Montevideo, April 14: Uruguay’s senate has narrowly voted to annul an amnesty for crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship in the country four decades ago.
The legislation, which was passed after a 12-hour debate, would allow prosecutions for crimes against humanity which were committed during Uruguay’s so-called dirty war.
During the debate, Sen. Oscar Lopez Goldaracena of the Broad Front described the move as a necessary measure for “removing the rules of impunity and granting rights to the citizenry.”
The military amnesty law — passed in 1986 as a complement to an earlier amnesty for crimes by leftists — has protected most uniformed officials ever since.
The legislation now goes to the lower house for minor changes and could become law by May 20 – the day Uruguay honors the political prisoners who were kidnapped and killed during the military junta’s crackdown on leftists.
Some 200 Uruguayans disappeared during the military rule from 1973 to 1985.
The move overrides referendums in 1989 and 2009 upholding the amnesty. The military amnesty law — passed in 1986 as a complement to an earlier amnesty for crimes by leftists — has protected most uniformed officials ever since.
The legislation fulfills a key demand of the leftist wing of the governing Broad Front coalition and complies with a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that found the amnesty unconstitutional.
It, however, faced strong opposition from the parties on the right and Uruguay’s retired military.
Similar amnesty laws were passed in neighboring South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Chile as military rule from the 1970s and 1980s came to an end.
While Argentina has made a priority of prosecuting “dirty war” crimes and Chileans are proud of the human rights prosecutions by their independent judiciary, Uruguay has largely avoided probing the war crimes.
——–Agencies