Inter-American Court for Human Rights
A human rights court said that a Brazilian amnesty law covering crimes during the country’s 21-year dictatorship was invalid and that the country was responsible for the forced disappearance of at least 70 peasants and militants who were part of a resistance movement.
The ruling was announced Tuesday by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; the court adheres to the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Brazil is a signatory.
While Argentina and Chile have begun more vigorously investigating and prosecuting human rights violations committed during those countries’ dictatorships, successive Brazilian governments have refused to investigate and find those responsible for crimes committed during the dictatorship that ended in 1985. And Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the amnesty law, which protects military officials from prosecution for abuses committed during the military regime.
But the Inter-American Court, based in Costa Rica, found that Brazil was responsible for the actions of state agents who carried out disappearances of members of the Araguaia guerrilla movement.
The court said Brazil must conduct a criminal investigation into the Araguaia case, bring the guilty parties to justice, search for those who have disappeared and provide medical and psychological treatment to their surviving relatives. It also said 42 direct relatives of the victims should receive $45,000 each in compensation for their suffering. (more…)
Thomas A. Shannon, the American ambassador in Brazil
In an interview with Brazil’s leading weekly newsmagazine Veja, Thomas A. Shannon, the American ambassador in Brazil revealed that Washington is very interested in eliminating the need of visas for Brazilians traveling to the United States.
Nowadays Brazilians are submitted to a serious check of their economic background in order to guarantee they won’t try to stay illegally in the US once their visa expires.
They also have to pay a US$ 140 fee to get the document. Brazil in retaliation charges the same amount and gives American citizens similar hard time to grant a Brazilian visa.
300,000 Brazilians apply for a US visa every year. Only China, India and Mexico have more applications. Ninety five percent of these applicants get their visa approved.
This is not enough, however, to make Brazil exempt of the visa requirement. Shannon says Brazil still have to improve in this area. According to him, the country is still 2% shy of a threshold created by Washington: (He doesn’t mention, however, that the 5% rejected are subject to not-always-objective criteria that might be changed in order to pass this artificial barrier.)
“Reaching 97% approval is a prerequisite for a country to be included in the visa waiver program,” said Shannon. “There is great interest in granting Brazilian such status, especially among Americans connected with the tourism industry.”
The Yankee diplomat stressed that receiving Brazilian travelers in the US creates job for Americans. Last year alone Brazilians spent US$ 785 million in Florida, for example. But he doesn’t know when the new policy might become a reality: “I cannot give dates but I can say that we’re seriously studying the issue.” (more…)
