Already last year, Jair Bolsonaro had ordered military members of different ranks to celebrate the anniversary of the putsch. On that occasion, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence qualified the episode as “immoral and unacceptable in a society based on the rule of law,” and emphasized that “authorities have the obligation to guarantee that said horrible crimes never be forgotten, distorted or left unpunished.”
For the second consecutive year, high-ranking officials of Brazil chose March 31 to praise the armed forces and therefore commemorate the de facto government that ruled over Brazil for 21 years. The President of the Republic declared to journalists that it was “Liberty day”. Vice president General Hamilton Mourão tweeted that “the armed forces interceded in national politics to take on disorder, subversion and corruption.” The chiefs of all three armed forces issued a joint release commemorating March 31, 1964.
We, the denouncing organizations, ask the Special Rapporteur to make a public statement on these events and insist on being granted the requested official visit to Brazil to confirm compliance regarding the right to memory, truth and justice in crimes against humanity.
The current administration in Brazil holds a high proportion of military y the federal executive branch: members or ex-members of the armed forces make up more than one-third of the state departments. The statements issued by the Bolsonaro government violate Brazil’s international engagements and represent a grave recurrence of misconduct that challenges democracy and leaves the region once again on alert.
See full text sent to the Special Rapporteur in Spanish.
Petitioning organizations in alphabetical order:
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales – CELS
Centro de Estudos sobre Justiça de Transição – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Comissão de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos Dom Evaristo Arns – Comissão ARNS
Instituto Vladimir Herzog
Memoria Abierta de Argentina – coordinadora de la Red de Sitios de Memoria
Latinoamericanos y Caribeños-RESLAC
Núcleo Estado Democrático de Direito (NEDD) [projeto de atuação conjunta dos escritórios Barbosa e Dias Advogados Associados e Sarah Campos Sociedade de Advogados]
Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB) – Conselho Federal