By IPS Correspondents
MONTEVIDEO, Dec 27 2004 (IPS)

Argentina and Chile have already taken significant steps forward. Now it is Uruguay’s turn to dust off the past and forge ahead in investigations of the fate of those who became victims of forced disappearance during the 1973-1985 military dictatorship.

That is the view shared by families of the victims, who have renewed hopes today and little doubt that the new leftist government to take office in March, presided over by socialist president-elect Tabaré Vázquez, will live up to its pledge of putting this question at the top of its agenda.

Mar. 1, 2005 will mark the 20th anniversary of Uruguay’s return to democracy. However, no active or retired member of the military has been tried for the torture or murder of opponents.

The transition to democracy in this country of 3.3 million differed somewhat from what happened in neighbouring Southern Cone countries that participated in Operation Condor, a coordinated plan among the military governments that ruled Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in the 1970s and 1980s that was used to track down, capture, and eliminate left-wing opponents.

A number of retired military officers have been prosecuted in Argentina for past human rights abuses, and in Chile several senior officials have served time in prison, while there are ongoing attempts to try former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

But in Uruguay all legal action was brought to a halt in 1986, when an amnesty law – or "impunity law" in the view of its critics – was passed.

The only hope left to the families of the victims was article four of the amnesty law, which states that the executive branch must investigate the fate of the "disappeared".

But so far, no government has fully complied with that clause.

The administrations of presidents Julio Sanguinetti (1985-1990 and 1995-2000) and Luis Lacalle (1990-1995) did nothing to investigate the fate of the roughly 160 Uruguayan victims of forced disappearance, most of whom were disappeared in Argentina.

However, at the start of his term in 2000, current President Jorge Batlle set up a peace commission made up of representatives of different sectors, with a view to fulfilling article four of the amnesty law.

But the peace commission merely concluded that 26 Uruguayans died of torture in the country during the dictatorship, and stated that it had received reports that the victims were buried or cremated and thrown into the sea, although it did not say the reports were true.

Another 128 victims of forced disappearance had been detained in Argentina, seven in Chile, two in Paraguay and one in Bolivia, as part of Operation Condor.

The report was deemed unsatisfactory by the victims’ families, who continue to call for a more in-depth investigation.

But the leftist Broad Front coalition’s triumph in the October elections has awakened new hopes among activists and the families of the disappeared.

"We believe that now it is Uruguay’s turn. We have high expectations and hopes, because of the new government," Fernando Miranda, with Mothers and Relatives of Detained-Disappeared Uruguayans, told IPS.

"In his celebration speech after the electoral triumph, Tabaré Vázquez said the human rights issue would be fundamental. We are sure he will live up to the law," added Miranda, whose father was among the disappeared.

"Uruguay, because of the ‘Ley de Caducidad’ (amnesty law), has lagged far behind its neighbours with respect to clarifying these questions. The new government has set it as a priority, and for that reason we believe the time has finally arrived," he added.

In the past few years, most of the countries in the Southern Cone region, with the exception of Brazil and Uruguay, have taken important steps towards healing the wounds of the past.

On May 26, 2003, his second day in office, Argentine President Néstor Kirchner carried out an unprecedented purge of the military brass, forcing into retirement 27 army generals, 13 navy admirals and 12 air force brigadier-generals who had played a role in that country’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

The left-leaning Kirchner also issued a public apology on behalf of the state because the democratic governments that followed the dictatorship had remained silent with regards to the atrocities committed during the "dirty war", when as many as 30,000 people were disappeared.

In a historic ceremony, the Argentine president ordered the removal of the portraits of former dictators Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone from the Military College.

His administration also handed over to human rights groups the Navy School of Mechanics (ESMA), which had served as the de facto regime’s most notorious torture camp.

And in August 2003, the Argentine Congress voted to annul the two amnesty laws approved under president Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989), which put an end in the mid-1980s to prosecutions of military personnel for human rights abuses, after the former members of the ruling junta were tried and convicted in a historic trial.

After the two laws were annulled, the courts reopened high-profile human rights cases, and a federal judge declared unconstitutional the pardon issued in 1990 by president Carlos Menem (1989-1999) for the former leaders of the military government.

In Chile, meanwhile, President Ricardo Lagos, a moderate socialist, decided in November to make public a report on torture committed during the 1973-1990 Pinochet regime, while the state will begin to make indemnification payments to the victims.

The report, drafted by the National Commission on Political Prisoners and Torture, is based on the gruelling personal accounts of 28,000 people who were detained during the regime and tortured.

The victims will receive life-long monthly payments of around 180 dollars, along with other reparations in the form of health, housing and education benefits.

In Paraguay, despite a general lack of political will for carrying out in-depth investigations into the human rights crimes committed by the de facto government of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989), seven former members of the regime have been tried and convicted.

The elderly Stroessner himself, who is living in exile in Brazil, is facing an international arrest warrant.

But in Uruguay, even if Vázquez decides to order an investigation, human rights abusers cannot be taken to court due to the amnesty law. And finding a way to amend or repeal the law, or have it declared unconstitutional, does not form part of the future government’s plans.

The Broad Front, which will hold an absolute majority in both houses of the new parliament, plans instead to carry out in-depth inquiries into the fate of the disappeared, and to purge the armed forces.

"The future government is determined to make progress on human rights issues, but within the framework of the Ley de Caducidad," Senator Rafael Michelini, with the Broad Front coalition, told IPS. He declined to provide more details.

The lawmaker is the son of Senator Zelmar Michelini, who was assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976 as part of Operation Condor.

In Uruguay, many of the officers implicated in human rights violations continue to get together on national holidays or to remember members of the military who were killed in what they continue to call "the war on sedition" and against "subversives".

The armed forces in Uruguay argue that any abuses that were committed occurred in the context of an "urban war" against the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement (MLN) guerrillas.

But the great majority of the human rights violations took place after the MLN was militarily crushed in 1972.

Several former MLN guerrillas who spent years in prison are now legislators and popular Broad Front leaders.

Uruguay’s armed forces, unlike others in the region, have never admitted their human rights crimes.

Uruguay should follow the regional lead on the human rights front, but while resolving the issue in its own manner, according to Bishop Pablo Galimberti, the secretary-general of the country’s bishops’ conference.

"I am sure article four will be fulfilled. But this is a very difficult terrain," Galimberti told IPS. "Things should not be done in haste. It is important to maintain a dialogue with the military and act with great caution, to avoid retaliation and acts of violence."

Miranda, meanwhile, preferred not to compare the possible strategy that could be followed by Uruguay with the route taken by Chile, for example.

"For us, indemnification is a secondary issue. The main thing is to find out the truth, and to strengthen respect for human rights," he said.

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