Full Description
This book addresses current developments in transitional justice in Latin America - effectively the first region to undergo concentrated transitional justice experiences in modern times. Using a comparative approach, it examines trajectories in truth, justice, reparations, and amnesties in countries emerging from periods of massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The book examines the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, developing and applying a common analytical framework to provide a systematic, qualitative and comparative analysis of their transitional justice experiences. More specifically, the book investigates to what extent there has been a shift from impunity towards accountability for past human rights violations in Latin America. Using 'thick', but structured, narratives - which allow patterns to emerge, rather than being imposed - the book assesses how the quality, timing and sequencing of transitional justice mechanisms, along with the context in which they appear, have mattered for the nature and impact of transitional justice processes in the region. Offering a new approach to assessing transitional justice, and challenging many assumptions in the established literature, this book will be of enormous benefit to scholars and others working in this area.
Contents
1. Introduction: the accountability challenge Elin Skaar, Jemima García-Godos and Cath Collins 2. Analytical framework Elin Skaar, Cath Collins, and Jemima García-Godos 3. Argentina: regional protagonist of transitional justice Lorena Balardini 4. Uruguay: halfway towards accountability Francesca Lessa and Elin Skaar 5. Brazil: the tortuous path to truth and justice Glenda Mezarobba 6. Chile: incremental truth, late justice Cath Collins with Boris Hau 7. Paraguay: accountability in the shadow of Stroessner Cath Collins 8. El Salvador: the difficult fight against impunity Elena Martínez Barahona and Martha Liliana Gutiérrez Salazar 9. Guatemala: truth and memory on trial Jemima García-Godos and Luis Raúl Salvadó 10. Peru: beyond paradigmatic cases Jemima García-Godos and Félix Reátegui 11. Colombia: transitional justice before transition Nelson Camilo Sánchez León, Jemima García-Godos, and Catalina Vallejo 12. Conclusions: the uneven road towards accountability in Latin America, Elin Skaar, Cath Collins and Jemima García-Godos
