The Centro de Documentación y Archivo (CDyA) opened police files to the public following Paraguay’s 35-year military dictatorship. The Paraguayan constitution, like those of five other Latin American countries, includes the right of habeas data. This right allows former prisoners to control data collected about them and their experiences. In 1992, former political prisoner Martin Almada filed a petition to access his own file. With a local judge’s support, he discovered thousands of detention records at a police station in Lambare.
Paraguayan Detention Archives Aid Prosecution
These files document prisoners’ detention experiences in detail, including torture and other human rights violations. They have helped corroborate individuals’ accounts of detention during Latin American dictatorships, confirm the disappearance of citizens, and serve as evidence in prosecuting former police and military personnel.
The Paraguayan courts, including the Supreme Court, eventually ordered public access to the files. Now under CDyA’s control, the archive is open to researchers, investigators, human rights activists, and the public. CDyA has used these files to build legal cases, organize tribunals to prosecute chief perpetrators of state-sponsored torture and illegal detention, and inform the Paraguayan truth commission’s work. As a result, 20 officials have been successfully prosecuted. The archive also supported the case for General Augusto Pinochet’s extradition from Great Britain to Spain in 1998.
CDyA has transferred 90% of the archive material to microfilm and is currently digitizing it. Additionally, the group is working to have the archives included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
In Paraguay, the Centro de Documentación y Archivo (CDyA) uses habeas data—a law granting former prisoners the right to access and control documents about their own cases—to create an "archive of terror." This archive provides detailed records of human rights abuses, aiding victims and supporting justice. While Paraguay's files were found accidentally, other countries, like Germany and Eastern Europe, have intentionally opened secret police files. Germany’s independent Gauck Authority manages these records, allowing victims but not the public to access them. This approach serves as a self-checking mechanism, unlike the Czech model, which lacks victim access and has faced criticism for its selective openness.
New Tactics in Human Rights does not advocate for or endorse specific tactics, policies or issues.
