VOICES OF THE DICTATORSHIP IN NORTHERN BRAZIL

TESTIMONIES AND THE RIGHT TO MEMORY

Abstract

The Brazilian military dictatorship resulted in profound human rights violations, affecting different social groups whose experiences remained, for a long time, marginalized by official narratives. In this context, the testimonies collected by truth commissions constitute important instruments for reconstructing memory, truth, and justice. This study aims to analyze the strategies for producing, incorporating, and using testimonies by the truth commissions of Amazonas, Amapá, and Pará, identifying how these accounts were mobilized to construct records of human rights violations and to give visibility to historically marginalized groups. Preliminary results are presented from the analysis of the final reports of these commissions, with greater emphasis, at this stage of the research, on the experience of the State Commission for Truth and Memory of Pará. This is a documentary study with a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, including a literature review and analysis of the final reports of truth commissions in Brazil’s Northern region, seeking to identify strategies for collecting, using, and incorporating testimonies into investigative processes. Preliminary results demonstrate that oral accounts played a central role in identifying and recognizing human rights violations suffered by historically marginalized groups, particularly Indigenous peoples and communities affected by state repression. The testimonies made it possible to reconstruct experiences of violence, contributing to broader interpretations of the military dictatorship. It is concluded that truth commissions in Brazil’s Northern region play a fundamental role in preserving collective memory, recognizing victims, and promoting the rights to memory, truth, reparation, and justice.