A serviço da vida: a influência da igreja católica na formação do movimento nacional de defesa dos direitos humanos (1982-1986)

Abstract

As a result of a particular conjuncture of the Roman Church and also the proliferation of despotic regimes in Latin America, part of the Brazilian Catholic Church started defending Human Rights, especially in the 1970’s. The persistence of these sectors stimulated the formation of groups interested in the promotion of the Human Rights throughout the country. They were Centros de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos, Comissões de Direitos Humanos e Comissões de Justiça e Paz that, in the first years of the 1980’s, originated the Movimento Nacional de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos (MNDDH). In this research we contemplate the development of the Movimento Nacional de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos during the final years of the military dictatorship in Brazil, specifically between 1982 and 1986. This period was chosen because it corresponds to the years of the movement’s organization and until it was officialized in 1986. By evaluating of the association’s speech and considering the influence of the principles of the Liberation Theology in the elements that were part of its identity, we intend over all to understand how the mentioned organization became an important space of militant Catholics in the examined period.