Between 1974 and 1976, the Russell Tribunal (created in 1966 to investigate the US intervention in Vietnam) met to probe the crimes committed by the dictatorial regimes across Latin America. The work of this second tribunal, called ‘Repression in Latin America’, counted on the participation of internationally renowned intellectuals, such as Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez and James Petras, and brought together hundreds of testimonies and pieces of documentation.
The Tribunal met for three sessions (in Rome from 30th March to 6th April 1974, in Brussels from 11th to 18th January 1975, and in Rome again from 10th to 17th January 1976). Several people who presented their testimonies of the crimes of the Southern Cone dictatorships were later assassinated or disappeared. Such is the case of the Uruguayan politician, Zelmar Michelini and militant, Norma Scopice.