Report (1978) IACHR. Case No. 1783 (Uruguay)

• Case Number: 1783
• Alleged Victim: Hugo Leonardo de los Santos Mendoza
• Respondent State: Uruguay
• Court: Inter-American Comission of Human Rights
• Case Type: Merits

Case 1783 URUGUAY WHEREAS: In a communication dated October 2, 1975, the following was denounced: As is our custom, we do not deal in unconfirmed accounts; rather, we are enclosing the denunciation of a death by torture which occurred in a facility of the Armed Forces of our country, according to the documentation that could be compiled on the case. It involves a young student, Hugo Leonardo de los Santos Mendoza. Attached please find an account given by the Dean of the School of Medicine of Montevideo, Dr. Pablo V. Calevaro, and testimony given by the Forensic Physician of the Joint Forces, Dr. José Alejandro Mautone, which lives a summary of the protocol of autopsy. If we shuddered when we learned the news, our feelings of revulsion, powerlessness and indignation reached their peak when we learned through a member of the family of the deceased who is a physician and who was present when the body was identified, how this young student of agronomy was murdered. First let me say that when the body was turned over, it was said that the young man had died of pneumonia; on the other hand, the death certificate issued by the physician said that he had died of 'acute pulmonary edema.' The members of the family were able to detect signs of punishment on the body of the victim and filed a complaint before the Judge of the Department of Rocha, who handled the situation with complete professional dignity. Steps were taken to have the body identified by university professionals who were carefully selected by the judge from among individuals who knew the student because they lived in Rocha and who are known not to be militantly and systematically opposed to the Government. Among them were a number of court clerks, lawyers, and physicians. The autopsy report was signed by five physicians. The report confirmed that pulmonary edema was not the cause of death, so the death certificate issued is false. Acute pulmonary edema is a condition that sets in rapidly and is brought about by heart failure; it leaves unmistakable marks on the lungs and has its counterpart in changes to the heart muscle itself. That cause of death can be disregarded entirely, which is not surprising because a young man of 21 years of age and in good health, who attended the School of Agronomy (near the site where he was detained), could not have developed such a condition; an individual who dies of acute pulmonary edema is most assuredly not physically capable of carrying on a normal life such as this young man did. It was also possible to verify something else that is equally serious as this falsehood: an omission was discovered. In the autopsy that was conducted possibly in the Morgue of the Military Hospital, no autopsy was done on the skull, despite the subcutaneous blood clotting, the hematomas, and the evidence of external lesions on the face and skull. And, in fact, the true cause of death was an intra-cranial hematoma, located in the posterior fossa where the cerebellum is housed. This was a hematoma resulting from a trauma, most assuredly caused by blows of which there are abundant signs over the entire body. Subcutaneous blood clotting was found in the frontal region, the right and left temporal region, with a hematoma lodged in the temporal muscle on the left side, abrasions on both cheekbones and scrapes on the left mastoid region and chin. Also found were large areas of abrasions and subcutaneous blood clotting in the upper members and particularly on both elbows. The same characteristics were found on the knees, particularly on the left knee and the right thigh. There was subcutaneous blood clotting on both buttocks and multiple abrasions which indicated that the student was most likely dragged over a rough surface, such as gravel. There were also wounds on the thoracic-abdominal area in the form of subcutaneous blood clotting and multiple and extensive hematomas. Thus, this is not merely a death and it is not simply a question of a young life. It is more than just the case of a student who is worthy of the praise given him by Council of the School of Agronomy, this is not simply the case of an individual who has not been found, beyond any reasonable doubt, to have committed a crime and who was not questioned by any judge. This is the case of an individual apprehended in a state of health and returned dead after having undergone tremendous punishment and torture for who knows how long, with marks on his body that bespeak the cruelty, the pathology, the malignancy, the barbarity and the savagery that, because of the acts committed, in some way typify his captors. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in a note dated December 12, 1973, transmitted the pertinent parts of the denunciation to the Government of Uruguay, and requested that it provide the appropriate information; Having received no reply, the Commission repeated its request for information to that Government and quoted the text of Article 51 of its Regulations, in a note dated 3 June 1974; The Government of Uruguay, in a note dated June 28, 1974, informed the Commission as follows: As it has been impossible, because of a number of circumstances beyond my Government's control, to provide the information on this case within the period provided for under Article 51 of the Regulations of that Commission, I would like to request of the Chairman, in accordance with instructions received, that that deadline be extended for ninety days. The Commission, in a note dated July 8,...