O Government of José Sarney (1985-1990) was the first government of a civilian in our country after two decades of Military dictatorship. José Sarney assumed the presidency of Brazil after the death of Tancredo Neves, elected in 1985. Possession of him was much questioned at the time, as he built his political career supporting the dictatorship.
Sarney's government was marked by the reconstruction of Brazil's democratic apparatus. formed a constituent Assembly for the drafting of a new constitution, and the result was the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution, the most democratic constitutional charter in the country's history. Another remarkable event of this government was its failure to solve the crisis in the Brazilian economy.
Accessalso: Collor Government - 1st government directly elected after the Military Dictatorship
1985 Election and the redemocratization of Brazil
José Sarney's government was result of the redemocratization processof Brazil, this being a great achievement of the Brazilian population, which was committed to the end of the dictatorship. In the late 1970s, the military began an opening up of the regime that aimed at its exit but also at the continuity of governments aligned with its interests. Therefore, the military wanted the regime liberalization, not your democratization.
Re-democratization only happened because the Brazilian population took to the streets to demand the end of authoritarianism in Brazil. Important milestones in this process were the Amnesty Law and the return of the multipartyism in Brazil. The first big moment in this scenario was the Dante de Oliveira Amendment, which started the Direct movement now and the population's struggle for direct presidential elections.
This fight took millions of Brazilians to the streets, but, even so, it failed, and the parliamentarians decided to maintain the indirect election. In this way, the Electoral College prepared itself for the 1985 election, and opposition groups led by the Brazilian Democratic Mobilization Party, the PMDB, came together to launch their candidate.
The military and President João Figueiredo ordered the party that supported them, the Social Democratic Party (PDS), Arena's heir, to nominate directly Paulmaluf for the dispute. This decision went against the president of the PDS, José Sarney, who broke with the party and moved to the opposition, joining the PMDB.
PMDB launched Tancredosnows to the presidency dispute. The choice of the PMDB took into account that Tancredo was a traditional politician with a good dialogue with the military. Tancredo had also negotiated with the military to carry out a moderate transition if he were elected.
To be Tancredo's deputy, he was chosen Josephsarney. This choice was fundamental and strategic to guarantee the victory of Tancredo, because, through Sarney, the PMDB managed to convince members of the PDS to vote for him. This split from the PDS became known as the Liberal Front (FL).
Opposition-influencing names, such as UlyssesGuimaraes, supported Tancredo's candidacy, and the result was an absolute success — Tancredo Neves was elected president of Brazil with 480 votes against only 180 votes from Paulo Maluf. This result put an end to 21 years of Military Dictatorship in Brazil.
Death of Tancredo Neves
There was a lot of euphoria with the inauguration of Tancredo Neves, scheduled for March 15, 1985. A tremendous anticlimax happened when, on the eve of inauguration, on the night of March 14, Tancredo Neves got sick and had to be hospitalized in a hurry. He was operated on at the Base Hospital in Brasília, and the reason for the operation, disclosed to the country, was diverticulitis, but the real cause was a tumor.
The treatment he underwent in Brasília was later criticized for not being adequate to the minimum hygiene conditions. The board infectious de Tancredo Neves, who hid his pain for months, got worse in the hospital in Brasília, and for that reason he was transferred to São Paulo. There he underwent another six surgeries, but died, on April 21, 1985.
With hospitalization and surgery, Tancredo was unable to take office on March 15th. After much political negotiation, the military and PMDB leaders decided that Sarney would assume the presidency interim until Tancredo's recovery, which never happened. Many considered the inauguration of Ulysses Guimarães, president of the Chamber, but he did not accept.
José Sarney's inauguration angered many at the time, because he was a supporter of the dictatorship and built his political career supporting the military. His inauguration took place on March 15, and he governed the first months under the strong influence of Ulysses Guimarães, a highly respected politician at the time.
Sarney government
Sarney continued the commitments made by Tancredo Neves during the electoral campaign. He carried out the actions that promoted the democratization of Brazil, but did not carry out investigations to punish the military who had committed crimes during the years of the Military Dictatorship.
Among the measures for rebuilding democracy, the signature of the splice, a constitutional amendment that made democratic concessions in Brazil. Another measure was the call for an election to form a constituent Assembly and, thus, beginning the drafting of a new Constitution for Brazil.
See too:New Republic and Democracy
1988 Constitution
The 1988 Constitution, also known as Citizen Constitution, was the great moment of the redemocratization of Brazil. It gathered rights resulting from decades of struggle in Brazil for human rights, respect for the minorities that make up the country and the country's democratization.
This constitution resulted from the work of the Constituent Assembly, formed by more than 500 congressmen who, for a year and a half, met and debated what would be included in it. In production work, the popular involvement it was also huge and associations were formed to defend the interests of the population.
The 1988 Constitution was promulgated on October 5, 1988, after a speech by Ulysses Guimarães, president of the Constituent Assembly. She has 250 articles and it is the most democratic document ever produced in the history of Brazil.
Accessalso:The history of the first constitution of Brazil - Constituent of 1823
Economy
Another issue of great importance in José Sarney's government was the country's economy. He took on the tough mission of trying to recover the Brazilian economy, in crisis since the late 1970s. Its great symbol, the legacy of two decades of economic mismanagement by the military, was the inflation — in 1984, it had been 215%.
In the transition from 1985 to 1986, Sarney appointed new people to take over the Ministry of Finance, putting names that belonged to the FL and reducing the influence of the PMDB in that ministry. To solve the crisis, Sarney and his economists created the Cross Plan, released on February 28, 1986.
This plan brought shock solutions to the economy and imposed price freeze and readjustmentinsalary. In addition, a new currency was created, and thus the cruise was replaced by the crossed. With the plan, 1000 Cruzados would automatically be converted into 1 Cruzado. With the price freeze, the population was encouraged to monitor them and report traders who readjusted them.
The plan had a good result in the first weeks and left the population euphoric. Inflation fell rapidly, and the wage increase gave the population a significant improvement in their purchasing power. The sum of the price freeze with an increase in purchasing power resulted in the exhaustion of goods.
This was mainly because many goods began to be insured by distributors. Their price remained fixed according to the freeze, but the merchants only made them available upon payment of an extra fee known as agio.
There was also an increase in the import of goods, which contributed to depleting the country's foreign exchange reserves. The result began to prove disastrous for the country, and the pressure exerted pushed inflation up again. The government knew that the price freeze could not be sustained for long, but Sarney decided to hold it off until the November 1986 elections.
As the population did not realize that the Cruzado Plan was slowly failing, the result was a monumental success for the PMDB, which elected 22 of the 23 governors in that election. Six days after the election results and the PMDB's success confirmed, the president launched the Cruzado Plan II.
With this plan, the readjustment of the value of services and goods was authorized, in addition to tax increases on some types of goods. As a result, the value of various goods increased by more than 100%, and items such as fuel and electricity underwent strong adjustments.
The situation of the Brazilian economy worsened so much that, in early 1987, Brazil announced a moratorium, and, with that, the country's creditors were told that they would not be paid until the reestablishment of the economy. During Sarney's government, inflation reached 2000% and his popularity plummeted. The president also suffered several accusations for being involved in corruption.
With the election of 1989 and the victory of Fernando Collor de Mello, the presidency was transferred to this politician from Alagoas who had a troubled government.
Image credits
[1]Federal Senate Archive / Célio Azevedo
