36.4.2: Years Under the Military Regime

The Brazilian military government was an authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from April 1, 1964 to March 15, 1985. It began with the 1964 coup d’etat led by armed forces against the administration of the President Joao Goulart, who had previously served as Vice President and assumed the office of the presidency following the resignation of democratically-elected Janio Quadros. The military revolt was fomented by the governors of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, and Guanabara. The coup was supported by the Embassy and State Department of the United States. The fall of President Goulart worried many citizens. Many students, Catholics, Marxists, and workers formed groups that opposed military rule. A minority even engaged in direct armed struggle, although the vast majority of the resistance supported political solutions to the mass suspension of human rights. In the first few months after the coup, thousands of people were detained, and thousands of others were removed from their civil service or university positions.

The military dictatorship lasted for almost 21 years despite initial pledges to the contrary. In 1967, it enacted a new, restrictive constitution that stifled freedom of speech and political opposition. The regime adopted as its guidelines nationalism, economic development, and anti-communism.

Establishing the Regime

Within the Army, agreement could not be reached as to a civilian politician who could lead the government after the ouster of President Joao Goulart. On April 9, 1964, the coup leaders published the First Institutional Act, which greatly limited the freedoms of the 1946 constitution. Under the act, the President was granted authority to remove elected officials from office, dismiss civil servants, and revoke political rights of those found guilty of subversion or misuse of public funds for up to 10 years. Three days after the publication of the act, Congress elected Army Chief of Staff, Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco to serve as president for the remainder of Goulart’s term. Castelo Branco had intentions of overseeing radical reforms to the political-economic system, but refused to remain in power beyond the remainder of Goulart’s term or to institutionalize the military as a governing body. Although he intended to return power to elected officials at the end of Goulart’s term, competing demands radicalized the situation.

Military hardliners wanted to completely purge the left-wing and populist influences for the duration of Castelo Branco’s reforms. Civilians with leftist leanings criticized Castelo Branco for the extreme actions he took to implement reforms, whereas the military hardliners felt Castelo Branco was acting too lenient. On October 27, 1965, after two opposition candidates won in two provincial elections, Castelo Branco signed the Second Institutional Act, which set the stage for a purge of Congress, removing objecting state governors and expanding the President’s arbitrary powers at the expense of the legislative and judiciary branches. This not only provided Castelo Branco with the ability to repress the left, but also provided a legal framework for the hard line authoritarian rules of Artur da Costa e Silva (1967-69) and Emilio Garrastazu Medici (1969-74).

Tanks occupy President Vargas Avenue: A column of M41 Walker Bulldog tanks along the streets of Rio de Janeiro in April 1968. These events were part of a series of building-up tensions between the people and the regime that led to further repressive polices in December 1968.

Rule of the Hardliners

Castelo Branco was succeeded to the presidency by General Artur da Costa e Silva, a hardliner within the regime. Experimental artists and musicians formed the Tropicalia movement during this time, and some major popular musicians such as Gilberto Gil and Caetano Velsos were either arrested, imprisoned, or exiled. Widespread student protests also abounded during this period. In response, on December 13, 1968, Costa e Silva signed the Fifth Institutional Act, which gave the president dictatorial powers, dissolved Congress and the state legislatures, suspended the constitution, ended democratic government, suspended habeas corpus, and imposed censorship. The military government had already been using various forms of torture as early as 1964 in order to gain information as well as intimidate and silence potential opponents. This radically increased after 1968.

“Tortura Nunca Mais””: Monument to the victims of torture in Recife.

On August 31, 1969, Costa e Silva suffered a stroke. Instead of his vice president assuming the office of the presidency, all state power was assumed by the military, which then chose General Emilio Garrastazu Medici, another hardliner, as president. During his presidency, Medici sponsored the greatest human rights abuses of the time period. Persecution and torture of dissidents, harassment against journalists, and press censorship became ubiquitous. A succession of kidnappings of foreign ambassadors in Brazil embarrassed the military government. Reactions such as anti-government manifestations and guerrilla movements generated increasing repressive measures in turn. By the end of 1970, the official minimum wage went down to US $40 a month, and as a result, the more than one-third of the Brazilian workforce that made minimum wage lost approximately half their purchasing power in relation to 1960 levels.

Nevertheless, Medici was popular because his term was met with the largest economic growth of any Brazilian President, a period of time popularly known as the Brazilian Miracle. The military entrusted economic policy to a group of technocrats led by Minister of Finance Delfim Netto. During these years, Brazil became an urban society with 67% of people living in cities. The government became directly involved in the economy, investing heavily in new highways, bridges, and railroads. Steel mills, petrochemical factories, hydroelectric power plants, and nuclear reactors were also built by large state-owned companies like Eletrobras and Petrobras. To reduce reliance on imported oil, the ethanol industry was heavily promoted.

By 1980, 57% of Brazil’s exports were industrial goods compared to 20% in 1968. Additionally, average annual GDP growth was close to 10%. Comparatively, during President Goulart’s rule, the economy had been nearing a crisis, with annual inflation reaching 100%. Additionally, Medici presented the First National Development Plan in 1971, which aimed at increasing the rate of economic growth, particularly in the Northeast and Amazonia. Brazil also won the 1970 Football World Cup, promoting national pride and Brazil’s international profile.

Attributions

• Years Under the Military Regime
  • “Habeas corpus.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Brazilian Miracle.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Miracle. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Brazilian military government.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_military_government. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Tanques_ocupam_a_Avenida_Presidente_Vargas2C_1968-04-04.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanques_ocupam_a_Avenida_Presidente_Vargas,_1968-04-04.jpg. Wikimedia Commons Public domain.
  • “Monumento_Tortura_Nunca_Mais_-_Recife.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monumento_Tortura_Nunca_Mais_-_Recife.jpg. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0.