VW payment to victims of Brazil’s regime reopens justice debate

Thirty-five years after the end of Brazil’s military dictatorship, there has been little justice for the regime’s killings and torture – but an unprecedented deal for carmaker Volkswagen to pay damages for collaborating with the secret police could turn a new page. .

Because of an amnesty law passed in 1979 by the military government (1964-1985), no one has ever been convicted of human rights violations committed by the regime, which kidnapped, tortured and killed left-wing “subjects” of the suspected in one of the darkest chapters of the Cold War.

So it was a rare moment of justice when Volkswagen announced on Wednesday that it had signed a landmark agreement with state and federal prosecutors in Brazil to pay 36 million reais ($ 6.4 million) in compensation for its share of the atrocities of that era.

Former workers in the German carmaker’s Brazilian unit and their families say the company’s security office cooperated with secret police to identify suspected left-wing opponents and union leaders, who were later arrested and tortured.

The allegations, which were being investigated by Brazilian prosecutors in three separate cases, were widely confirmed by an independent review commissioned by the company in 2016.

Volkswagen is one of more than 120 companies implicated in crimes committed by the regime, according to the National Truth Commission in Brazil, which was set up to investigate the crimes of the dictatorship era.

Others include Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Esso, Texaco and Pirelli.

“It was not only Volkswagen that was involved in the persecution of workers in Brazil,” said Prudente Mello, a lawyer and former member of the dictatorship-era Brazil Amnesty Commission, who wrote his doctoral thesis on company cooperation with military regime.

“We have many other companies that need to be investigated as well, both Brazilian and multinational,” he told AFP.

Some in Brazil said they hoped Volkswagen’s solution was just the beginning.

“Whenever you hear that it is impossible to hold anyone accountable for the crimes of dictatorship, remember this,” said left-wing Congresswoman Fernanda Melchionna, posting on Twitter a link to the Volkswagen story.

“Will we get more companies to join mea culpa? It would be dignified and historic,” journalist and writer Xico Sa wrote on Twitter.

Prosecutors who reached the agreement hinted as much at the statement by notifying it.

“This is unprecedented in Brazilian history and has tremendous importance in promoting transitional justice in Brazil and around the world,” they said.

“It is impossible to turn the shameful pages of our history without fully revealing the truth, making reparations for the victims (and) holding accountable those who commit serious human rights violations …. Unfortunately, “Brazil still has a long way to go in this regard.”

Brazil is still dealing with abuses committed by the military regime, which was responsible for torturing some 20,000 people and killing or disappearing at least 434, according to the National Truth Commission.

The death toll is lower than under other military regimes in South America such as Chile (3,200 killed) or Argentina (30,000, according to rights groups).

But it does not include the hundreds of victims killed in the riots of the era, including land conflicts and indigenous massacres.

The Volkswagen deal was increasingly important, given that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has sought to rewrite the national memory of the dictatorship since taking office in 2019.

The far-right leader, an army captain during the dictatorship, sparked controversy saying in 2016 that the regime’s mistake was torture rather than killing its opponents.

He also called the 1970s general torturer Carlos Ustra a “national hero” and last year restored memories of the 1964 coup that installed the dictatorship.

The VW solution “has a great weight in a moment like this, in which we are seeing a pull in democratizing the country,” Mello said.

jhb / sst