asylum 2007

About the movie

This documentary focuses on a little-known episode in the recent history of Uruguay: how hundreds of Uruguayan citizens took refuge in the Mexican embassy at the time of the military dictatorship. Between 1975 and 1976, Mexico was the only country whose embassy gave shelter to people persecuted by the regime, and this sparked off a difficult period in the relations between the two nations. We learn about conditions at the embassy at that time and how the fugitives lived. Sixteen of the men and women involved talk about what that period was like and the events that led up to this confrontation between the two countries. The documentary is also a homage to the Mexican ambassador, don Vicente Muñoz Arroyo.