Brazil apologizes for persecution of poor farmers

BRASILIA, Brazil — The Brazilian government has apologized for the torture and abuse of 44 poor farmers under the military regime that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985 and announced reparations for the victims.

In the early 1970s, the farmers were physically tortured and many had their homes and crops destroyed by soldiers seeking information on guerrillas operating in Araguaia, a remote region in the northern jungle state of Para.

The Justice Ministry announced in a statement Friday that the 44 farmers will receive compensation of up to 142,000 reals (close to US$71,000) each and a lifelong pension of two minimum wages a month, currently worth about US$465.

“This is a formal request for forgiveness by the Brazilian government,” Justice Minister Tarso Genro said in announcing the reparation on Thursday. “This is recognition that not only were leftist militants affected by repression but also untold other Brazilians.”

In the Araguaia guerrilla conflict, leftist opponents of the military regime, mostly young radicals, set up bases in the eastern Amazon jungle. They hoped to launch a people’s war but had little experience of the jungle and launched no major operations.

The army discovered the bases in 1971, and sent more than 10,000 troops to crush the uprising in the proceeding years. Some 60 rebels were killed, as well as local civilians, and others were jailed or disappeared.

Unlike countries like Argentina and Chile, Brazil never prosecuted members of the armed forces for human rights abuses committed under its dictatorship.

An amnesty law pardoned all Brazilians — civilian and military — for alleged crimes committed under the dictatorship.

Last year, a government study concluded there were 475 cases of people being killed or disappeared at the hands of security forces during the military regime.