Workers, students, groups of former political prisoners and artists were among the tens of people that could be seen throughout Montevideo, capital city of the country, asking the population to sign in order to repeal the impunity law, and start changing a part of history.

Mariana Licandro is one of those people who actively participated in this process, which will result in a referendum in which the entire population has to decide. The referendum will take place during the national elections, on October 25th.

Licandro is a student who has been participating for years in the Commission of Human Rights, of the Federation of University Students of Uruguay, FEUU.
She explained that on the one side the process was “difficult and uphill”, because the gathering of signatures started in 2006, and in the last part of the campaign thousands of endorsements were received, which forced to double the efforts so that no one be left aside, although on the other side it was a gratifying experience.

“Luckily, from FEUU, a lot of young people joined, which on the one side is gratifying since it shows that we are many young people interested in tackling impunity. The day when we submitted the signatures was filled with an overwhelming joy for all of us; we celebrated at the University, gathering over 5000 young people with different artists who showed their solidarity, in the same place where during the dictatorship, students Susana Pintos and Hugo de los Santos were shot. This was a moving moment for all of us. It is moving to think of us, young people in our 20s, and although we have a limited freedom, we have the right to express ourselves publically, and people from the student movement during the 60s or 70s never got the chance”, Licandro stated.