On December 3 he passed away Leonardo Vidal Antunez, who had been convicted on August 24, 2021 for the crime of homicide of the Tupamaro militant Nelson Simón Berreta Hernández, and was serving a sentence of 9 years in effective prison.
Vidal Antúnez shot Berreta in the back, who was handcuffed, following the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Sergio Velazco Villanueva (now deceased). Nelson tried to run away after being tortured in Artillery 1 (La Paloma Barracks).
He was being held in the Domingo Arena prison, a prison run by Miguel Moreira Martinez who understood that it was a good idea to write a letter in tribute to Vidal that took public status and generated all kinds of reactions.
“On December 3, 2021, we fired Sergeant Leonardo Vidal. It is not necessary to describe what kind of person he was, because we all knew him in a short or long time. We are very sorry about the situation that left us and how unfair it was, ”the letter begins.
“But I am convinced that we should not mourn the men who died. On the contrary, we must thank God that such men as those who resided and reside here lived and live. Earthly prisons confine the body, but not the soul or mind. Earthly prisons cannot bind the spirit. That is why Sergeant Leonardo Vidal Antunez, your spirit today enjoys Freedom. May God have you in glory ”, concludes the letter written by Moreira Martínez.
This generated a strong reaction in social networks criticizing that the director of the penitentiary center dedicated to the repressors of the dictatorship has paid a tribute of this type through a letter that he even deigned to sign.
The senator and leader of the Open Council, Guido Manini Ríos, also came out to defend Vidal, who denounced the Uruguayan Justice. “Today Sergeant Leonardo Vidal died in prison. Prisoner because in 1972, in a democracy, as a soldier, he carried out the order to shoot a seditious man who was fleeing. He was tried at the time and acquitted. Half a century later he was tried for the second time. Revenge disguised as justice !! ”, wrote in a tweet the legislator and notorious leader of the multicolored coalition.
The FA asks for explanations
The Interior Ministry has said little about the ongoing investigation, although more than two weeks have passed since the event. That is why the broad front group of legislators made a request for information because the letter “expresses praiseworthy concepts” to a convicted murderer.
“It is not necessary to describe what kind of person he was, because we all knew him in a short or long time. We are very sorry for the situation that abandoned us and how unfair it was, ”said the Broad Front.
For the opposition bench, “without a doubt, from the complete reading of the note it appears that for the director Miguel Moreira Martínez, the country, through the Justice, committed an injustice to the military, and that on the contrary to receive punishment for his conduct, for his trajectory in life, we must all thank God that men like him have resided and do reside in our country ”.
They also point out that “there is no doubt that the meaning of the note on the part of the director is to pay tribute to a convicted person incarcerated in the prison that he directs.”
The legislators of the left-wing force remarked that “without a doubt, these assessments referred to a convicted person by the Justice of our country, by an official of the Ministry of the Interior and therefore subject to hierarchy, generate deep concern in us.”
With the request for information they intend to know “if this opinion due to the death of the retired military officer Leonardo Vidal is his thought about the total number of inmates in his custody”, since “it is nothing less than an element that the government should explain.”
