Brasil: Nunca Mais (Portuguese for Brazil: Never Again) is a book edited by Paulo Evaristo Arns in which episodes of torture under the military dictatorship in Brazil between 1964 and 1979 are documented. With the assistance of the Presbyterian minister Jaime Wright, Arns secretly photocopied the military government's records on torture and used them as his source.[1][2] There is an English version of this book called Torture in Brazil: A Shocking Report on the Pervasive Use of Torture by Brazilian Military Governments, 1964-1979.[3] It can be viewed as the Brazilian version of Argentina's Nunca Más Report released one year before.

In total, the book documents 17,000 victims, details 1,800 torture episodes and lists the names of 353 victims who were killed by the regime. Arns claims that, "Since the economic policy (Chicago economics) was extremely unpopular among the most numerous sectors of the population, it had to be implemented by force".[4]

The book became later one of the largest data sources for the Brazilian National Truth Commission, basically for financial reparation, as it is not possible to legally charge any state member in Brazil for human rights crimes that occurred from 1961 until 1979 due to the 1979 Amnesty law. The book was kept secret for five years under the dictatorship, being published with the return to democracy. The book was a best seller and provoked a widescale movement for change. After its release, a Non-governmental organization called Tortura nunca mais ("Torture never again") was founded and began to monitor and denounce the presence of torture in Brazil.[5]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Projeto Brasil Nunca Mais - História dos Direitos Humanos no Brasil" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 4 June 2015. Portuguese version of the book.
  2. ^ "Commission of Inquiry: Brazil - United States Institute for Peace". Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  3. ^ Dassin, Joan (1998). Torture in Brazil: A Shocking Report on the Pervasive Use of Torture by Brazilian Military Governments, 1964-1979, Secretly Prepared by the Archdiocese of São Paulo - GoogleBooks. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292704848. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  4. ^ Catholic Church. Archdiocese of São Paulo (1998). Torture in Brazil : a shocking report on the pervasive use of torture by Brazilian military governments, 1964-1979. Joan Dassin, Jaime Wright. Austin, Tex.: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas. p. 50. ISBN 0-585-27508-4. OCLC 45727633.
  5. ^ "Apresentação - Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2015. Bahia branch site of the group.