Military Dictatorship in Brazil
Brazil has a fascinating history. It originated as a colony of the Portuguese Empire, and later gained its own independence. There have many different governmental periods in Brazil’s history, including the period of the republic, democratic periods, and finally, periods of military rule.
The beginning of this period can be traced to the election of Janio Quadros as president, who had based his electoral campaign upon criticisms of the right wing Juscelino Kubitscheck and the government corruption that had developed under his command. Thought Quadros only remained president for a brief period, he made moves to resume relations with several communist countries and instituted several very unusual laws. The most notable of these bizarre laws is one that banned bikinis from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
In August of 1961, as the month was coming to a close, Quadros resigned from the presidency. Apparently his intention was to be reinstated due to popular demand, but the situation took quite a different turn. The vice-president of Brazil, Joao Goulart was also a member of the PTB and so at that time was out of the country on a mission in Asia. The military tried to prevent the nomination of Goulart as president by accusing him a communist. Finally, the crisis was solved by something called the “parliamentarian solution”. The military was placated because the parliamentary system was implemented to reduce Goulart’s presidential powers.
The Brazilian army was unable to find a civilian politician that was acceptable to all the factions that supported the ouster of Joao Goulart. Fifteen days after the military coup, on April 15, 1964, the Army Chief of Staff, Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco was appointed president as he had the intention of overseeing a reform of the political-economic system. however, he would not remain in power past the remainder of Goulart’s term and would not institutionalize the military in power. Competing demands began to radicalize the situation and military hard-liners wanted to completely purge the left-wing and populist influences from the government, even though civilian politicians obstructed these reforms.
Castello Branco also tried to maintain a certain decree of democracy. It is said that his economic reforms paved the way for a Brazilian economic “miracle” that would occur in the next decade. Similar to earlier regime changes, the armed forces’ officer corps was largely divided in terms of opinion. There were those they should confine themselves solely to their profession duties (military duties) and then there were the “hard-liners” who regarded the politicians as willing to turn Brazil to communism. It was the eventual victory of the hard-liners that dragged Brazil into an intense authoritarian situation. However, the hard-liners could not ignore the important argument made by their colleagues about the resistance of society, and in the end they were unable to institutionalize their agenda politically.
This military rule would continue in a state of slight turmoil for many years, and was to have a tremendous affect on the shaping of politics in Brazil. There was also an influential movement of resistance to the military rule.