BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — One of the directors of Brazil’s political repression agency during the country’s long dictatorship says President Dilma Rousseff once wanted to install a communist regime in Latin America’s biggest nation.
Retired army Col. Carlos Ustra spoke Friday during a session of the truth commission investigating human rights abuses during this country’s 1964-1985 military regime.
He said Rousseff “was part of four terrorist organizations that wanted to introduce communism in Brazil.” And he added, “If it weren’t for us … you would be living in a communist regime just like Fidel Castro’s.” The president’s office had no immediate comment.
Rousseff is a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured during the dictatorship.
Ustra denied allegations that he tortured or ordered the torture of political opponents of the regime.
