President Lula (Workers’ Party) will recreate the Special Commission on the Dead and Disappeared, which was abolished at the end of 2022, at the end of the Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) administration.

This was a campaign promise by the Brazilian leader, who had been demanded by relatives of victims of the military dictatorship (1964-85) since he took office for the third time.

Lula’s decision will be published in the Federal Official Gazette this Thursday (4). There will be three acts: an order reversing a previous act by Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), which abolished the commission, another dismissing the members appointed by the previous administration and a final one appointing the new names.

The president will also approve the choice of four people to join the new collegiate body. Federal prosecutor Eugênia Augusta Gonzaga will resume her post as chair of the commission, which she held until the first year of the Bolsonaro administration, when she was dismissed.

University professor Maria Cecília Oliveira Adão will be the representative appointed by civil society. Also confirmed were federal deputy Natália Bonavides (Workers’ Party) and the representative of the Ministry of Defense, Rafaelo Abritta - who is a civilian and not a military officer.

Created under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Also known as FHC, Neoliberal President 1994 - 2002) administration as a way of recognizing victims of the regime, locating missing bodies and compensating their families, the commission was abolished at the end of 2022 by Bolsonaro, who is a supporter of the military regime.

Throughout his term, Bolsonaro also turned the collegiate body into a military trench, which even revoked recognitions of victims of the regime. At the end of his administration, he signed an order saying that the commission’s work was finished - even though there was still a huge backlog of cases.

According to members of the government, President Lula himself decided when the commission should be recreated. Not only is this an issue close to the president’s heart - after all, he himself was imprisoned during the military dictatorship - but there is also a trial scheduled for next week at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that will shed light on the issue.

The court is expected to hand down Brazil’s third condemnation for the dictatorship, in this case for the death of student Eduardo Collen Leite, better known as “Bacuri”. He was arrested and killed by the military in 1970 after 109 days of torture.

Army commander Tomás Paiva defends the reinstallation of the Special Commission on the Dead and Disappeared

“It will be reactivated,” said the military officer

Army commander Tomás Ribeiro Paiva defended the reinstallation of the Special Commission on the Dead and Disappeared of the military regime (1964-1985). The law was suspended under the Jair Bolsonaro administration (2019-2023). The commander’s interview was given to the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo.

“It will be reactivated. People have lost people. They have the right to know where they are. As long as the person is missing, it’s humanitarian for us to be able to know what happened. This has to be understood as a humanitarian issue. I’m just worried that, over time, expectations will be dashed.”

Asked if the military will complain about the possible reinstatement of the commission, the commander said it was “people’s right to know what happened to their relatives”. “Even if they complain, it’s the right thing to do.”

The military officer commented on possible support from the army in the commission’s work. “The army has always helped. There have been various expeditions, research. The Araguaia Working Group, for example. What annoys me is that sometimes people don’t understand expectations. After so long, we can’t find out what happened. But I reiterate: as long as there are people who have suffered losses, I think it’s humanitarian. This has been settled for us”.

Known by the ‘Ms. K’ alias, she was the one who directed and coordinated money laundry activities.

On Tuesday, Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Jose Perez requested 30 years of imprisonment for former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori.

Keiko founded the Popular Force party not only with the aim of profiting from politics but also to achieve impunity for her criminal associates, Perez said in the oral trial against her and 45 other citizens and entities.

More specifically, the anti-corruption lawyer pointed out that the Popular Force party has attempted to control the Judiciary, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the National Board of Justice.

Perez argued that, in her capacity as president of that party, Keiko Fujimori was aware of the income that Popular Force was collecting for its campaigning activities. The prosecutor began to describe how “the criminal organization captures assets of illicit origin with the aim of mixing the money with illicit assets.”

One of the prosecution’s witnesses, businessman Antonio Camayo, confirmed that Keiko Fujimori was known by the alias ‘Ms. K’ and that she was the one who directed and coordinated the criminal activities.

Citing the facts related to the money laundering crime between 2011 and 2016, Perez recalled that the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht admitted to the United States Department of Justice that it had paid bribes to finance political campaigns.

The anti-corruption prosecutor announced that the former president of the Bank of Credit of Peru, Dionisio Romero, will attend the trial because he will testify that he personally handed over US$3.6 million in cash to Fujimori after withdrawing that money from his bank’s vault in Lima.

During the hearing, Perez mentioned that the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (CONFIEP) collected US$2 million from 14 business groups, under the guise of a campaign to promote private investment, to hand over to Fujimori’s presidential campaign in 2011.

Similarly, the RASMUSS Investments business group collected US$3.5 million in cash to hand over to people trusted by Fujimori, such as Jaime Yoshiyama and Augusto Bedoya.

The illegal contributions received by her party for the 2011 and 2016 presidential campaigns amount to US$17 million, said Rafael Vela, the coordinator of the Special Team of Prosecutors against Corruption.

Agreed with the IMF, the elimination of subsidies is contributing to output stagnation, social movements denounce.

On Tuesday, Ecuadorians took to the streets to protest against President Daniel Noboa due to the increase in Extra and Ecopais gasoline prices effective from June 28.

In Quito, citizens set up barricades with burning tires on the Chillogallo bridge, aiming to block traffic entering the capital city from the south.

On Amazonas Avenue in the city’s north area, people protested in front of the complex where the Central Bank, the National Justice Court, the Civil Registry, and other key public institutions are located.

The National Union of Educators (UNE) and the Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE) called for the demonstrations in opposition to the elimination of subsidies.

They claim that that policy is part of agreements between the Noboa administration and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are exacerbating the country’s economic problems through a combined effect of production stagnation and rising prices.

The text reads, “Ecuador dawns with protests in rejection of the gasoline increase ordered by the neoliberal administration of Noboa, who promised to bring calm with his mandate. The protesters have closed important avenues and roads in Quito, Guayaquil and other cities.“

“This means raising the cost of living and condemning more Ecuadorians to poverty,” said UNE President Andres Quishpe, who also indicated that the ongoing protests are just part of a large national mobilization that will begin next Thursday.

He also criticized the cuts to budgets for education, health, and social investment that the Noboa administration has made to meet its commitments with the IMF.

Another reason for the social protest is the increase in the value-added tax (VAT) from 12 to 15 percent, which the Ecuadorian government decreed in April, arguing that it was necessary to finance the “internal war” against organized crime groups linked to drug trafficking.

“The VAT increase has not helped to combat insecurity as Noboa promised. On the contrary, gang-related extortions and violent deaths have increased,” FEUE President Nery Padilla noted.