Servicio Paz y Justicia

(SERPAJ)

   / Peace and Justice Service

   A pan-Latin American human-rights organization founded in 1971. Since 1974, it has been led by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, an Argentine and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Although committed to social justice and liberation theology, SERPAJ is ecumenical and not affiliated with any church. It has branches in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and other countries of Latin America. During the years of military rule, SERPAJ-Argentina provided material and legal support to the victims of state violence, especially the poor. SERPAJ-Chile, founded in 1977, concentrated on organizing at the grassroots level, promoting nonviolent action through workshops and seminars, neighborhood groups, and networks. Its efforts helped form the Movimiento contra la Tortura Sebastián Acevedo (Sebastián Acevedo Movement against Torture). SERPAJ-Uruguay, founded in 1981, gained international attention for promoting human rights throughout the region. Although closed by the military in 1983, SERPAJ-Uruguay continued its work, helping to form other human-rights groups and participating in the Concertación Nacional Programática (CONAPRO), a 1984 joint party agreement calling for truth and justice upon the country’s return to democratic rule. The promise of CONAPRO was never fulfilled—President Julio María Sanguinetti did not sign it. Nevertheless, SERPAJ-Uruguay joined with the Instituto de Estudios Legales y Sociales (IELSUR), another Uruguayan human-rights group, to produce the report Uruguay nunca más (1989), an account of human-rights violations committed from 1972 to 1985.