March of Silence in Uruguay to demand justice from the state

March of Silence in Uruguay to demand justice from the state

Every year, Uruguayan civil society meets to pay homage to the people who disappeared during the dictatorship (1973-1985) and to demand justice from the state. These gatherings now extend beyond Uruguay’s borders. To mark the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état on 27 June 1973, we asked Elena Zaffaroni from the Uruguayan collective ‘Madres y familiares de desaparecidos y detenidos’ [Mothers and relatives of the disappeared and detained] three questions about this march, the quest for truth and justice, and their struggle for democracy.

Emmaus Internatinal: What is the March of Silence and what does it represent for the people of Uruguay?

Elena Zaffaroni: The March of Silence began on 20 May 1996, twenty years after the assassination in Argentina of the Uruguayan members of parliament Zelmar Michelini and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, and William Whitelaw and Rosario Barredo, two former MLN [national liberation movement] militants who were killed alongside them in the car. On that same day, Manuel Liberoff also disappeared. Twenty years later, the Michelini family suggested holding a march, but they wanted the march to shed light on all the incidents and crimes committed during the dictatorship, and they approached other relatives to suggest organising the march together.

Since then, the march has been held every year in absolute silence and is organised by the Madres y Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos organisation, thanks to the generosity of the families who had the original idea.

How has the process of seeking truth and justice from the state evolved since the dictatorship?

It has developed, over the course of the years, into a march that is attracting more and more people. Over the last five years, including during the pandemic, there have been massive demonstrations all over the country, which span all political divides, all ideologies. It’s a march of meaningful encounters, demonstrating that the demands for truth, justice, memory and calls for “state terrorism, never again”, have become a part of the consciousness and feelings of Uruguayans, despite so many years of lies, concealment, complicity and not knowing, and not telling us plainly where the disappeared are. Therefore, firstly, it is like a big hug, a meeting. And this year we’re demanding “Where are they? State terrorism, never again!”

The processes of seeking truth and justice for crimes during the period of state terrorism and to re-establish full democracy have been too slow and riddled by obstacles. Today we are still demanding this same truth, the same justice.

When democracy was restored – despite certain proscriptions, because there were candidates like Wilson and Seregni who were not allowed to stand for election – this first parliament, which voted for the release of all prisoners, seemed to have enormous power to re-establish the truth, ensure justice, set up parliamentary commissions and trials. This went hand in hand with bringing about a profound change, from the dictatorial state to the democratic state that was being reborn. It didn’t happen. Slowly this power ebbed away, President Sanguinetti allowed the Minister of Defence – Medina, who was a general at the time – not to comply with and disregard the summons. The parliament voted for the law of impunity, trials were completely obstructed and a very long period of denial set in. As if nothing had happened. As if children and adults hadn’t disappeared, as if only a few people had committed abuses, as if they were saying that there had been a few deaths, something along those lines, but nothing at all was acknowledged.

When the Frente Amplio [Broad Front] became the government, the biggest steps were taken, such as the possibility of entering the barracks and the discovery of the first remains. But even then, they decided to uphold the law of impunity and not to introduce changes to the armed forces until 2019.

It was not until 2019 that the first modifications were made to military organic law, reducing the number of soldiers and removing due obedience.[1]This also removed the training and the national security doctrine, however we can see that they still remain in place to this day. Nothing guaranteed that these small changes would really take hold: studies, work, something that had to start by re-establishing the truth and for them to hand over the bodies and [confess] what they had done with each one of our missing loved ones. This has still not happened to this day.

With these tentative changes, which were not consolidated by the armed forces, we now have a government in which the coalition includes a military party which, from parliament, makes apologies for the coup d’état, and which has tried (and is on the verge of achieving this almost in full) to promote specific laws that benefit those who have committed crimes against humanity. This include a law on house arrest which is currently being discussed, anticipated for those over the age of seventy, and which is used to justify the dictatorship and the terrorist acts they carried out.

In France, a rally is being organised in solidarity with the March of Silence. Why is it important to communicate and rally around this issue beyond Uruguay’s borders?

This is how, year after year, the demonstrations grow all over Uruguay: the month of remembrance, the demonstrations for truth and justice, our symbol, the daisy, is displayed all over the country in many places, and also outside the country, in many different countries such as France, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Mexico. Every year we hear about new demonstrations, in new places. Ever since the dictatorship, we have recognised the importance of international support and pressure in order to achieve progress.

Extremely important examples of the international impact are the Operation Condor trials that took place in Buenos Aires and in Rome. At present, a reflection of this is the new condemnatory sentence against the Uruguayan State by the IACHR[2]. For the second time, our state has been condemned by this body for crimes of state terrorism. Its mission is the search for truth and justice in the case of the Muchachas de Abril (April Girls) and the disappearances of Oscar Tasino and Luis Eduardo Gonzalez[3]. As part of this sentence, a period of one year was granted, which has long since expired (21 December marked one year) to obtain the information that would allow the remains of the two disappeared persons to be found, as well as the conviction of all those responsible for the disappearances and murders of the girls. In addition, we are still waiting for a public act of recognition of this crime, which is part of this sentence, and we remain hopeful that it will be complied with.

[1] Due obedience: https://www.impo.com.uy/bases/codigo-penal/9155-1933/29

[2]Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

[3] https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2020/122.asp

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