The former president of Uruguay, Jose Mujicaand his wife, the former vice president and former senator Lucía Topolanskythey assured that there existed false testimonies of victims of the dictatorship incriminate military personnel. The statements, made within the framework of the recent publication of the book The indomitablewritten by Pablo Cohen and edited by Planeta, have generated a strong stir in Uruguayan society, as well as a strong condemnation by human rights groups.
Topolansky, historical leader of the Popular Participation Movement (MPP), assured in an interview for the book that in some sectors of the left there are people who “they lie in the statements” on crimes against humanity linked to the last military dictatorship (1973-1985) with the aim of achieving convictions against certain soldiers. “They came to one of our comrades to say – no matter what political sector -: ‘I lied, I said this and that, and we put so-and-so in prison.’ And he answered: ‘I’m not going to say it.’ There they accuse you of being a traitor.”he stated. The former vice president added that, although they know the names of those who allegedly engaged in this practice, they will not reveal those identities. “We are not going to say it because we are not traitors or buttons,” he emphasized.
After the controversy, Mujica, a leader of the Frente Amplio, expressed his support for Topolansky. “I didn’t read the book, or what Lucía said, I don’t read the books about us, it’s very boring. Now, those things are known to us, yes. I’m not going to say that it was general, but there were people who came out with a lot of resentment and found that that was exactly what they went through. Not all, but I know there were cases”Mujica declared in an interview with the program Fácil Deviarse.
Topolansky’s statements caused widespread repudiation among the main social groups in Uruguay.
Specifically, the association Mothers and Relatives of Detained Disappeared Uruguayans expressed its “maximum repudiation” of statements that, it understands, “They call into question a process of many years of searching and building justice.”
“By saying that ‘there are people who lie in statements’ about crimes against humanity linked to the actions of the last civil-military dictatorship, the legitimacy of the prosecutions and convictions carried out is undermined,” states the statement from the relatives of the 197 disappeared. of the country.
The country’s union center, PIT-CNT, expressed along the same lines, whose executive secretariat issued a statement with several “reflections” that stated that “cast a blanket of doubt” without “facing the responsibilities” of the said “undermines” the “republican solidity” and the “democratic system” of Uruguay.
Meanwhile, the president of the group of former political prisoners Crysol, Gastón Grisoni, also rejected them with a letter titled “The complainants did not lie”, and the Mario Benedetti Foundation, which expressed its “solid support” for Madres y Familiares, the political force of Topolansky and Mujica, Frente Amplio (FA), without allusions to Topolansky, reaffirmed its condemnation of the crimes of the dictatorship.
“The Frente Amplio reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the defense of human rights and its absolute condemnation of crimes against humanity. We fully support the struggle of Mothers and Relatives of Disappeared Detainees and social organizations,” their political table indicated in a statement that closed with “always on the side of human rights.”
Active in her militancy at the age of 80, Topolansky was elected as a senator for the FA Popular Participation Movement sector in the last elections on October 27, although her seat was already scheduled to be occupied by journalist Blanca Rodríguez.
Who, like Mujica, was a member of the guerrilla group National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros (MLN-T) that faced authoritarianism in the years prior to the dictatorship, has already sparked controversies within the FA on other occasions, with said like the then pre-candidate and today vice president-elect, Carolina Cosse, is “quite unknown” outside the capital.
(With information from EFE)
