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((Carta Maior photo)

[Translation of a column from Carta Maior of São Paulo for March 8. See original here.]

by Emir Sader

The Brazilian right carries within its DNA the 1964 coup and the military dictatorship. At the most decisive moment in Brazilian history to date, when the future of the country was at stake, in the clash between democracy and dictatorship, the right, in all its incarnations – intellectual, journalistic, entrepreneurial, religious – stuck with the dictatorship.

The question of the moment for every public figure, for every institution, every political force, every journalist, every intellectual, every Brazilian, every citizen, is where were they at that crucial moment: defending democracy or supporting the coup and the military dictatorship? (more…)

One representative causes tie by breaking ranks with party

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for May 21. See original here and related article here.]

By Stella Calloni

Buenos Aires, May 20 – A tense 14-hour debate failed to end in repeal of the Uruguayan Ley de Caducidad de la Pretensión Punitiva del Estado [Law of Expiry on Punitive Claims by the State], passed in 1986 and known in this country as the “law of impunity,” which has left unpunished those responsible for the military dictatorship of 1973 to 1985, when the vote ended in a tie after the desertion of one representative belonging to the governing Frente Amplio (FA), which provoked loud boos and indignation among the hundreds of demonstators surrounding Congress. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Nueva Tribuna of Madrid, Spain, for May 12. See original here and related article here.]

Crimes committed by the Uruguayan military during the dictatorship of 1973 to 1985 have until now gone unpunished because of the so-called Ley de Caducidad de la Pretensión Punitiva del Estado [Law of Expiry on Punitive Claims by the State], passed in 1986 by the government of Julio María Sanguinetti and ratified in two referenda, in 1989 and 2009. Now a sector of the governing Frente Amplio party intends to repeal the law, but has met with the opposition of President José Mujica, Vice President Danilo Astori and former president, and likely presidential candidate for 2014, Tabaré Vázquez. (more…)