Brasília, Brazil – Forty years after the curtain fell on Brazil's oppressive military dictatorship (1964-1985), the nation still confronts the unresolved debt owed to the countless victims of state-sponsored human rights abuses. Despite the recent surge in public discourse ignited by the successful film "Still Here" (2024) and the establishment of mechanisms like the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, the Amnesty Commission, and the National Truth Commission, Brazil continues to wrestle with achieving historical justice.

This struggle unfolds against a backdrop of deepening political polarization and the ascendance of far-right factions. A December 2024 poll by the Datafolha Institute revealed that while a majority (69%) of Brazilians still favor democracy, this figure represents a significant 10-percentage-point decline from 79% just two years prior, signaling a potential erosion of democratic consensus.

Fabiana গোদিনহো Macêdo, analyzing the Brazilian case in 2012, acknowledged the progress made through various "mechanisms and strategies." However, she underscored a critical impediment: "the maintenance of the choice of not holding individual agents of military repression accountable and the denial of their responsibility."

Brazil's pervasive impunity is significantly rooted in the 1979 Amnesty Law. While this legislation facilitated the release of political prisoners and the return of exiles, it controversially extended its protection to state agents implicated in grave human rights violations, effectively shielding them from prosecution. The National Truth Commission's report identified 377 individuals as responsible for crimes committed during this dark period.

Carla Osmo, a professor of law at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), lamented in an interview with the Brasil de Fato website the protracted delay in Brazil adopting measures to guarantee memory, truth, and justice. This delay, she noted, forced families of the deceased and disappeared to embark on their own arduous searches for answers. She further elaborated:

"Regarding criminal accountability, unlike other Latin American countries where the judiciary began to adhere to international human rights norms by accepting lawsuits against state agents for serious human rights violations, in Brazil, these measures continue to be blocked. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office began to pursue dozens of criminal actions, especially after the Brazilian state was condemned in the Gomes Lund case in 2010. However, in general, these actions are not accepted by a judiciary that continues to apply the Amnesty Law, in contradiction with international human rights law."

The Gomes Lund case, referenced by Professor Osmo, pertains to a landmark judgment by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) against the Brazilian state for human rights violations committed during the Araguaia Guerrilla War. This conflict, which took place between 1972 and 1975, saw the violent suppression of a left-wing armed movement by the military regime, resulting in numerous deaths and forced disappearances.

The Pursuit of Truth

In its ruling, the Inter-American Court mandated that Brazil investigate the disappearances, provide full reparations to the victims, implement institutional reforms to prevent the recurrence of similar grave human rights violations, and publicly acknowledge state responsibility.

The over two-decade-long military dictatorship in Brazil was characterized by widespread censorship, political persecution, arbitrary arrests, torture, and forced disappearances – all employed as instruments to silence dissent and exert control over society.

The regime also perpetrated other severe abuses, including sexual violence against women, persecution of Black and Indigenous populations, and the suppression of social and cultural movements.

The Institutional Act Number Five (AI-5), enacted in 1968, marked the zenith of this repression. This decree institutionalized torture as a routine practice, with survivors recounting horrific methods such as electric shocks, the "pau-de-arara" (parrot perch), and waterboarding. The vast majority of those responsible for these acts have never faced justice.

In the wake of controversial remarks made by then-President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019, victims and their families appealed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, urging the international body to compel the Brazilian state to respect the memory and rights of the victims. In 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed concern over the Bolsonaro administration's decision to dismantle the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances. This crucial body was only reinstated in August 2024 under the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

During his tenure as a federal deputy, Bolsonaro was notorious for his vocal defense of the military dictatorship and his praise for its perpetrators. He even displayed a poster on his office door mocking the search for the remains of those disappeared in the Araguaia Guerrilla, bearing the chilling phrase: "Whoever looks for bones is a dog."

Four Decades Later

Following the initiation of political liberalization in 1985, human rights organizations and the families of the deceased and disappeared spearheaded the efforts to unveil the true extent of the crimes committed by the military regime and to seek truth and accountability. The seminal report "Brazil: Never Again," which meticulously documented instances of torture and human rights abuses, was published in July of the same year.

The tireless work of these groups was instrumental in bringing the Brazilian state before international tribunals, culminating in the Inter-American Court's condemnation in the Araguaia Guerrilla case. The establishment of the National Truth Commission was also a direct outcome of this persistent advocacy. The commission held public hearings and collected testimonies regarding human rights violations that occurred between 1946 and 1985, a period encompassing Brazil's two most recent democratic constitutions.

The final report, released in 2014, presented 29 recommendations to the state, including the prosecution of perpetrators, the implementation of reparations and memory policies, and the revision of the 1979 Amnesty Law.

The activities of the National Truth Commission were met with criticism from individuals associated with the military. For instance, months before the report's conclusion, the military denied any "non-operational use" of army, navy, and air force facilities for torture, in response to the commission's inquiries.

In her interview with Brasil de Fato, Professor Carla Osmo argued that addressing the human rights violations of that era is crucial not only for the victims but for society as a whole. She emphasized:

"If we do not advance knowledge about what the military dictatorship was and who was affected and how, we leave room for the dissemination of absurd views that the military dictatorship was a positive thing and that the repression they carried out was legitimate."

'Abnormal and Violent Death at the Hands of the State'

Nearly four decades after the dictatorship's end, in January 2025, registry offices across Brazil began issuing corrected death certificates for victims of the repression, reflecting the accurate cause of death without requiring judicial intervention.

This measure follows regulations established by the National Council of Justice (CNJ). The cause of death will now explicitly state "abnormal and violent death at the hands of the State, in the context of systematic persecution of the population identified as political dissidents during the dictatorial regime established in 1964."

In a report by TV Globo's Jornal Nacional, former political prisoners Crimeia Almeida and Amélia Telles jointly obtained the rectified death certificate for Carlos Nicolau Danielli, a fellow Communist Party activist and friend who died under torture. Telles poignantly stated:

"This is something we have waited a long time for. It is the recognition of everything we went through. Carlos died under torture, and the State has to recognize that."

As Brazil approaches the 40th anniversary of the end of its military dictatorship, the path to fully overcoming its dark past and forging a future grounded in reconciliation and justice remains fraught with challenges. Unearthing the complete truth of the past, ensuring accountability for perpetrators, and providing comprehensive reparations to victims are indispensable steps for the maturation and advancement of Brazilian democracy.