O Marshal Humberto Castello Branco was the first Brazilian president during the period of Military dictatorship. His government began with the choice of the marshal as president in an indirect election held on April 11, 1964 and lasted until 1967. Castello Branco's government was responsible for establishing the bases of the repressive apparatus that was established during what became known as “years of lead”.
possession of Castello Branco
Humberto Castello Branco assumed the presidency of Brazil on April 15, 1964 and replaced Ranieri Mazzilli, who presided over the country on a provisional basis after the removal of João Goulart with the Civil-Military Coup of 1964. In the indirect election held in April 1964, Castello Branco ran with Juarez Távora and Eurico Gaspar Dutra, but won, receiving practically 99% of the votes.
Also access: How many coups d'etat have there been in Brazil since independence?
AI-1 and the start of repression
Castello Branco has already assumed the government with Brazil governed by the decree known as
Institutional Act No. 1. O AI-1, as this act is also called, fulfilled exactly the objective of justifying the deposition of João Goulart and of creating the legal apparatus to allow the dictatorship to impose repression and persecution on its political opponents.O AI-1 it did not annul the 1946 Constitution, but made specific changes to the country's Constitutional Charter. He empowered Castello Branco's government to carry out numerous purges in both military and civilian circles. Historian Boris Fausto says that, in conservative numbers, the repression initiated from AI-1 resulted in the purge of about 1400 people from the civil bureaucracy and about 1200 from the Armed Forces|2|.
In the political field, 41 parliamentarians had their political rights revoked – the majority were politicians from the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB). The mandates of notoriously nationalist governors who had not agreed with the coup, as was the case of the governors of Pernambuco, Sergipe and Goiás (Miguel Arraes, Seixas Dória and Mauro Borges, respectively).
Read too:What is a coup d'état?
With AI-1, a strong repression of social movements. The two big targets were the student movement it's the peasant movement. The UNE headquarters was raided and set on fire and the organization was soon put underground. Another movement that suffered were the Peasant Leagues, which were harshly repressed and also made illegal.
Historian Marcos Napolitano points out that the repression initiated by the Castello Branco government had the following objectives: “to end the elite left and center-left reformist, dissolve organized social movements and reorganize the state towards a new stage of accumulation of capital"|3|.
One of the most important mechanisms of repression that emerged with AI-1 was the Military Police Inquiries (IPM). The IPMs were mechanisms of investigation and repression that the dictatorship used to fight opponents, called subversives. They were generally carried out by radical colonels. Soon after the coup, more than 10,000 people became defendants by the IPMs|4|.
AI-1 had an expiration date to function, as on January 31, 1966, the decree would expire. By October 1965, new elections were to be held. This gave hope to many that the normality of democracy would return to the country, but the military regime had other plans.
AI-2 and AI-3
O Institutional Act No. 2 it was decreed at the end of 1965 and was a response to the dissatisfaction that existed in the Armed Forces with the Castello Branco government. The Brazilian president was seen as very moderate, and pressure led the president to further harden the regime. AI-2 strengthened the power of the Executive and decreed that the choice of presidents would take place based on indirect elections.
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Very influential conservative cadres of society openly broke with the Military Dictatorship. The names of Carlos Lacerda and Ademar de Barros, but mainly the first for having founded a political group that had considerable repercussions at the time: Wide Front.
THE Wide Front was created by Carlos Lacerda as a movement of opposition to the Military Dictatorship. The journalist and politician demanded the return of direct presidential elections and defended the continuity of the country's economic development project. Lacerda sought out his former enemies, Juscelino Kubitschek and João Goulart, and convinced both of them to join his movement. The Frente Amplio was outlawed in early 1968.
See too: Government of Juscelino Kubitschek and Government of João Goulart (Jango)
O Institutional Act No. 3 was enacted in February 1966 and stipulated the country's two-party system. Then there was the emergence of National Renewal Alliance (Arena) and the MovementDemocraticBrazilian (MDB), this known as consented opposition. AI-3, furthermore, decreed that elections for governors and mayors would also be indirect.
Other highlights that can be made about the Castello Branco government was the creation of the National Information Service (SNI), in addition to the National Security Law and the decree of AI-4, who authorized the writing a new constitution for Brazil, granted in March 1967. However, Castello Branco's weakening in the Armed Forces resulted in the choice of Artur Costa e Silva as the country's new president.
Economic policy
In economic policy, the Castello Branco government was characterized by the adoption of a austerity policy which had as main objectives the inflation control it's the combating public indebtedness. Exactly for this the Government Economic Action Plan (PAEG).
O PAEG it exactly sought to reduce government indebtedness, mainly by controlling spending. With the PAEG, a new salary adjustment policy was enacted, in which the government created a calculation so that the salary adjustment of the worker was always lower than the inflation of the previous year. Thus, the austerity character of the government's economic policy became noticeable with the control over wages.
Castello Branco's government also created a series of demands to allow a strike to take place. In practice, the Strike Law it made strikes in the country virtually impossible. Finally, the conditions for dismissal of employees were also facilitated with the creation of the Severance Indemnity Fund (FGTS).
The austerity policy implemented by Castello Branco had results, and inflation in the country gave way and was reduced from 1965 on. Anyway, PAEG is seen by many historians as a government action to serve the interests of the large business community that had supported the 1964 coup, as it squeezed wages and created mechanisms that facilitated the dismissal of workers.
The only point of the government that strongly displeased the national business community was the control over the release of credit. This policy, however, was revoked during Costa e Silva's government. Castello Branco's austerity policy is said to have paved the way for what became known as “economic miracle”.
|1| Institutional Act No. 1. To access, click on here.
|2| FAUSTO, Boris. History of Brazil. São Paulo: Edusp, 2013, p. 399.
|3| NAPOLITANO, Marcos. 1964: History of the Brazilian Military Regime. São Paulo: Context, 2016, p. 71.
|4| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloisa Murgel. Brazil: a biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 457.
*Image credits: FGV/CPDOC
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
