URUGUAY: Uruguayans bury Chave Sosa, the first identified disappeared victim of Uruguay's military dictatorship

Record ID: 351627

  • Title: URUGUAY: Uruguayans bury Chave Sosa, the first identified disappeared victim of Uruguay's military dictatorship
  • Date: 15th March 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SENATOR, RAFAEL MICHELINI, SAYING: "The Uruguayan dictatorship killed, tortured, made the bodies disappear, but the Uruguayan democracy did not give a response to that. Since March, 2005, the government of the left, faithful to its principles, has had a policy regarding human rights in search of the truth of the justice of memory, of never again. We
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA6PJZP4HPNF3U26VP7JM7OVMYW
  • Story Text: Thousands of Uruguayans attended the burial on Tuesday (March 14) of the first identified disappeared victim of Uruguay's military dictatorship.
    Gathered outside the University of the Republic, where a ceremony was held to say good-bye to Ubagesner Chaves Sosa, mourners waved signs, Communist Party flags and photos of others believed to have disappeared during the dictatorship, which lasted from 1973 to 1985.
    The remains of Chaves Sosa, a metal worker, were discovered in November after the Air Force announced he had been kidnapped, tortured and killed in 1976.
    The coffin of Chaves Sosa was wrapped in Uruguayan and Communist Party flags.
    "Since March, 2005, the government of the left, faithful to its principles, has had a policy regarding human rights in search of the truth of the justice of memory, of never again. We have entered the barracks and the appearance of the remains of the disappeared - we hand this over to society as a complete demonstration of the policy that we are carrying forward so that this never again happens in Uruguay," said Senator Rafael Michelini.
    Because of a Uruguayan law that grants amnesty to soldiers and police from the dictatorship, no governments had opened any investigations into human rights crimes from that era.
    However, former President Jorge Batlle, who governed from 2000-2005, created a commission to investigate the disappearances and his successor, Tabare Vazquez ordered the Armed Forces to present a report with all the information they had on those crimes.
    Vazquez also allowed excavations on military sites to find secret graves, and after months of intense searching, they found the bodies of Chaves Sosa and an attorney, Fernando Miranda.
    Some 180 Uruguayans disappeared during the dictatorship.
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