And despite all of this, one of the formulas that was used to move things forward during the transition was that the apartheid system was a good idea that had gone bad. In other words, a clear denial. So I don't say that overcoming denial is indispensable for achieving peace. There's no perfect recipe. But I do think it's an obstacle to change.
Outside mediators are often fundamental.
Another very important mechanism is the truth commission, which provides a symbolic place in which the past can be addressed. And here an important distinction must be made. However, there's a literal denial that consists of saying that there are no missing persons, or what is denied is the meaning of the information. In other words, the information is admitted, but it is said that they were kidnapped by the guerrillas, that they escaped, that they are the result of excesses and not a systematic, deliberated plan. This is more complicated in the overall society, as we can see in Argentina or Chile in the case of missing persons.