In a country that prides itself on its consolidated democracy, the appointment of a legal professional to the General Command of the Army has become the perfect pretext for a witch hunt.
Lawyer Graciela Lourdes Figueredo Vázquez, with an impeccable track record of service as an incorporated reservist, was confirmed on May 11, 2025, by resolution of the Minister of National Defense, Sandra Lazo, as legal advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Army, General Mario Stevenazzi.
A technical, administrative, and legitimate decision. But for certain sectors of the militant left —those who self-proclaim as the exclusive guardians of “memory” and “Never Again”— this is intolerable. Because Figueredo does not think like them.
Because she has defended, with legal rigor, military personnel and police officers prosecuted or convicted for past events. And because, in public forums and analyses, she has questioned the evidentiary solidity of some crimes against humanity cases, arguing that testimonies cannot be erected as revealed truth when material evidence is lacking.
The reaction was swift. Mothers and Relatives of the Disappeared issued a damning statement: they denounce, repudiate, and demand, in practice, the head of the lawyer. They accuse her of “legal tricks” to prolong processes and of putting “the institutional narrative of democratic commitment in jeopardy.”
Translation: anyone who does not subscribe to their unique version of recent history does not deserve to be close to the commander-in-chief of the Army. It does not matter that Figueredo has served in the General Command itself until her mandatory retirement due to age in February 2025.
It does not matter that her appointment as a reservist includes a military salary paid with general revenues, in a perfectly legal framework. What matters is her thinking. Her original sin: having exercised the technical defense of clients who, for them, are “repressors” without nuances or the right to defense.
This is not a debate about human rights. It is pure and simple political persecution, disguised as moralism. The same left that today occupies the Ministry of Defense —under a government of the Broad Front— sees with panic that someone who does not repeat the official mantra survives in the Armed Forces.
