Compartilhar:
Delfim Netto says he did not know about torture
Criado em 26/06/13 12h01
e atualizado em 26/06/13 12h08
Por Flavia Albuqueraque
Edição:s
Fonte:Agencia Brasil
Brasilia – Antonio Delfim Netto, who occupied prominent positions in the military governments that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985 [born in 1928, was São Paulo state secretary of Finance 1966-67, minister of Finance 1967-74, minister of Agriculture 1979, minister of Planning and ambassador to France 1979-85; after redemocratization (the end of the dictatorship) was elected to Chamber of Deputies five consecutive times – in 2006 he lost a reelection bid and did not run again in 2010], testified before the São Paulo municipal Truth Commission this week. The full name of the commission is “Comissão Municipal da Verdade Vladimir Herzog.”
Delfim declared that he was unaware there was a dictatorship in the country, or that people were arrested and tortured, or that businessmen made contributions in money and material to an organization known as Operation Bandeirante (“Oban”) that perpetrated illegal acts and was later succeeded (in 1970) by the infamous Department of Information Operations – Internal Defense Operations Center (“DOI-Codi”), a center of repression housed in the Second Army in São Paulo.
In his testimony, Delfim made it clear that he had no regrets about signing Institutional Act 5 (“Ato Institutcional 5 – AI5”), a government decree issued in 1968 that extinguished civil rights and marked the beginning of a period of harsh repression. The AI5, among other things, suspended habeas corpus. Asked about the AI5, Delfim told the commission “If the situation was the same and the future as uncertain, I would do it again. I signed the AI5 [in 1968] the same way I signed the 1988 Constitution,” he declared.
Asked about the death of Valdimir Herzog in the DOI-Codi (in 1975), Delfim explained that he was in Paris when the journalist died and was unaware of the details of the case. Asked if he knew anything about a party in the DOI-Codi to celebrate the death of a political prisoner, Delfim denied knowing anything. “I know nothing about this party. It seems to be something barbarous, so absurd that it is difficult to believe it even happened,” he said.
Questioned and criticized by city councilmen on the commission, Delfim declared that his work [during the dictatorship] was completely separated from the military. “There was an absolute separation. Nobody with a uniform ever even entered my office. The records of the period are public. Nowadays with the Transparency Law you can look at them. Take a look, it is all there,” Delfim told the Truth Commission.
The São Paulo Truth Commission, created in 2012 to investigate a long list of human rights violations between 1946 and 1988, consisting of unsolved cases of torture, deaths, disappearances and hidden corpses in the city of São Paulo, is chaired by Gilberto Natalini (PV), who was a political prisoner during the dictatorship. According to Natalini, the testimony by Delfim Netto was a lost historical opportunity for the former minister to tell the truth and redeem himself.
“I just cannot believe what he said. He says he knew nothing, did not know a thing. And this is a minister of the Medici administration! Why even a five-year child would not believe what he said,” declared Natalini.
Editors: Davi Oliveira / Licia Marques
Translator: Allen Bennett
Deixe seu comentário