Uruguay Seeks More Remains of Victims of the Dictatorship

On Thursday, the Uruguayan Human Rights Institution (INDDHH), the Ombudsman’s Office, and a team of forensic anthropologists began excavation work at the Uruguayan Post Office to search for the remains of victims of the dictatorship (1973-1985). 

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The INDDHH Director Wilder Tayler explained that his institution received information about the presence of bone remains at the site by a plumber who had carried out repairs in that building, which served as a garage for the Presidency during the dictatorship.

"Besides finding the remains, the witness drained a basement full of water that seemed to be an old cell," Tayler stressed and considered the possibility that such area served as a clandestine detention center during the dictatorship.

"After unearthing the remains, we will proceed to immediately verify whether they belong to victims of the civic-military regime," he pointed out, adding that the excavation work will last a maximum of three days.

Currently, forensic anthropologists also look for possible remains of disappeared citizens in the 14th Parachute Battalion building in Toledo city and the Materiel and Armament Service.

Besides disappearing at least 197 people, the dictatorship’s military and police personnel raped 28 women and forced into exile about 380,000 people. After the fall of the U.S.-backed regime, the 1986 "Expiration Law" granted total impunity to the perpetrator of human rights- related crimes.

However, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights repealed this law in 2011, so the justice system began to prosecute the officers involved and to seek the disappeared people.