Martín Almada (30 January 1937 – 30 March 2024) was a Paraguayan lawyer, writer and educationalist. A noted dissident and human rights activist, he was imprisoned by the

Alfredo Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan politician, army general and Military dictatorship, military dictator who ruled as the 42nd president of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 until his overthrow in 19 ...

regime from 1974 to 1977. He was notable for uncovering the

Archives of Terror An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organi ...

in 1992, which documented repression by Stroessner's regime and proved the existence of

Operation Condor Operation Condor (; ) was a campaign of political repression by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America, involving intelligence operations, coups, and assassinations of left-wing sympathizers in South America which fo ...

Biography

Almada was born in 1937 in Puerto La Esperanza, in the Alto Paraguay Department, but moved with his family to San Lorenzo, near the capital

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

, when he was six. After he had finished his studies in educational science in 1963, he founded the educational institution "Juan Bautista Alberdi" in San Lorenzo and the "Centro de Animación Sociocultural". He then embarked on a law degree and graduated in 1968. In 1972, he became the president of the Association of Educationalists of San Lorenzo, a local action group that received support from other sections of society and positioned itself in opposition to the dictatorship ruling Paraguay at the time.

Prisoner

At that time, Almada graduated from the University of La Plata in Argentina as a doctor of educational science. His thesis on education in his home country was sent to the government in Paraguay (an act of information exchange as part of

). As a result, Almada's work was rejected by the regime of

and he was imprisoned as a political prisoner in 1974, nearly tortured to death, and kept in prison for about three and a half years. His wife was killed (according to his book – after being tortured) as were two of his followers. His wife being under a house arrest, was forced to listen over the telephone to her husband's cries as he was tortured. She died after the political police falsely told her Martín had died and "presented" her a loincloth covered with blood with nails they said were used to remove his fingernails. In prison he increasingly grew anti-fascist and anti-imperialist.

Release

A campaign by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

resulted in Almada's release in 1977. Almada wrote in his book that this was facilitated by a wide range of organizations: the Committee of Churches of Paraguay, the Human Rights Commission of Paraguay, the Episcopal Conference of Paraguay and the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

. Almada went into exile with his mother and his children, at first in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and wrote a book ''Paraguay: The Forgotten Prison, the Country in Exile'' about torture he and, most importantly, others suffered and whose names and faces he well remembers, and the extensive network of corruption through which the country was "run" by a dictatorship dedicated to an absurd

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

in the practical absence of any communist movement worth speaking of, actually a mask for the suppression of any even marginally left-leaning idea or practice. In 2020, Almada was the subject of book ''Opération Condor'' written by French author Pablo Daniel Magee. Almada's book has raised debate about

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

all over the world. In 1986, he worked for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

until 1992, when he returned to Paraguay. There he concentrated on the publication of papers of the dictatorship that reveal its repression and torture and in 1992, he finally uncovered the Archives of Terror.

Archives of Terror

In 1992 Almada and his team discovered five tons of documents at the Department of Investigations, Lambaré which revealed dire practices of the

dictatorship and links to the US government's CIA agents' involvement in

Southern Cone The Southern Cone (, ) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bounded on the west by the Pac ...

countries at the time.'''' He claimed that it had provided military assistance to ruling Paraguayan and Chilean regimes. After making the discovery, Almada, in the presence of many Paraguayan human rights advocates, farm and political leaders, made efforts to defend victims' rights to compensation and justice.'''' Later in 1993 he also protested against allowing American assistance in cataloguing and microfilming the archive.''''

Death

Almada died on 30 March 2024, at the age of 87.

Awards

Almada received several awards for his courage and work, including the prize "Antorcha a la libertad" of the Libre Foundation in Asunción in 1999 and the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob vo ...

in 2002.

''Paraguay: The Forgotten Prison, the Country in Exile''

In his book he outlined names of 397 prisoners held at the Emboscada "Concentration Camp" in 1977–1979.''''

Publications

* ''Paraguay: The Forgotten Prison, the Country in Exile,'' can be downloaded fro
Martín Almada's website
Versions are available in English, Italian and Spanish.

References

El Reino del Terror: Un caso insolito vivido durante el reinado de Alfredo Stroessner, dictador de Paraguay 1954 - 1989. Con la introducción del Dr. Martín Almada.
Kim Ekemar (November 18, 2015)
Stroessner & the Reign of Terror: The harrowing story of the longest-ruling dictator in South America during the 20th century and the US involvement in Operation Condor, conceived by Henry Kissinger. Introduction by Dr. Martín Almada.
Kim Ekemar (May 3, 2024)

External links

Martín Almada website
2002

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almada, Martin 1937 births 2024 deaths Paraguayan people of Portuguese descent Operation Condor Paraguayan educational theorists Paraguayan exiles Paraguayan human rights activists Paraguayan prisoners and detainees