Brazilian President Rousseff Cries While Discussing Her Torture by Military Dictatorship
Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, broke into tears as she made a statement about the release of a commission report into torture during Brazil's military dictatorship, just a day after the United States released its own investigation into torture by the CIA after Sept. 11, 2001.
The Montreal Gazette reports that Rousseff began to cry as she described the torture she suffered at the hands of the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil from 1964-1985.
Rousseff was a member of various Communist organizations that were targeted by the military government during that time. She was arrested in 1970 at the age of 22 and spent three years in military detention, isolated and tortured.
Among the torture she suffered were beatings that left her with dental issues, electrocution, and the "parrot's perch." This position saw people tied to a pole, upside, with their legs on top and their hands pulled between their legs and bound.
The report that spurred Rousseff's emotional speech determined the government was responsible for at least 191 deaths and the disappearance of at least 201 people. The Gazette reports in addition to those figures, the commission was able to locate the bodies of 33 people who were disappeared.
The Brazilian commission also revealed that the Brazilian military learned many of its techniques from the US military at the US Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The commission said that the Brazilian military employed a number of heinous torture techniques such as rape and psychological torture. In one incident, a man was tortured in the same room as his 16-year-old son, according to the Gazette.
Despite being personally affected by the brutality of the military regime, the Gazette reports that is is unlikely Rousseff will seek to challenge a law that granted amnesty to members of the military for crimes and human rights abuses they committed.
