Like many first-generation Latinx people living in the United States, I grew up hearing stories of liberation movements, government brutality, extreme political unrest, and the life-or-death decision to leave home. Listening to my father’s stories of the coup d’état and authoritarian civic-military dictatorship in Uruguay that drove him to flee his homeland, I can’t ignore the stark contrasts I experience while protesting for freedom, human rights, and justice.
Uruguay may be seen as the progressive darling of Latin America for the country’s secular legislation, extensive LGBTQ+ rights, dedication to clean energy, legal abortion access, and cannabis legalization, but not long ago the country was known as the torture chamber of Latin America. “State terrorism in Uruguay disrupted the history of the most democratic country in Latin America, leaving a legacy of repression, torture, exile, and the disappearances of 197 people,” Nelson Villarreal Durán, the former Uruguayan Secretary of Human Rights, tells Refinery29 Somos. “Transforming the roles of the state into aggression and violence against citizens legitimized terrorism as a form of public policy.”
– Read the entire article at Refinery.
