The Brazilian Federal Police arrested former Uruguayan colonel Pedro Antônio Narbondo Mato, known as 'El Burro,' in Sant'Ana do Livramento, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Narbondo had been sentenced to life in prison by the Italian justice system for torture and for the murder of political opponents during Operation Condor, a clandestine alliance among South American military regimes in the 1970s and 1980s.
The arrest followed an unprecedented decision by Brazil's Superior Court of Justice (STJ) ordering the sentence to be served in Brazil. Fantástico, from TV Globo, reported on the details of the ruling. It is the first time that Brazilian justice has ordered the imprisonment of someone convicted of human rights violations committed during the military dictatorship. Because Brazilian law does not provide for life imprisonment, the Italian sentence was converted into 30 years of imprisonment.
Narbondo was located and detained while waiting for his vehicle to be repaired at a workshop in the city near the Uruguayan border. Decades earlier, he had operated at the clandestine center known as 'Automotores Orletti,' an old mechanic's workshop in Buenos Aires that the dictatorship turned into a site for torture and executions of militants.
Deputy Prosecutor Artur Gueiros highlighted the historical significance of the measure, saying Brazilians can now tell their children and grandchildren that someone in Brazil is paying for the crimes of the dictatorship. Among the victims attributed to Narbondo is young Uruguayan metalworker Bernardo Arnone, who disappeared in 1976 in the Argentine capital at the age of 24. A member of the opposition to the military regime in his country, Bernardo had gone into exile in Argentina after the arrests of militants began. His sister, Cristina Arnone, recalled that he left home at 7:30 a.m., said he would return at midday, and never came back.
Narbondo was part of the Uruguayan repressive apparatus and received training at the School of the Americas, a military academy maintained by the United States. In a 1997 Fantástico report, journalist Pedro Bial described the institution's reputation as a 'school of torturers, school of assassins.' Narbondo earned the nickname 'El Burro' because of the extreme violence and brutality he used against political prisoners during torture sessions. Jair Krischke, founder of the Movement for Justice and Human Rights (MJDH), said Operation Condor was a joining of repressive apparatuses from countries in the region to capture those who opposed the established dictatorships.
After investigations advanced in Uruguay, Narbondo fled to Brazil and obtained recognition of Brazilian citizenship because his mother had been born in the country. In testimony to the courts, the former military officer admitted the maneuver. The strategy was intended to prevent his extradition, relying on constitutional protection granted to natural-born Brazilians and on the Amnesty Law. Gueiros explained that Brazil's Constitution prohibits the extradition of natural-born Brazilians, so Narbondo had hoped to remain unpunished.
The former colonel lived discreetly for more than 20 years on a quiet street in Sant'Ana do Livramento. The peaceful routine surprised neighbors. One resident said no one would have anything negative to say about him, while another said he was in a state of shock when he learned about the crimes and realized Narbondo was his next-door neighbor.
The accusation against Narbondo gained notoriety from 1999, when relatives of the victims turned to the Italian justice system. The European court took on the case under the principle of international jurisdiction to investigate serious crimes against people of Italian origin committed in countries where agents remained unpunished. While seeking evidence, Cristina Arnone and Italian prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo traveled to the United States, which supported the region's military governments, to examine declassified secret documents. The prosecutor said Cristina was one of the most active people in the investigations, knew the facts well, and helped him understand them.
The fugitive's exact location in Brazil was discovered years later, when Narbondo's wife posted photographs of a trip the couple took to the Northeast on social media. Krischke identified the whereabouts and formally notified European authorities. After Narbondo received a final life sentence in Rome, the Italian government sent an official request in 2022 for the sentence to be executed in Brazil. The STJ's analysis was driven by the precedent set in the case of former footballer Robinho, who was convicted of rape in Italy and imprisoned in Brazil to serve the foreign sentence.
Narbondo's defense said he has 'debilitated health' and that it intends to challenge the decision at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), citing the statute of limitations and the applicability of the Amnesty Law. The former military officer was initially taken to the penitentiary in Sant'Ana do Livramento. Less than a week after the arrest, however, the court accepted the lawyers' request and authorized his transfer to house arrest.
For Bernardo Arnone's family, the enforcement of the prison sentence closes five decades of seeking justice. His sister said Bernardo was politically active because he believed in the struggle for a better world and celebrated that, after 50 years of battle, they had succeeded.
Sources: G1.