The Congress of the Disappeared
A drama in prose
“They came forward gradually, most of them alone, just as they had been during the times of clandestinity. They looked shocked by surroundings they were unused to, by the scenes of misery and destitution which had shocked me too, particularly striking there in the cathedral square, and at the foot of the stairs. They looked as if they had just awoken from a deep sleep. Those who had been killed in massacres arrived together, in groups.
“They came from all corners of the country. From the Northeast came the disappeared from the Peasant Leagues, from the North the young combatants from the Araguaia campaign, from the Southeast the comrades from National Liberation Action, and from the South the soldiers from the regiment who had joined the Popular Revolutionary Vanguard, as well as six from Onofre Pinto’s group who had been killed in Iguaçu National Park. Onofre led them; he had the same prominent forehead and lofty gaze as in the old days. Some of the most well-known came from Rio: Rubens, Tuti and the leaders of the party, David and Roman.
“At last the Brazil of the disappeared revealed itself.”
This novella traces a line from the state violence of Brazil’s military dictatorship (and since) to the genocide and slavery of the colonial period in Latin America. It calls for us to rescue the victims from historical oblivion, especially the disappeared, for whom no funerals have been possible, giving them a voice to challenge the non-existence to which they were consigned, and the impunity granted to the perpetrators of an ongoing crime.
Series: Latin America Bureau Books
Published: 2025
Pages: 132
eBook: 9781788534253
Paperback: 9781788534222
“They came from all corners of the country. From the Northeast came the disappeared from the Peasant Leagues, from the North the young combatants from the Araguaia campaign, from the Southeast the comrades from National Liberation Action, and from the South the soldiers from the regiment who had joined the Popular Revolutionary Vanguard, as well as six from Onofre Pinto’s group who had been killed in Iguaçu National Park. Onofre led them; he had the same prominent forehead and lofty gaze as in the old days. Some of the most well-known came from Rio: Rubens, Tuti and the leaders of the party, David and Roman.
“At last the Brazil of the disappeared revealed itself.”
This novella traces a line from the state violence of Brazil’s military dictatorship (and since) to the genocide and slavery of the colonial period in Latin America. It calls for us to rescue the victims from historical oblivion, especially the disappeared, for whom no funerals have been possible, giving them a voice to challenge the non-existence to which they were consigned, and the impunity granted to the perpetrators of an ongoing crime.
| Foreword By David Treece | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Congress of the Disappeared: A drama in prose | |||
| Afterword | |||
| Acknowledgements | |||
| Glossary of names, places and events |
Bernardo Kucinski
Bernardo Kucinski is a Brazilian journalist and political scientist, professor at the University of São Paulo.
Tom Gatehouse Tom Gatehouse has an MPhil in Latin American Studies from Cambridge University. A writer who has lived and worked in Argentina and Brazil, Tom heads LAB’s Voices Team.
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