Torture in Brazil: A Shocking Report on the Pervasive Use of Torture by Brazilian Military Governments, 1964-1979, Secretly Prepared by the Archiodese of São Paulo (LLILAS Special Publications)

In the military regime that ruled Brazil for 21 years, beginning in 1964, torture was so common a tactic of repression that military personnel were instructed in how to conduct it, with political prisoners used as "guinea pigs" for class exercises. In this grim book, originally published in Portuguese as Brazil: Nunca Mais (Brazil: Never Again) in 1985, human-rights activists published evidence--surreptitiously collected documents of actual military court trials--that showed not only the extent of torture, but the complicity of the judicial branch, which knew that many confessions were falsely obtained under duress. With relentless detail, the documents discuss who was tortured, what instruments were used to exact pain, and the physical, psychological, and moral consequences of brutal abuse, with the aim of forcing acknowledgment of the atrocities and creating an environment where reform and progress can be achieved, where people feel represented by their government rather than live in fear of it. As the man who at the time was archbishop of São Paulo writes in his preface, "This entire book is written in blood and with much love for our country."