Carlos Lacerda: who was it, trajectory, death

Carloslacerda was an extremely popular Brazilian journalist and politician in the 1950s and 1960s. Communist in his youth, he became ultra-conservative and one of the great names of the National Democratic Union (UDN) during the democratic period that existed in Brazil between 1946 and 1964. He was also a strong supporter of the coup and articulated coups in Brazil in 1954, 1955, 1961 and 1964.

Accessalso: Castello Branco government - the first government of the Military Dictatorship

family origin

Carlos Frederico Werneck de Lacerda, better known only as Carlos Lacerda, was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, then capital of Brazil, on the day April 30, 1914. Despite being born in Rio de Janeiro, he was registered in Vassouras, a municipality in the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Carlos Lacerda was one of the great representatives of conservatism in Brazil during the 1950s.[1]

Carlos Lacerda was the son of Maurício de Paiva de Lacerda, a journalist and communist politician who was part of the National Liberation Alliance in the 1930s. Carlos' mother, in turn, was called Olga Werneck de Lacerda. Carlos Lacerda

belonged to a family of great participation in Brazilian politics.

In addition to his father, who was federal deputy in the 1910s, Carlos Lacerda also had a grandfather who had been a minister during the government of Prudent of Morals and member of the Federal Supreme Court, in addition to uncles who were affiliated with the Communist Party of Brazil, the PCB.

Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)

Youth

Carlos Lacerda had access to a good education and completed his studies in Rio de Janeiro. In 1929, he started to follow in his father's footsteps and went to work as a journalist. In 1932, he started the law course, at the University of Rio de Janeiro. At university, Carlos Lacerda approached the Communists.

Carlos Lacerda's youth was marked by his adherence to communism, being a fervent militant. The young Carlos Lacerda actively participated in the articulation that resulted in the emergence of the Alliance Nacional Libertadora (ANL), a communist party that emerged in Brazil in the 1930s with a focus on fighting the fascism.

Ironically, the idea of ​​advertising Luís Carlos Prestes as honorary president of the ANL, it started with Carlos Lacerda himself and was accepted immediately. In 1935, the intent Communist, which forced Carlos Lacerda to stay hidden for some time because of his connections with the ANL. However, he did not participate in this uprising.

In 1937, with the coup of the new state, Carlos Lacerda was arrested, but remained in prison for a few months. From 1938 to 1944, he dedicated himself to the work of a journalist, working for different newspapers and magazines. In 1939, he definitively broke with communism and even wrote articles for the DIP, the Press and Advertising Department of the Estado Novo dictatorship. Lacerda's article said that the coup led by Getúlio Vargas in 1937 was responsible for destroying communism in Brazil.

political career

In the final years of Second World War, the movement to contest the Estado Novo became very strong in Brazil and the desire for the democratization of the country began to be defended, being Carlos Lacerda one of the defenders of the end of the Vargas dictatorship. The 1940s brought, in addition to profound changes to Brazil, changes in the journalist's life.

former communist, Carlos Lacerda became a conservative and, with the dismantling of the Estado Novo and the formation of the Fourth Republic (also called by many the Third Republic), joined the UniondemocraticNational (UDN), conservative party with liberal influence.

During the Fourth Republic, Carlos Lacerda became one of the most important names in the UDN and conservatism in Brazil. However, both Carlos Lacerda and his party had a openly coup vocation and they tried several times to subvert order through political and military coups.

Regarding the UDN, historians Lilia Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling defined the party as follows:

[…] a conservative, moralistic, anti-democratic party with an undisguised coup vocation. The UDN had the habit of defending democracy while cooking the coup d'état on the back burner, its members were incapable to go beyond a strictly moral vision of public life and valued to the extreme the personal behavior of those who occupied the power|1|.

Regarding the political performance of Carlos Lacerda during the Fourth Republic, Lilia Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling stated the following:

[…] He was still bold, opportunistic and even more abused. He also had verve, erudition, exuded competence, and possessed an incendiary intelligence. Lacerda knew how to use words, and was an unsurpassed master of the art of political intrigue: he surprised his opponent with suspicion, accused with or without evidence, ridiculed, mocked, always systematically and in a tone blunt|2|.

Thus, Carlos Lacerda, as we shall see, became one of the biggest names in anti-Getulism and was one of the pivots of various political crises in the period. In 1947, he was elected councilor for the Federal District, but he left the position in the same year, when the Rio de Janeiro City Council lost political power by decision of the Senate.

Accessalso: Queremismo – the movement in support of Getúlio Vargas

• Performance in the Fourth Republic

In 1949, Carlos Lacerda founded his own newspaper, calling him TribunegivesPress. This newspaper was one of the platforms that Carlos Lacerda used to attack Getulio Vargas and express their ultra-conservative positions. In 1950, Lacerda covered the presidential election and spoke in favor of the UDN candidate, Brigadier Eduardo Gomes.

As mentioned, Carlos Lacerda was fierce opponent of Getúlio Vargas and the possibility that Vargas might return to the presidency of Brazil left him in despair. About the possibility of the election of Vargas, Carlos Lacerda stated the following:

Mr. Getúlio Vargas, senator, should not be a presidential candidate. Candidate, he must not be elected. Elected, he must not take office. Inaugurated, we must resort to revolution to prevent him from governing|3|.

In fact, Carlos Lacerda tried by all means to implode the Vargas government. As a journalist, he and the UDN caucus used everything in their power to hinder the progress of this new government. Thus, as the historian Jorge Ferreira pointed out, the UDN began to constantly attack the Vargas government, denying any possibility of approximation|4|.

The actions of the UDN and the denunciations of Getúlio Vargas contributed enormously to the political crisis of that period. Carlos Lacerda, for example, denounced the newspaper LastHour of receiving illegal funds from President Getúlio Vargas. The complaint started a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI), which failed to prove the accusation.

The UDN also sought to exploit the case to try to overthrow Vargas through a impeachment, but the attempt failed. Lacerda also used his newspaper to promote various accusations against Vargas, accusing him, for example, of being the “general manager of corruption in Brazil”.

Carlos Lacerda held the position of Getúlio Vargas' biggest opponent and, in 1954, a great crisis sealed the end of that government and frustrated Lacerda's plans.

• Tonelero Street attack

On Aug. 5, 1954, a hit man tried to assassinate Carlos Lacerda in the event known as the Rua Tonelero Attack.[1]

In August 1954, the political crisis of the Vargas government was at an advanced stage and an event on August 5th aggravated the political panorama in Brazil. On that day, Carlos Lacerda was returning to his house, when he was target of an attack. A gunman shot Carlos Lacerda as he was entering his home, located on Rua Tonelero, in Copacabana. This case became known as Tonelero Street attack.

Carlos Lacerda survived and had only one foot wound, but his bodyguard, Air Force Major Rubens Vaz, died. The attack and the death of the major were a complete disaster for the Vargas government. The Air Force conducted an investigation that led to the name of Gregório Fortunato, the head of security at the Palácio do Catete.

Investigations failed to prove that Vargas had been the mastermind of the crime, but even though he was unaware of his security chief's actions, Vargas was held responsible for the crime. Even before the investigations took place, Carlos Lacerda already accused: “Before God, I accuse only one man as responsible for this crime. He is the protector of thieves. This man is Getúlio Vargas”|5|.

This attack started a huge crisis in the Vargas government and mobilized the military for a coup. Carlos Lacerda, the military and the conservatives demanded the immediate resignation of Vargas and, when it was imagined that Vargas' situation was of no return, the improbable happened.

Getúlio Vargas committed suicide, on August 24, 1954, and popular commotion made the picture of Brazilian politics change profoundly. The coup defended by Carlos Lacerda and which was about to happen lost strength because the popular reaction to Getúlio's death was one of indignation. Opposition journalists and conservative politicians began to be harassed by the population.

Himself Carlos Lacerdabecame the target of the population from Rio de Janeiro and had to take shelter in a hurry at the US embassy. He was taken from Rio de Janeiro by helicopter.

Preventive Coup of 1955

Shortly after the suicide of Getúlio Vargas, Carlos Lacerda already acted to prevent the 1955 presidential election from taking place. He feared that Vargas' suicide and popular commotion would result in a victory for the Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (PTB), the party founded by Vargas.

With the alliance between PTB and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the target became the Minas Gerais politician Juscelino Kubitschek. Carlos Lacerda urged the Armed Forces to mobilize to prevent the presidential election happened and claimed that this election would be "the product of 'fraud', 'demagoguery' and 'practices' dirty’"|6|. The charges were carried out without evidence.

He and other conservatives advocated the imposition of an “emergency regime”, that is, a regime that was not elected by the people. In Lacerda's view, the supporters of the 1955 presidential election (which would take place in fulfillment of the 1946 Constitution) were "cowards" and "missing"|7|. In addition to the fear regarding Juscelino Kubitschek, Carlos Lacerda also wanted to prevent João Goulart from being elected vice president of Brazil.

Carlos Lacerda's newspaper became a spokesman for the defense of the coup against constitutional legality. Despite everything, Lacerda was unsuccessful in his purpose, and Juscelino Kubitschek and João Goulart were elected president and vice president, respectively. From then on, Carlos Lacerda's action was to prevent JK and Jango's possession.

The conspiracy against the inauguration of Juscelino Kubitschek was advancing calmly among the conservatives and part of the military. The situation changed drastically when the minister of war, Henrique Teixeira Lott, led a counter-coup in 1955. He articulated the impeachment of Carlos Luz and the inauguration of Nereu Ramos, used troops to occupy strategic locations in Rio de Janeiro and ensured the inauguration of JK.

This event was called the November 11 Movement or Preventive Coup of 1955. None of the conspirators suffered any punishment for their coup actions, and Carlos Lacerda chose to go into exile in Cuba.

Carlos Lacerda returned to Brazil in November 1956 and followed in opposition to Juscelino Kubitschek, acting in an incendiary manner as usual. He resumed his term as federal deputy (he was elected in 1955) and it was from this position that he led the opposition. Carlos Lacerda, in fact, was a fierce opponent of Brasilia construction.

Read too: How many coups d'etat have there been in Brazil since independence?

• Governor of Guanabara

For the 1960 election, Carlos Lacerda called for the UDN to support the former governor of São Paulo, Jânio Quadros. For 1960, a new opportunity arose: that of becoming governor. With the transfer of the capital to Brasília, the city of Rio de Janeiro became a state detached from the rest of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Carlos Lacerda was governor of Guanabara between 1960 and 1965.[1]

Carlos Lacerda won a double victory: was elected governor and Jânio Quadros became president of Brazil. He took over the government of Guanabara on December 5, 1960. Carlos Lacerda's government carried out an administrative reform and sought to invest in the industrial development of Guanabara. He even authorized the construction of more than 200 schools.

However, from a social point of view, his government carried out actions to remove favelas from Rio de Janeiro, establishing low-income housing in remote locations, such as Cidade de Deus and Jacarepaguá. In addition, his government had to deal with a scandal sparked by allegations that police forces were executing beggars.

Accessalso: Populism — the characteristics of Brazilian politics between 1930 and 1964

1964 coup

During the initial months of the government of Jânio Quadros, Carlos Lacerda's relationship with the president became very bad. Carlos Lacerda mainly disagreed with the independent foreign policy imposed by the president. On August 24, 1961, he made strong criticisms of Jânio and the next day the president resigned.

Who should assume the presidency was the vice president, João Goulart. However, Carlos Lacerda was openly opposed to this and, again, defended a coup position. However, the mobilization for the Legality Campaign forced Carlos Lacerda to accept Jango in the presidency.

From then on, Carlos Lacerda became one of the most expressive civil leaders in the coup movement that ousted João Goulart from the presidency in 1964. At the end of 1963, Carlos Lacerda had contact with the US military so that the United States could intervene in Brazilian politics.

And so it happened. Carlos Lacerda articulated and defended the civil-military coup that started the Military dictatorship. However, Carlos Lacerda believed that the intervention of the military in 1964 would be similar to that of 1945, which did not happen. The military did not return power to civilians and Carlos Lacerda's power project failed.

Last years

Carlos Lacerda planned to run for the presidential election in 1965, since he was one of the great names of conservatism in Brazil. He broke with the Military Dictatorship when he realized that there would be no democracy in the country so he could run for president. On October 27, 1965, the AI-2, which determined the end of presidential elections in Brazil.

Carlos Lacerda immediately became opposition to the dictatorship and, in 1966, formed the Wide Front, a movement that was attended by Juscelino Kubitschek and João Goulart, two politicians who had been persecuted by Carlos Lacerda. The Frente Amplio defended the need to restore democracy in Brazil.

The Frente Amplio was banned from operating in the country on April 5, 1968, when the Costa e Silva government announced Ordinance No. 177, which prohibited the functioning of the political movement and threatened to arrest all those who disobeyed the law. At the end of that year, the AI-5, and Carlos Lacerda was arrested.

In prison, Lacerda started a hunger strike, which led to his release. However, his political rights were revoked for ten years. In day May 21, 1977, when Carlos Lacerda still had not recovered his political rights, a heart attack ended your life. For a long time, it was thought that Lacerda's death was caused by the military, but this has never been proven.

Grades

|1| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil: A Biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 392.

|2| Idem, p. 393.

|3| Idem p. 401.

|4| FERREIRA, Jorge. Crises of the Republic: 1954, 1955 and 1961. In.: FERREIRA, Jorge and DELGADO, Lucilia de Almeida Neves (eds.). O Brasil Republicano 3 – The time of the democratic experience: from the democratization of 1945 to the civil-military coup of 1964. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilization, 2020, p. 344.

|5| Idem, p. 345.

|6| Idem, p. 353.

|7| Idem, p. 354.

Image credits

[1] FGV/CPDOC

By Daniel Neves
History teacher