Commission analyses role of Church during dictatorship

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was unable to hold back her tears as she received the final report of the National Truth Commission on 10 December 2014, writes Francis McDonagh.

It was an eloquent image of Brazil’s effort to come to terms with one of the darkest periods of its history, the military dictatorship of 1964-1985.  President Rousseff still suffers from the effects of the torture she underwent during the dictatorship. 

According to the commission, 434 people were killed or “disappeared” by the regime; of the 210 “disappeared”, in only 33 cases have the remains been located. The commission criticises the Brazilian armed forces for still refusing to admit to the abuses of the period, and  finds that “the serious human-rights violations perpetrated … were the result of a general and systematic action of the Brazilian state”. The commission names 377 people it holds responsible for the abuses.

 The 1964 coup divided the Catholic Church, the report says: bishops educated in the anti-Communism of the 1950s helped to legitimise it, but they were superseded by bishops influenced by the Second Vatican Council.