Conversations about Impunity

Abstract

We have discussed the fragmented knowledge that young people have of the past and have linked this to the legacy of fear and silences. This chapter is about impunity. It explores the cultural scenario of the lack of accountability in a society where hundreds of represores were benefiting from impunity laws.¹ It discusses young people’s feelings of impotence and anger at the absence of justice. It examines patterns revealing a major and lasting distortion of ethical and public values, what I describe as the “normalization” or “naturalization” of living with major human rights abusers, who circulate in public places, appear on television talk shows, become politicians who run for and hold office, or are licensed to parent the children they seized after torturing and disappearing their biological parents. In parallel to participants’ comments on the legal aspects of impunity, I look at how they experience living in a society where these killers and torturers live normal lives, and at how they react to their presence.