"A benchmark in the defense of human rights" ; "A serious and studious parliamentarian" ; "A great comrade"… Throughout the day of Sunday, April 19, tributes to Felipe Michelini have multiplied on social networks. The entire Uruguayan political class, up to President Luis Lacalle Pou (center right, in power since 1er March), was moved by the death of the former parliamentarian.
Deputy of Nuevo Espacio ("new space" in Spanish, party member of the center-left coalition Frente amplio) in the House of Representatives between 1994 and 2015, Felipe Michelini died on Sunday, at the age of 59, following of a domestic accident. He had been hospitalized since April 7 in a clinic specializing in the treatment of burn victims in Montevideo and had been plunged into an artificial coma.
"I thank very much, on behalf of the family, those who addressed words of affection to Felipe (…). For health reasons, farewells will be made in a family setting ”, Felipe Michelini’s older brother Rafael Michelini wrote on Twitter, referring to the coronavirus epidemic. As of April 19, Uruguay, a small country of 3.5 million people, had 517 confirmed cases of Covid-19, 10 of which were fatal. "We will soon have the opportunity to pay him the tribute he deserves"said Rafael Michelini, also a former deputy and senator for Nuevo Espacio and the Frente amplio, a coalition of ex-presidents Tabare Vazquez and José Mujica.
Born in January 1961 in Montevideo into a politicized family, Felipe Michelini was one of ten children of Elisa Delle Piane and Zelmar Michelini, both engaged in politics and human rights activists. Co-founder of Frente amplio in the early 1970s, Zelmar Michelini actively campaigned against the military dictatorship in Uruguay (1973-1985), responsible for the disappearance and death of nearly 200 people according to human rights organizations. man. The father of Rafael and Felipe is one of these victims: Zelmar Michelini was assassinated in May 1976 in Buenos Aires as part of Operation Condor, a secret collaboration between the dictatorships of South America to organize torture, repression and the assassination of political opponents.
International justice specialist
After studying law and social sciences at the University of the Republic (Montevideo), as well as in Columbia (New York), Felipe Michelini became a lawyer, specializing in the defense of human rights and international justice . The organization Mothers and Relatives of Detained and Missing Uruguayans, in which Felipe Michelini has long campaigned, praised his work: "We thank him and remember his commitment to the research and construction of the Nunca mas ("Never again" in Spanish, a slogan adopted by human rights organizations after the end of the dictatorship) "
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