underwent a transition from 1980 to 2004 (the period for which extensive data is available), 48 pursued at least one human rights prosecution, and 33 of those pursued two or more. Countries that have prosecuted former officials exhibit lower levels of torture, summary execution, forced disappearances and political imprisonment.

What is more,

trials seem to project deterrence across borders. If a number of countries in a region pursue prosecutions, nearby countries also show a decrease in the level of repression, even if they have not held trials. [...] In Latin America, young military officers need only look to Argentina and Chile, where 81 and 66 individuals, respectively, have been convicted for crimes during previous dictatorships, to absorb the lesson that the possibility of punishment is much greater than it was in the past. This may help explain why military coups are now so rare in the region.

This is important stuff; let's have more cross-border comparison of post-dictatorship and post-conflict democratisation processes, please.

Making tyrants do time (NY Times)

Peru: Election round-up

I'm not going to deal with the coverage and commentary of the Peruvian presidential election, which has been widely discussed elsewhere, but a few articles related the subject of this blog did catch my eye:

No easy choice for women in presidential runoff (IPS)

Shadow of disgraced president looms in Peru race (Living in Peru)

Humala pledges justice for sterilisation victims (IPS)

Peruvian journalism and politics after the election of Ollanta Humala as president (Journalism in the Americas)

Peruvian-Japanese wrestle with Fujimori legacy (AFP)

For what it's worth, I will say that I can't say what kind of president Humala will turn out to be, but I am relieved that there isn't another Fujimori leading Peru.

Argentina: Street Name Changes for Bs. As.

A judge has ordered the city of Buenos Aires to change the names of the streets and public places named after dictatorship officials. Judge Elena Liberatori noted that the autonomous city's laws already stated that:

"en ningún caso deberán designarse calles o lugares públicos con nombres de autoridades nacionales, provinciales o municipales que hayan ejercido su función por actos de fuerza contra el orden constitucional y el sistema democrático”
[under no circumstances may a street or public place be designated with the names of national, provincial or municipal officials who carried out their role because of an act of force against constitutional order and the democratic system]

She commented,

"There is no doubt that the continuing existence of names in the city which allude to former officials of de facto government is in clear contradiction of the law, and therefore the orders which gave rise to these names of public spaces are unconstitutional." [cited in Observatorio de derechos humanos]

So the city of Buenos Aires must act to ensure that in the future, there are no streets, squares, or avenues named after de facto officials. The lawyer, Hansel Stegemann, who brought the case told Pagina/12 that there were around 10 such streets, plus two schools and a few squares. They include the streets Intendente Guerrico, Capitán Claudio H. Rosales, Mecánico Militar Leopoldo Atenzo, Cadete Carlos Larguia and Soldado Miguel Santi. It's not as simple as finding a 'Videla Street' somewhere - something as blatant as that would have caused an outcry years ago. In many cases, the 1976-1983 military regime chose street names which honoured previous dictatorships, in particular the one which took over in 1930.

This issue may seem rather trivial, but I think it's an interesting example of purging the remains of military rule from the public face of the urban landscape. And, as Stegemann comments,

"It's ridiculous that while we are judging the members of the de facto governments for their human rights we carry on complying with the rules which they created".

Indeed.

The city could still appeal against the decision, although I really wonder why it would bother. So maybe Argentina's capital will be seeing some shiny new name plaques on its streets soon.

La Justicia ordenó sacar de las calles, plazas y escuelas, los nombres de los funcionarios de facto (Observatorio de derechos humanos)
Ordena jueza argentina rebautizar calles que remiten a la dictadura (Provincia)
"Son cerca de diez calles" (Pagina/12)

Latin America: Memory Museums

At their best, these museums are an attempt to inoculate societies against their basest inclinations. "We must consolidate a democratic culture that can save us from fanaticism and drive home [the idea] that terror cannot be combated with terror," says Mario Vargas Llosa, the novelist who heads the planning group for the Peruvian museum. The danger is that remembering turns into a political banner, reviving historical animosities and institutionalizing an ideological battle over who controls memory. "In Latin America this is not a disinterested process, much less an effort to work at forgiveness," says Brazilian political analyst Amaury de Souza. "It's a struggle over who gets to write history."

Newsweek has a comparative article on the various commemorative museum projects underway in Latin America. I could quibble on a few points (plus the word 'memoria' is sporting an additional accent!), but it's good to see a piece like this, and with a nice photo too.

The Politics of Memory Museums (Newsweek)

Argentina: Opening Military Archives

In decree 4/2010, President Kirchner has ordered the declassification of "all information and documentation connected to the actions of the armed forces" between 1976 and 1983, with the exception of those linked to the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.

According to Kirchner,

"The classified information and/or documentation which was not made public was not designed to protect the legitimate interests of a democratic State, but, on the contrary, served as a means of hiding the illegal actions of a de facto government".

She stated that maintaining the secrecy of such documents was contrary to the state's policy towards memory and human rights which has been in place since 2003. She's not wrong there, and I guess this statement must be regarded as good news; let's see if anything interesting comes of it.

Se abren los archivos de los represores (Pagina/12)
Ordenan abrir los archivos secretos de la dictadura (Critica Digital)

The full decree may be read here (pdf).

Uruguay: More on Failed Referendum

As I hoped, at least one excellent article has turned up on the result of the Uruguayan referendum which upheld the amnesty law known as the Ley de Caducidad. Although this blog opposes amnesty laws, it is interesting to note the opinions of those who chose to vote "no" to the annullment proposal.

Jeremias Elmasian, a hotelier in Uruguay who did not support the initiative, said over lunch on Saturday before the election that "we have to look to the future."

Gonzalo Aguirre Ramirez, a former senator and former vice president, said that annulling the amnesty law harmed legal stability and was "very dangerous." "Imagine if you get divorced and then you remarry. Then, the state annuls the marriage law and prosecutes you for bigamy. This is the path we're taking."... Aguirre Ramirez called the amnesty "a just solution. For 15 years it worked well. We amnestied the tupamaros" - the urban guerrilla group, which operated prior to and during the first years of the dictatorship - "and the military."

Others said that the amnesty was fair because political prisoners and guerrillas were amnestied as well. Marta Caraballo, a telephone center employee, said she did not vote for the law because "when you lose a war, you lose. We have to move on."

Uruguayan Voters Reject Chance to Prosecute Dictators (truthout)

Quick Link: Legacy of Violence in Guatemala

The Truth under the Earth: The Relationship between Genocide and Femicide in Guatemala (Upside Down World)

We need more people drawing parallels between an uncompleted examination of a past violent conflict and the consequences for a democratising society.

Chile: Dictatorship Law to Quell Protests

Chile will use an anti-terrorism law criticized by human rights groups to try and quell a spate of violence over indigenous lands in the country’s south, a government official said.

Chile Invokes Anti-Terror Law to Quell Violence, Rosende Says (Bloomberg)

Chile: Perpetrator News

"We have to think, we say these things happened a long time ago, but for the relatives, these things are still happening now. You know, Viviana Diaz, the daughter of Victor Diaz, who was kidnapped in the Calle Conferencia all those years ago - she still hasn't got her father, she still doesn't know what happened to her father, she's still unable to bury her father. So, in some sense, we have to understand that human rights violations don't happen once, they keep on happening over and over again."
Ariel Dorfman (speaking to BBC World Service, transcript mine, slightly tidied up)

Chilean judge Victor Montiglio has issued arrest warrants for over 120 former intelligence officers connected with human rights violations in the Pinochet era.

The BBC piece below links to a radio interview with playwright Ariel Dorfman who eloquently defends the move against those who would call for 'moving on' and 'forgiveness'.

Massive indictments for human rights crimes (Dirty Wars and Democracy)
Chile seeks 'Dirty War' arrests (BBC)

At the same time, The Santiago Times reports that the Chilean military is still paying human rights abusers, years after being ordered to stop doing so. Is there a better way to make the point that, far from being a pointless witch hunt, continuing to pursue military perpetrators is essential to strengthen democracy?

In 2002 President Michelle Bachelet ordered the military to dismiss anyone linked to human rights abuses during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. A report published Sunday by the daily La Nacion revealed that despite this law, the military continued to employ or rehire some of those awaiting trial either directly or through private subcontracts.

The list includes the names of former secret police, a doctor who tortured prisoners, and a prosecutor who falsified documents to cover up the murder of Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1976.

Pinochet-era human rights abusers still on state payroll (Santiago Times)

Argentina: Disappeared Still on Electoral Roll

With two days to go before parliamentary elections in Argentina, two human rights groups have complained that there are still disappeared persons who appear in the electoral roll. As voting is compulsory in Argentina, these people have then officially committed an 'electoral infringement' by not showing up to vote for the state that disappeared them.

This is purely symbolic, as the groups - the Madres de Plaza de Mayo Linea Fundadora and Servicio Paz y Justicia - themselves freely admit. Nevertheless, this is another of those hurtful little anomalies which should be removed, related to the difficulties with legal status in Chile which I wrote about it recently.

The article I was working from suddenly vanished while I was about to link to it (honestly!) so let's go with this link for now:
Organismos de derechos humanos advierten que en los padrones figuran desaparecidos (Analisis digital)

Colombia: Health Effects of War

This fascinating article relates to Colombia, but I don't see why it isn't relevant to many other countries.

Much has been written about the psychological trauma of living through war, being displaced, torture, having a disappeared relative, etc. But how much do we hear about the physical effects?

A study has shown that survivors in Colombia have higher rates of cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, gastritis and ulcers, and headaches, backaches and neckaches. When you think about it, it's hardly unknown or astonishing that prolonged, severe stress has repercussions on the body, but this source of further suffering is rarely given much consideration.

Apparently, 25% of the population shows symptoms of mental disorders such as severe depression and posttraumatic stress, but among displaced people (of whom Colombia has the highest number in the world) this rises to 75%. Moreover, significant incidences of alcoholism, drug abuse and suicides are also noted.

Anecdotally, victims' groups report high rates of cancer among their members.

This kind of research is important because it indicates a further aspect in which victims of conflict may require resources and support.

El conflicto armado aumenta el riesgo de cancer, asma, hipertension y diabetes entre las victimas (Cambio)

News Round-Up

Just two links this evening:

The Fading Shadow of Brazil's Dictatorship (Countries at the Crossroads)

Genocide Trial Against Bolivia's Ex-President Gets Under Way (Impunity Watch)

Argentina: Media Round-Up on Alfonsin

International press:

Argentines mourn President Alfonsin, dead at 82 (AP)

Argentina's post-dictatorship leader Alfonsin dies (AFP)

Post-junta Argentine leader dies (BBC)

Obituary: Raul Alfonsin (BBC)

Raul Alfonsin, 82, Former Argentine Leader, Dies (NY Times)

Argentina's Former President, Raul Alfonsin, Dies (Guardian)

Naturally, it's the top story in the Argentine media and they are covering it from all sorts of angles.

Critica also has a variety of photographic galleries on the topic, and according to a piece I've just read in Clarin, the queue to see the ex President lying in state in Congress is now over 20 blocks long.

Argentina: Raul Alfonsin Dies

This is not breaking news anymore; Otto, Boz, Mr. Trend, and Richard got there before me. Nevertheless, the death of former Argentine President Raul Alfonsin can hardly pass unnoticed on this blog.

Surely you either have to be quite mad or very brave to take on the leadership of a South American country with 6 military coups in a century behind it, a restive military who have just lost a war and are reluctant to lose power, an economy in tatters and the awful question of the fate of perhaps 30,000 desaparecidos hanging over it. Alfonsin belonged in the latter category, and the hopes of Argentine supporters of democracy rested on his shoulders.

The CONADEP investigation and the trial of the junta were the high points of his presidency. CONADEP - the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons - disappointed some in Argentina with lack of legal clout to compel the military to testify and its failure to produce a list of perpetrators' names. Nevertheless, it was exemplary in the region and remains a crucial tool to understand the events of the dictatorship. The importance of the trial of the junta leaders can hardly be overstated: to bring before the courts the all-powerful generals who had initiated a reign of terror in Argentina was to send a very powerful signal indeed. The fact that the sentences were later annulled is part of the later downturn that Argentina's democratisation process took.

Alfonsin did not manage to satisfy all those who were initially rooting for him, as is hardly possible when the demands were so great. Some of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo regard him as a traitor. I see him, rather, as a tightrope walker. He knew that Argentina was a wounded nation, crying out for truth and justice. The families of the disappeared were extremely vocal in their calling for change. But on the other side, he had the volatile armed forces threatening another uprising at any time. It was hardly an idle threat; the army had seized power enough times before. Given the circumstances, surely he can rest peacefully knowing he did his best.

Argentina: Interview with Martín Caparrós

I've also read* an interview with Argentine writer Martín Caparrós (and I admit, I'm not familiar with his work, but I know that he fled Argentina to exile in 1976).
Here's a partial translation of the article:

Are the wounds of the dictatorship still open?
It's not that the wounds are still open but that there is a different type of wound. There is an insistence in presenting the principle effects of the dictatorship as its cruelty and excess, and above all its torturers and disappeared people, when, in my opinion, the direct consequence of the dictatorship is the Argentina of today.

What do you mean by that?
They try to give the dictatorship a museal character, without really studying the reasons why those men decided to kill thousands of people, that they were seeking an important social and political change, and they got one. Argentina today is sharply socially divided, we are living a process of latin-americanisation of the country, which wasn't the case several decades ago, and which meant that the State abandoned its obligations in health, education, housing. And continuing to talk about the torture and the deaths is a way of covering that fact. The present is what is important.

So it's about wiping the slate clean?
Absolutely. We need to keep talking about this void and understand that everything was done for a reason and that those atrocities took place to create the Argentina of today and this way of not wiping the slate clean is to keep on discussing contemperary Argentina and not lamenting what happened 30 years ago.

There's a bit more; Spanish speakers can read the whole thing by following the link below.

I find these statements actually really interesting and find myself nodding along with much of them. Caparros is quite right; the effects of the dictatorship are to be felt not only among the families of the disappeared themselves or in the courtrooms where a very few human rights abusers are finally feeling the long arm of the law. It provoked a social fragmentation which went very deep and which is difficult, if not impossible, to separate from other social, economic and political issues.

So what is the answer? Is remembering the torture and disappearances doing more harm than good? Naturally if I was going to answer 'yes' I'd have to change the direction of the blog pretty drastically. Groups such as the Madres of the Plaza de Mayo led by Hebe Bonafini have, indeed, over the years moved away from a consideration of their specific relatives to a general commemoration of all victims, and also to a collaboration with other leftist groups, including the children of the disappeared (HIJ@S) and the piqueteros. They do not involve themselves with purely memorial activities, but prefer initiatives such as educational projects, human rights courses, and so on.

For me, remembering the abuses is an important part of building a new society. Added to that is the simple point that when perpetrators are living free and have not been tried, and adults are still growing up ignorant of their true parentage, the crimes are continuing and there can be no 'forgetting' when justice is still lacking. But Caparros gives a timely reminder that memorials must not be used as an excuse to ignore continuing injustices; simply reciting 'nunca mas' does nothing.

La Argentina de hoy es consecuencia de la dictadura (Cambio)

* Thanks to Listen, Yankee! for pointing out this article.