29 September 2009 | Interviews | Human rights
Against the ropes
The Uruguayan Right Wing is Silencing the Campaign Against Impunity
length: 1:40 minutes
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In Uruguay, the mass media and the right wing parties are “silencing” the campaign to annul the Impunity Law on October 25th, when the annulment of the law will be put to vote in a referendum together with the national elections, trade union leader Luis Puig told Real World Radio during the presentation of the book “The words that arrived” (Las palabras que llegaron). The book compiles testimonies of Uruguayan artists against impunity.
Puig is a member of the Coordinator for the Annulment of the Impunity Law.
Despite some attempts to silence the campaign to repeal the Impunity Law - which gave impunity to the military who committed human rights abuses during the dictatorship – Puig says this movement is mobilizing many people across the country.
“The right wing does not debate, there is a concerning silence, it is an antidemocratic attitude that we will fight”, he said.
Last week the Board of the Workers Central of Uruguay PIT-CNT decided to focus all its efforts from now until the elections to campaign for the annulment of the Impunity Law, which will be achieved by a simple majority of votes.
So far the ruling party Frente Amplio, which is the front runner, has committed itself to vote for the annulment of the law.
But the Coordination want to get voters from the other parties to support the initiative.
“It is very important that the members of the other parties as well as the ones of the ruling party approach this as a democratic task.
We have no doubt that the Uruguayans will achieve this goal”, Puig said.
