Reconstructing atrocity: How torturers, murderers, and researchers deconstruct labels and manage secrecy

Abstract

In countries undergoing democratization after military dictatorships--as throughout Latin America in the last fifteen years, where torture and murder had been systematic government practices--the processes of forgetting and remembering have both political and personal dimensions. Those who have variously experienced an authoritarian past can reconstruct it in very different ways. How a country's transitional politics undertake to deal with these painful memories can influence whether torturers and murderers receive blanket amnesty, make some general public acknowledgment of their acts, submit individually to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission inquiry, or undergo judicial trial. Each of these courses of action shapes personal and political healing differently depending on the experiences of participants. For example, amnesty for those in violent security forces may demoralize victims of human rights abuses even while providing a political bargain that promotes transfer to civilian rule and even overall political stabilization, at least for a while. This trade-off may suppress efforts to resurrect victims' memories of their abuse, while those who have perpetrated violence may also repress their memories all the more deeply to avoid the possibility that they and their families will become victims of their victims. On the other hand, political trials or any public discussion of wrongdoing by perpetrators of state-sanctioned violence may foster victims' healing, but block the accused's political participation in the new regime. Even confessions before investigation and amnesty commissions may not lead, as hoped, to the transformation of perpetrators into respectable and respectful participants in a more democratic system.