Brazil truth commission: Abuse 'rife' under military rule

[Judi Lynn]

2. This Reuters article launches this new information with a public "outing" of Dilma Rousseff

as a former "Marxist guerrilla" who was imprisoned and tortured. As I see it, trying to nail her as a "Marxist" first is an underhanded way of implying she got what she had coming, getting in the first kick in what should be a simple information piece.

Smooth move, Reuters.

However, as the article continues, there is a stunning revelation due to the Truth Commission's work:

Unlike some other Cold War-era dictatorships in South America, Brazil's military officers never faced trial, in part because they negotiated an amnesty law several years before leaving power that protected them from most future prosecution.

But leaders of the truth commission said the 1979 amnesty law should not apply to crimes against humanity.

Their detailed accounting of abuses did not initially appear to contain any unexpected bombshells, in part because much of the report's content was released beforehand.

Instead, the greatest impact may lie in its recommendations - primarily, that the amnesty law be changed, ignored or otherwise put aside so that trials can go forward.

Also, of great value, thanks to the Truth Commission:

BLACK LISTS

The truth commission also detailed how private companies, including many foreign automakers, helped the military put together "black lists" of union activists. Many of the activists were harassed by police or unable to find jobs for a long period, Reuters reported earlier this year.

The report said that Germany's Volkswagen AG had been a particularly active provider of information to the military, providing detailed accounts of union meetings, as Reuters has also reported.

In an e-mailed statement, Volkswagen repeated a previous vow to investigate "any eventual participation of company officials in providing information to the military regime."

The commission also said state-run oil company Petrobras , which is currently at the center of a corruption scandal shaking Rousseff's government, was an "iconic" case of a company that suppressed labor unrest with military assistance.

This new stage of public knowledge has been made possible ONLY because people kept pushing, all these long years, until a formal investigation was made. Think how long this has been.