O Tonelero Street attack was a defining event for the second government in Getulio Vargas, because, if the government was in crisis before this episode, after it happened, its maintenance became unsustainable. This attack was an assassination attempt on the main opponent and critic of Getúlio Vargas, Carlos Lacerda – one of the best known politicians of the National Democratic Union (UDN) and owner of the newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa.
Historical context
The attack took place on August 5, 1954, during the second government of Getúlio Vargas, elected president in the 1950 elections with 48.7% of the votes. In these elections, Getúlio Vargas defeated his opponents of the UDN – Eduardo Gomes – and the PSD – Cristiano Machado. This government of Getúlio Vargas was marked by strong social, economic and political tensions that divided the country at the time.
In the political field, Getúlio Vargas faced strong opposition from the UDN, party represented by a political class conservative and on the part of the Army, which politically allied itself with the udenist discourse. The great criticism of these groups was against the practices
populists of the Vargas government.Economically, Brazil was under great pressure with the escalation of inflation - which had reached the rate of 20.8%|1|. Inflation was directly responsible for the reduction in the purchasing power of the worker's salary. Also in the economic field, there was a heated debate on Brazil's economic development policy, which discussed if the country's economic development would be carried out in a nationalistic manner or if it would be open to capital foreign.
The issue of international coffee prices (Getúlio acted to keep prices high) and Getúlio's stance in proposing the creation of Petrobras brought about dissatisfaction with the United States, which benefited from low prices on the international coffee market and from the exploitation of oil sources Brazilian companies. With that, Vargas' opponents gained US support.
At workers strikes dissatisfied with economic difficulties they were another strain factor for the Vargas government. In response to workers' dissatisfactions, Vargas mandated a 100% wage increase in February 1954, which brought dissatisfaction to the economic elites and to the Army, who did not agree with the salary increase of the workers.
The Army always represented a great risk for Getúlio in his second government, as there was always a risk that a coup would be carried out. The army was clearly divided between those who unconditionally supported Getulio and his policy. nationalist and those who criticized Vargas' populism and wanted a more incisive conduct by the government at fight against communism. In addition, there were the dissatisfactions due to the deterioration of the military corporation with the few investments and low salaries.
Tonelero Street attack
Getúlio Vargas and, in the background, Gregório Fortunato (in a hat) **
In an extremely difficult situation, the Vargas government suffered from criticism after criticism from its opponents. Carlos Lacerda, a very active opponent, used his newspaper to make daily criticisms – many of them without proof – and, therefore, it ended up being the target of a plot by the allies of Getúlio Vargas, who, seeing the delicate position in which the president found himself, decided to silence the biggest critic of the government.
Thus, a gunslinger who received the mission in killCarloslacerda. However, the attack on Carlos Lacerda, which took place on August 5, 1954, was a complete failure. The approach that took place on Rua Tonelero, in Rio de Janeiro, resulted in the death of Rubensempty, air force major and Lacerda's bodyguard, who left with only one injuryLight.
The investigations carried out by the Air Force – interested in knowing the motives of the crime that victimized its major – reached the name of Gregory Fortunato, Vargas's head of security and driver, who would have been the mastermind of the attack against Carlos Lacerda. Soon Vargas' position became unsustainable, and the requests for renounce they were accompanied by accusations about the failed assassination attempt. Regarding the attack, "Getúlio probably didn't know about Fortunato's plan to kill Lacerda" |2|. In interviews over the next few days, Vargas hinted that he felt betrayed by what had happened and declared: 'I feel like I'm in the middle of a sea of mud.'
The crisis that would lead to Vargas' resignation or the Army's coup took more tragic paths for Vargas, who committed suicide on August 24, 1954. After the suicide, public opinion, which had been crushing the president until then, turned against Vargas' persecutors:
“With his suicide, Vargas turned the spell against the sorcerer against his UDN and military enemies. He had neutralized what they planned to be a landslide political victory because they didn't want to just the removal of Getúlio but also the reversal of his policy and the dismantling of his network politics. That agenda was now impossible, given the state of public opinion"|3|.
|1| FAUSTO, Boris. History of Brazil. São Paulo: University of São Paulo Publisher, 2013, p.349.
|2| SKIDMORE, Thomas E. A History of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1998, p. 194.
|3|Idem, P. 194-195.
* Image credits: commons
**Image credits: commons
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/atentado-rua-tonelero.htm