Abstract
Brazil returned to civilian government in 1985 after 21 years of military dictatorship, during which the armed forces directed and participated in such extreme forms of coercion as kidnapping, torture, and "liquidation." The permanence and thoroughness of the withdrawal of the military establishment from the national political process remain questionable, and the redress in cases of torture is a paramount example. The amnesty decree of 1979, which absolves torturers from prosecution, and the continued political power and institutional autonomy of the military-dominated National Information Service underscore a significant military presence in the "new republic." Senior military officers have repeatedly warned against revanchisme (taking revenge); and identifications in several key cases of military torturers-some of whom are now prominent officers-remain central, if avoided, questions, around which many of the other questions of democratization and the return to law will ultimately revolve.
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