Massive acts to remember the victims and reject state terrorism were organized in Montevideo and other 60 localities.   | Photo: Famidesa

Montevideo, May 21 (RHC)-- Thousands of Uruguayans marched through the streets of that country chanting>  "Truth, Memory and Justice for the Disappeared Detainees" -- as they participated massively in the twenty-eighth edition of the March of Silence.

Images disseminated through social networks and traditional media showed thousands of people marching through the streets of Montevideo, the capital, and nearly 60 other cities around the country under the slogan: "Where are they?  State Terrorism: Never Again."

The tribute was organized by the movement of Mothers and Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Uruguay (Famidesa), in collaboration with trade unions and other civil society organizations.  The movement called to participate with photos of the disappeared in their arms, white handkerchiefs, demanding Memory, Truth and Justice.  In the case of Montevideo, the demonstrators gathered on Jackson and Rivera streets.

The march took place in the framework of the 50th anniversary of the civil-military dictatorship, responsible for crimes against humanity.  In the opinion of Famidesa referents, the 2023 edition arrived without progress in the search for the 192 disappeared and in the application of justice for crimes committed under the umbrella of the Condor Plan, which associated the dictatorships of the region.

The relatives continued to criticize the deficient management of Justice to find the whereabouts of the disappeared and demanded that the armed forces assume their responsibility.

With the arrival of democracy, human rights violations were not investigated and amnesties were issued through mechanisms such as the 1988 Law of Expiry of the Exercise of the Punitive Claims of the State, at which time the Uruguayan State renounced criminal prosecution of those responsible.

According to a member of Famidesa, Ignacio Errandonea, "information has not arrived and the search carried out by the National Human Rights Institution is blind because it is based on indications. This way we are not going to advance practically anything", he assured.

Erradonea emphasized that the Minister of Defense, Javier García "committed himself to deliver the documentation that he receives about the disappeared, but he did not express any commitment with the search for information" in this respect.