Human rights groups believe the files could reveal the fate of about 450 people who disappeared after they were seized by the dictatorship, as well as possibly incriminating government officials still in power. In November, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- a former union leader who was jailed by the military regime -- had ordered the intelligence agency to make the documents public.

Presidential Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff said that the families of people mentioned in the files will have unrestricted access to documents prepared before 1975. More recent documents classified ultra-secret have restricted access for 30 years.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 23, 2005
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