A brief reflection on amnesty, immunity and memory

Abstract

This article is a brief reflection on the relationship between amnesty, memory and forgetting in the context of democratic transitions in Latin America. The books, academic articles and technical-legal research on democratic transitions are full of important dates, statistics of deaths and the missing. These issues are usually discussed in the context and language of law and International Relations and are analyzed in relation to treaties, agreements and wars. However, when we talk about the tortured, maimed and killed, the texts are wrapped in a metaphysical veil of uncertainty and forgetfulness. If during the authoritarian kind of goverment inhumanity was experienced, the Latin American societies underwent a structural dehumanization. Political movements and popular ideological resistance were represented medially in blurry ways, creating divergent opinions. Those memories are for some actors vague and distant and for others are alive and relevant. This could be one of the fundamental conflicting elements of the legacy left by militarism. In transitions to democracies military governments, the amnesty laws were part of the discussions and the process of memory formation. We argue that the notion of amnesty is an understatement, leading to impunity crimes against human rights.