The Brazilian military
government was the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from
March 31, 1964 to March 15, 1985. It began with the 1964 coup d'état led by the
Armed Forces against the democratically elected government of the President
João Goulart and ended when José Sarney took office as President. The military
revolt was fomented by Magalhães Pinto, Adhemar de Barros, and Carlos Lacerda
(who had already participated in the conspiracy to depose Vargas on 1954),
Governors of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, respectively.
Brazil’s military regime provided a model for other military regimes and
dictatorships around Latin America, systematizing the “Doctrine of National
Security,”[1] which "justified" the military’s actions as operating
in the interest of National Security in a time of crisis, creating an
intellectual basis upon which other military regimes relied.[1]
The Brazilian Armed Forces
acquired great political clout after the Paraguayan War. The politicization of
the Armed Forces was evidenced by the Proclamation of the Republic, which
overthrew the Empire, or within Tenentismo (Lieutenants' movement) and the
Revolution of 1930. Tensions escalated again in the 1950s, as important
military circles (the "hard-line militars", old positivists whose
origins could be traced back to the AIB and the Estado Novo) joined the elite,
medium classes and right-wing activists in attempts to stop Presidents
Juscelino Kubitschek and João Goulart from taking office, due to their supposed
alignment with Communist ideology. While Kubitschek proved to be friendly to
capitalist institutions, Goulart promised far-reaching reforms, expropriated
business interests and promoted economical-political neutrality with the USA.
In 1961, Goulart was allowed
to take office, after a legalist campaign, but under an arrangement that
decreased his powers as President with the installation of Parliamentarianism.
The country returned to Presidential government in one year after a referendum,
and, as Goulart's powers grew, it became evident that he would seek to
implement the so said "base reforms" such as land reform and
nationalization of enterprises in various economic sectors (which would remove
the nation from its antique latifundial economy, but that were considered
communist reforms), regardless of assent from established institutions such as
Congress (Goulart had low parliamentarian support, as the USA had financed
UDN's deputies and senators).[2] Society became deeply polarized, with the
elites fearing Brazil would join Cuba as party to the Communist Bloc in Latin
America under Goulart, while many thought that the reforms would boost greatly
the growth of Brazil and end its economical subservience with the USA, or even
that Goulart could be used to increase the popularity of the Communist agenda.
Influential politicians, such as Carlos Lacerda and even Kubitschek, media
moguls (Roberto Marinho, Octávio Frias, Júlio de Mesquita Filho), the Church,
landowners, businessmen, and the middle class[citation needed] called for a
coup d'état by the Armed Forces to remove the government. The old
"hard-line" militars, seeing in that a chance to impose their
Positivist economic program, convinced the loyalists that Jango was a communist
menace.[citation needed]
On April 1, 1964, after a
night of conspiracy, rebel troops made their way to Rio de Janeiro, considered
a legalist bastion. São Paulo's and Rio de Janeiro's generals were convinced to
join the coup. To prevent a civil war, and in knowledge that the USA would openly
support the soldiers, ships and weapons, the President fled first to Rio Grande
do Sul, and then went to exile in Uruguay. The military dictatorship lasted for
twenty-one years; despite initial pledges to the contrary, military governments
soon enacted a new, restrictive Constitution, and stifled freedom of speech and
political opposition with support from the U.S. government. The regime adopted
nationalism, economic development, and opposition to Communism as guidelines.
The dictatorship reached the height of its popularity in the 1970s, with the
so-called Brazilian Miracle (helped by much propaganda), even as the regime
censored all media, tortured and banished dissidents. In March 1979, João
Figueiredo made it to President, and combating the "hard-line" while
supporting a re-democratization, he couldn't control the economy's chronic
inflation, which combined with the concurrent fall of other military
dictatorships in South America, gave way to Presidential elections held in 1984
with civilian candidates. He also passed the polemic Amnesty Law for political
crimes committed for and against the regime. Since the 1988 Constitution was
passed and Brazil returned to democracy, the military have stood under
institutional civilian control, with no relevant political role.
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