Perception & Truth: Brazil's Military Dictatorship and Torture, 1964-1969
The Brazilian military regime, for twenty-one years, brought a horrifying black mark on human rights in Brazil. The initial six years represented an exceptionally poor era in their history, as the West's failure of acknowledgement, and false perception of, Brazil's bloody and torturous government denied the open expression of the reality of the pain. Ignorance of the situation, from the 31 March 1964 coup to the torture practices and forced retirement of 68 university professors in April 1969, allowed torture, in its many varieties, to be used against a wide spectrum of individuals. Among these were influential intellectuals to those merely intelligently discussing Brazil's current political climate. There are many testimonials from those who were tortured and many articles from the intellectuals who sought to disseminate the truth. However, at the same time, there are an equal number of cover-ups, half-truths, and lies; all aimed at altering the reality of the problems in Brazil and creating a false perception of how bad events truly were during this period in Brazilian history. By analyzing and deconstructing the many pieces of information available, all of which shed light on the truth of the situation, the conclusion will show, by comparison of the general US public perception of Brazil's military dictatorship to its harsh, brutal, and torturous reality, how this perception prevented the testimonies of torture from being witnessed and allowed torture and brutality to continue in front of those who turned a blind eye.
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