Uruguay: Commitment of the Catholic Church in obtaining information about missing people

The Catholic Church in Uruguay reaffirmed its commitment to continue collaborating to clarify the whereabouts of those who disappeared during the military dictatorship and heal what it considers “a wound that remains open in the hearts of our people.”

The bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay made themselves available to the National Institution of Human Rights and Ombudsman’s Office, and to the Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes Against Humanity as a channel for receiving information on detained and missing persons.

Through bishops and priests, the Catholic Church will receive those people who wish to provide information about those missing from the military dictatorship, maintaining the confidentiality of the informants.

The meeting took place after learning of the discovery of human bone remains in a military facility in Uruguay, where those of three missing persons from the dictatorship were previously found. Now, they will be studied to corroborate if it is another person who disappeared at that time, according to the newspaper. The Nation.

From the Human Rights organization and the Prosecutor’s Office, they consider that there are people who “may have been tangential witnesses of burials” and could provide information in this regard. However, they admitted that many people are afraid to speak, which is why this collaboration of the Catholic Church is important.

In a press conference, the Archbishop of Montevideo, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, assured that this type of findings, which become visible through the media, “reawakens a sensitivity that causes people to say: ‘I can’t go to prison.’ lie down with this, and I come closer and want to talk.’”

The archbishop pointed out that in the past “the Church has worked a lot in this regard.”

“There was data that reached the parishes, that reached me, and I delivered it directly to the relatives of the disappeared through a relative,” he recalled.

“Now, from this instance of dialogue, the possibility has resurfaced that the parishes may receive some information from people who want to contribute and that, through the bishops, it may reach relatives or the Human Rights Commission,” he said.

Regarding the operation of this service, the cardinal explained: “in many cases, the person goes and speaks with the priest, it does not mean that it is a confession,” and he stressed that it is “an anonymous matter.” In other cases, he pointed out, as has happened in the past, “people who left a letter, I even remember one with a drawing, indicating some place.”

“I think there is still fear in many people,” he acknowledged. That is why he stressed that confidentiality will be maintained from both the Catholic Church and the Human Rights Commission.

Anyone who wishes to provide information, the cardinal explained, “can approach any parish” or leave an envelope containing the information they consider.

The civil-military dictatorship in Uruguay

Around 1973, the crisis of the political system in Uruguay, marked by armed struggle, led to the declaration of a “state of war”, and the social mobilizations were responded to by an authoritarian advance, favored by a constitutional resource called MPS (Prompt Security Measures). ).

On June 27, 1973, President Juan María Bordaberry, a member of the Colorado Party, with the support of the Armed Forces, dissolved Parliament and created a Council of State, thus beginning twelve years of civil-military dictatorship.

The period was marked by political persecution, kidnapping, torture, forced disappearance of people and their clandestine transfer across borders.

Democratic institutions were reinstated on March 1, 1985.