The Law on the Expiration of the Punitive Claims of the State ( es, Ley de Caducidad de la Pretensión Punitiva del Estado), called in short the Expiry Law ( es, Ley de Caducidad) granted an

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

of sorts to the military who eventually committed crimes against humanity during the

civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay The civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay (1973–85), also known as the Uruguayan Dictatorship, was an authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Uruguay for 12 years, from June 27, 1973 (after the U.S. backed 1973 coup d'état) until Mar ...

. It was implemented as an ad-hoc solution to a political crisis with the background of military resistance to the

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an redemocratization process in course. This law was proposed by the first government of

Julio María Sanguinetti Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo (; born 6 January 1936 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan politician, lawyer and journalist, who twice served as President of Uruguay (from March 1985 until March 1990, and again, from March 1995 until Marc ...

, co-written by legislators of the two main political parties,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, supported by the main opposition leader,

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate Wilson Ferreira Aldunate (1919–1988) was a Uruguayan politician and a historically important member of the National Party. Biography He was Minister of Agriculture during the second National Council of Government with Blanco majority (196 ...

, and heavily opposed by the Broad Front and other political and social organizations. It was passed by the Uruguayan Parliament on 22 December 1986 and published with the number 15848. This law was extremely controversial in nature, and was kept in force for a long time: in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and 2009, Uruguayans voted in

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

s and decided twice to keep the law, which detractors considered as plain

impunity Impunity is avoidance of punishment, loss, or other negative consequences for an action. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a d ...

. It was finally repealed in 2011 by law number 18831.

References

External links

Texto de la Ley 15.848 de la Caducidad de la Pretensión Punitiva del Estado.

1986 in Uruguay 1986 in politics 1986 in law Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay Law of Uruguay Human rights in Uruguay Julio María Sanguinetti {{Uruguay-hist-stub