“Justicia Ya!” Retributive Justice in Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay.

Amnesty laws in Argentina, Uruguay and Peru were passed by civilian governments to prevent prosecution of members of the military and police forces accused of committing human rights violations during periods of military rule and/or internal conflict. Yet victim-survivors and family members of victims, human rights activists and lawyers, and progressive academics continued to seek ways to hold those responsible for rights abuses accountable. In each country, however, local groups have adopted different strategies in their pursuit of retributive justice. The paper will explore the different relationships local groups in each country have developed with transnational human rights networks, how they have sought to relate to international and regional human rights bodies in their pursuit of retributive justice, and how this has shaped local understandings of human rights, justice, and accountability. In Argentina and Peru, where local groups actively sought out alliances with transnational human rights groups and brought cases before international and regional human rights bodies such as the Inter-American Court for Human Rights, the amnesty laws were successfully overturned, and in both countries trials have begun moving forward. In Uruguay, where a civic movement failed to overturn the amnesty law using domestic mechanisms (a referendum), efforts to develop transnational networks and use international mechanisms of redress have developed more slowly, and the amnesty law remains in place. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]