The parliamentary debate on the national truth commission in the brazilian national congress

Abstract

This article analyzes the parliamentary debate held at the Brazilian National Congress on the National Commission of Truth (CNV), from the presentation of the project of its creation, in 2011, until the conclusion of its activities, in 2014. The corpus consists of 512 pronouncements, of which 416 were presented by deputies and 96 by senators. The theoretical framework focuses on studies of memory policies and transitional justice. In the debate, the voice of the left parties, favorable to the CNV, prevailed, while the right parties used the silence strategy. Only two army-related lawmakers were against the CNV. While recognizing the importance of the committee's final report, most (left-wing) parliamentarians considered the work insufficient because the commission was based on the search for truth and memory, but avoided doing justice by punishing the torturers.