Monday, June 22nd 2026 - 18:19 UTC
The March of Silence crosses Montevideo every May 20 since 1996 under the motto “Where are they?”, seeking truth and justice for the dictatorship's disappeared. Photo: Sebastián Astorga
Uruguay expanded its policy of searching for those who were detained and disappeared during the dictatorship with the signing of an accord for the treatment, preservation and administration of archives on human-rights violations committed in the country between 1968 and 1985. The agreement, signed on Monday in Montevideo, deepens a strategic pact reached by state bodies in February.
The accord was signed by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), through the General Archive of the Nation; the National Human Rights Institution and Ombudsman's Office (INDDHH); and the University of the Republic (Udelar). Education Minister José Carlos Mahía said the step was fundamental to “advance on truth and justice,” as it facilitates access to data crucial for judicial investigations and for victims' access to justice. The State, he said, “must help when there is such a great dispersion of documents,” and specified that the processing of the information would be governed by strictly technical criteria to guarantee objectivity.
