São Paulo (AP) – The Brazilian government apologized on Monday to families of victims of the country’s military dictatorship that the body may have been found in the graves of secret masses 35 years ago.
Dozens of families are still waiting to know if their parents, children, siblings and friends are located in one of more than 1,000 blue bags found in the ditch of St. Paul’s cemetery in the isolated district in 1990. This is the first of many mass graves discovered by Brazilian authorities after the end of military rule in 21, 1985.
The secret grave at Dom Bosco Cemetery also contains the remains of several unidentified people who have no connection to the struggle against Brazilian dictatorship.
The official apology is part of a deal between prosecutors, family members and states. It takes place during the “Real Day” and is also celebrated in other countries.
Human Rights Minister Macaé Evaristo said Brazilian countries were ignored in identifying bags and bones found in bags. The remains have been held by three state universities and laboratories outside Brazil for nearly 25 years, but only a few families have finally obtained the identity of relatives.
Evaristo said the Brazilian government invested about 200,000 Brazilian realas ($35,000) each year to identify Perus’ luggage, but agreed that this was not enough to bring peace to the victim’s family.
“What the Brazilian government has been doing is continuing to seek investigation and accountability. We need to remember that our ministry has been demolished,” Evasto said. “Families have the right to truth. Brazilian society has the right to achieve truth.”
The family is not sure whether the remains of their loved ones attended the ceremony in a large-scale grave.
Gilberto Molina, who represented them, finally identified the remains of his brother Flávio in 2005 in one of the bags. The Brazilian state only acknowledged that this was the cause of the crime in his brother’s third death certificate in early 2019.
“It’s been a funeral for nearly 50 years. For some other families, it’s still a longer funeral,” Molina said. “I hope every family here will still stick to the pursuit of justice.”
Brazil’s 2014 Truth Commission report said at least 434 people were killed during the country’s military dictatorship and more than 100 people disappeared completely. The disappearance of former lawmaker Rubens Paiva, as depicted in the Oscar-winning film I Still Here, has regained public interest and attracted more than 6 million viewers in Brazil.
Nilmário Miranda, former government minister and long-time human rights activist, said that a massive grave was revealed in 1990 with the victims of the dictatorship (only a few years after the redemocratic government) was a major event led by then-Sao Paulo Mayor Luiza Erundina. Faced with anonymous death threat, she asked City Hall officials to supervise the search.
“Everything is under the carpet of society, it’s all hidden, and you can’t talk about that. This makes the deal that ends the dictatorship a deal that retains the torture and the executor,” Miranda said.
The law could soon be partially reversed by the Brazilian Supreme Court as those who were killed by state agents at the time and disappeared.
Antonio Pires Eustáquio became the manager of Dom Bosco Cemetery in 1976 and helped his family work hard to seek justice for decades, celebrating the apology.
“This can only happen in democratic countries. The dictator does not apologize for his mistakes,” Yus Aquiao said. “I remember people always wondering if I would be killed because I know where the illegal ditch is. My presence means democracy wins.”
But the guerrilla husband about 50 years ago, her father-in-law and a brother-in-law disappeared, and his husband, her father-in-law and a brother-in-law disappeared, and about 50 years ago, an apology in the state was not enough.
“Apology is not enough. It’s good, we become emotional but can’t resolve the crime,” she said.
____
Follow AP’s report in Latin America and the Caribbean
