Brazil: Worker’s Party pushes for dictatorship files' opening, Rousseff steps back

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s Worker’s Party has reiterated its opposition asking the secret files from Brazil’s bloody dictatorship to be opened.

This reiteration is a rejection reaction to former presidents Jose Sarney and impeached Fernando Collor de Mello who opposed the breaching of the files claiming it would only “open up old wounds.”

A group of the ruling party senators has supported the liberation of the documents that have been maintained secret for over fifty years, said party leader Humberto Costa to Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

Rousseff – a former guerrilla woman tortured and imprisoned during the Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985) – was in favor of opening up the files for public appreciation, but has since reviewed her position to avoid clashes with the opposition. The decision to halt the liberation of papers was made public by Dilma’s Institutional Minister, Ideli Salvati, saying that the government has revised its position.

The decision comes in moment crucial moment as Rousseff goes through great stress after embezzlement accusations and opposition pressure obligated her chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, to step down.

“It is important for this generation to learn what happened during Brazil’s dictatorship. It shouldn’t be a government conflict,” said Costa.

Senate’s leader Sarney, part of the opposition, has been quoted saying that Brazil shouldn’t be transform in a Wikileaks case.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, member of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission rejected Sarney’s views and reported that he “trusted in Dilma’s wisdom and commitment.” The Commission for Deceased and Disappeared Political Victims in Brazil has regretted the decision and expressed “trust” in the Brazilian President.

“We trust Dilma will maintain her commitment to human rights made when she was campaigning for president and recommend the sanctioning of the law giving free access to the information”, said Janaina Teles from the Comission.