Artur da Costa e Silva
Encyclopedia
Artur da Costa e Silva was a Brazilian Army General, the second President of Brazil
during the military regime set up by the 1964 coup d'état; he was born only a month before the coup that overthrow Dom Pedro II. He was married to Iolanda Barbosa Costa e Silva, the daughter of a soldier. Born in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul
, he reached the rank of Marshal
of the Brazilian Army
, and held the post of Minister of War in the government of the previous president, Marshal Castelo Branco
.
His government started the most oppressive stage of the military regime against communists, which would be continued and expanded under his successor, General Emílio Garrastazu Médici
.
It was during Costa e Silva's term of government that the decree known as the AI-5 (Institutional Act 5)
was promulgated. This law gave the president the power to dismiss the National Congress
, strip politicians of their offices of power, and institutionalize repressive methods of rule against left-wings parties and individuals.
. In fact, both his parents were Brazilians, although one of his great-grandparents was a Portuguese immigrant from Lisbon
. Costa e Silva began his military career by entering the Military College of Porto Alegre
, where he finished first of his class and commander of the cadet corps. He entered the Escola Militar de Realengo in Rio de Janeiro
in 1918, where he finished third of his class. Made an aspirant
on January 18, 1921, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1922 and was stationed with the 1st Infantry Regiment in Vila Militar until July 5 of that year.
Costa e Silva was promoted to general
on August 2, 1952 and reached the final rank of Army General
on November 25, 1961. He underwent training, as part of a joint program, in the United States of America from January to June 1944, after having been an assistant instructor of general tactics at the School for Command and the Army General-Staff. He served as a military attaché
in Argentina
from 1950 to 1952, and was then appointed to command of the 3rd Military Region (Rio Grande do Sul
) from 1957 to 1959, and even later command of the 4th Army (Pernambuco
) from August 1961 to September 1962. He was then appointed chief of the General Personnel Department and then the chief of the Department of Production and Works.
During the government of João Goulart
, Costa e Silva put down student left-wing demonstrations that broke out in the Northeast and was removed from command of the 4th Army. At the end of 1963, He actively participated in the plot that overthrew Goulart's presidency (identified with Communism during the Cold War), who the military accused of planning a coup d'état
. Shortly thereafter Costa e Silva was appointed the Minister of War just after of victory of the 1964 Brazilian Revolution on April 1, 1964 and remained in that position after the start of Castelo Branco
government that was inaugurated several week later on April 15.
As Minister of War, Costa e Silva defended the interests of the so-called hardliners during the Cold War, the ultraright faction of the Armed Forces. As such he was considered an acceptable candidate to succeed Castelo Branco as president. This also served well to isolate more moderate soldiers – such as future president Ernesto Geisel
and his future auxiliary Golbery do Couto e Silva
- from posts of responsibility.
While Costa e Silva was campaigning for the Presidency of the Republic, he barely escaped death during a left-wing terrorist attack at Guararapes International Airport
in Recife
on July 25, 1966. The attack happened while he was waiting alongside around 300 other people at the airport. Several men were left dead or injured in what became known as the Attack of the Guararapes. Since the airplane that was supposed to take him had broken down earlier that day in João Pessoa
, Costa e Silva decided to leave Recife by automobile, thereby avoiding the assault.
The new president suppressed the Broad Front (Frente Ampla), an opposition movement that had brought together politicians from the pre-1964 period. He fought against inflation, revised government salaries and enlarged exterior trade. He also began a reform of the administrative organs, expanded the communication and transportation systems, but failed to resolve the problems in the education system. His period was used as a basis of the "Brazilian Miracle" – a growth rate ranging from 9–10% per year.
In 1968, the death of college sophomore
Edson Luís de Lima Souto
in a confrontation with a police officer provoked a massive protest (The Hundred Thousand March) in Rio de Janeiro. The political situation worsened in August, when deputy Márcio Moreira Alves recommended in a speech that young women should refuse to dance with military cadets in an act of protest against the military regime. The government asked the National Congress to prosecute the deputy. Although Congress was dominated by the pro-government ARENA
, the request was refused. Costa e Silva then called together the Council of National Security and published a law known as AI-5 (Institutional Act 5)
which placed Brazil under a tight dictatorship. It indefinitely closed Congress and gave the president the right to rule by decree and summarily dismiss state governors.
Armed resistance against Costa e Silva's government intensified in 1969. The most serious case of terrorism took place on June 26, 1969 when Diógenes José Carvalho de Oliveira, Pedro Lobo de Oliveira and José Ronaldo Tavares de Lira e Silva, members of an eleven-man terrorist cell that was part of the People's Revolutionary Vanguard (VPR), managed to detonate a bomb at the General Headquarters of the 2nd Army in São Paulo
. The car-bomb was launched (without a driver) towards the compound's front gate. The guards fired on the vehicle, which hit the external wall of the headquarters. Mário Kozel Filho, a soldier who was completing his compulsory military service and serving as a sentry on that day, left his post and ran towards the direction of the vehicle, trying to see if anyone was trapped inside. At that moment the car, filled with 50 kilograms of dynamite
, exploded, damaging everything within a 300 meter radius around it. Kozel's body was ripped to pieces from the force of the explosion, and six other soldiers were seriously wounded. In response to this terrorist attack, the government intensified its repressive and subversive activities.
After suffering a cerebral thrombosis
, Costa e Silva was removed from the office of president on August 31, 1969. Although Vice President Pedro Aleixo
should have succeeded him, the three armed forces ministers instead took power as a military junta
.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, new amendments to the 1967 constitution were added that gave the document an even more authoritarian tone than previously. However, it was overall less repressive than the AI-5. This "Constitutional Correction no. 1", sometimes referred to as the Constitution of 1969, was passed into law by the junta before it gave power over to General Emílio Garrastazu Médici
. Costa e Silva died on December 17 of that same year, the victim of a heart attack.
Due to the large amount of censorship practiced against the press at that time, many people did not accept the official version of events about Costa e Silva's illness, instead believing he had been deposed by the more conservative elements of the military regime. Regardless of such theories, it has yet to be proven that Costa e Silva was anything else but seriously ill at the time of his removal.
Costa e Silva was to date the last Brazilian politician to be on the cover of the U.S. edition of TIME Magazine.
) and Nelson Gomes Fernandes (Admiral
– PE
). 14 others were injured in the explosion. This act is considered the beginning of armed struggle in Brazil.
That morning of July 25, 1966, Marshall Costa e Silva, a candidate for the presidency, was expected by some 300 people who waited him at the Guararapes International Airport
. At 08:30, a few minutes before the arrival of Marshall, the service announced that sound due to crash the plane, he would be moving by land from Joao Pessoa to Recife and go directly to the building of SUDENE
, where a rally would occur.
This statement caused the early withdrawal of the public. The policeman Sebastian Tomaz de Aquino, "Paraíba", once popular soccer player in the Santa Cruz, saw a black bag abandoned by the Bookstore "SODILER", located in the airport lobby. Thinking that someone had forgotten it, he took it to the counter of the Department of Civil Aviation (DAC). There was a loud explosion. The sound amplified by the enclosure, the smoke, the damage produced groans of the wounded and caused panic and rush to the public. After the first moments of terror, the terrorist act was a tragic toll of 16 victims.
Killed the journalist and secretary of the government of Pernambuco Edson Regis de Carvalho and retired vice-admiral Nelson Gomes Fernandes. The policeman "Paraíba" wounded in the face and legs, which resulted a few months later, in the amputation of his right leg. The then Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, Sylvio da Silva Ferreira, suffered an open fracture of the left shoulder and traumatic amputation of four fingers of his left hand.
They were also wounded lawyers Collares Haroldo da Cunha Barreto and Antonio Pedro Morais da Cunha, public officials Ivanco Raposo and Fernando Ferreira de Castro, José Oliveira Silvestre students, Amaro Duarte Days and Laertes Lafaiete, Professor Anita Ferreira de Carvalho, the shopkeeper Idalina Maia, policeman Jose Severino Person Baker, Congressman Luiz de Melo Magalhães and Eunice Gomes de Barros and his son, Roberto Gomes de Barros, only six years old.
Chance, transferring the site of arrival of the future president, prevented the tragedy was greater. One of the executors of the attack, revealed by surveys and interviews Gorender Jacob, was the militant political Raimundo Gonçalves Figueiredo, code-named Chico, who would be killed by the Civil Police, in April 1971, cited as part of the VAR-Palmares.
Still, according to Jacob Gorender, militant Revolutionary Brazilian Communist Party (Pcbr), the mastermind of the attack was Father Alipio de Freitas, the Popular Action (AP).
The family of Raymond Goncalves de Figueiredo was compensated and given his name to a street in Belo Horizonte
. His wife, Regina Maria Figueiredo Leite Lobo, was murdered a year after his death by agents of repression in the so-called Massacre of Quentin.
One year after the attack on July 25, 1967, a bronze plaque was dedicated at the airport:
Father Alipio de Freitas, still alive, was awarded as political persecution with a monthly pension and the more retro in the approximate amount of R $ 1,900,000.
President of Brazil
The president of Brazil is both the head of state and head of government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian Armed Forces...
during the military regime set up by the 1964 coup d'état; he was born only a month before the coup that overthrow Dom Pedro II. He was married to Iolanda Barbosa Costa e Silva, the daughter of a soldier. Born in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
, he reached the rank of Marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
of the Brazilian Army
Brazilian Army
The Brazilian Army is the land arm of the Brazilian Military. The Brazilian Army has fought in several international conflicts, mostly in South America and during the 19th century, such as the Brazilian War of Independence , Argentina-Brazil War , War of the Farrapos , Platine War , Uruguayan War ...
, and held the post of Minister of War in the government of the previous president, Marshal Castelo Branco
Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco
Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was a Brazilian military leader and politician.He was President of Brazil, as a military dictator, after the 1964 coup d'etat...
.
His government started the most oppressive stage of the military regime against communists, which would be continued and expanded under his successor, General Emílio Garrastazu Médici
Emílio Garrastazu Médici
Emílio Garrastazu Médici, was a Brazilian military leader and politician. His rightist rule from 1969 to 1974, marked the apex of military governments in Brazil.-Early life:...
.
It was during Costa e Silva's term of government that the decree known as the AI-5 (Institutional Act 5)
AI-5
The Ato Institucional Número Cinco – AI-5 was the fifth of seventeen major decrees issued by the military dictatorship in the years following the 1964 coup d'état in Brazil...
was promulgated. This law gave the president the power to dismiss the National Congress
National Congress of Brazil
The National Congress of Brazil is the legislative body of Brazil's federal government.Unlike regional legislative bodies – Legislative Assemblies and City Councils -, the Congress is bicameral, composed of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies .The Senate represents the 26 states and...
, strip politicians of their offices of power, and institutionalize repressive methods of rule against left-wings parties and individuals.
Military career
Several sources erroneously suggest that Costa e Silva's parents were Portuguese from MadeiraMadeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
. In fact, both his parents were Brazilians, although one of his great-grandparents was a Portuguese immigrant from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. Costa e Silva began his military career by entering the Military College of Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
, where he finished first of his class and commander of the cadet corps. He entered the Escola Militar de Realengo in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in 1918, where he finished third of his class. Made an aspirant
Aspirant
Aspirant is a military rank in the Canadian Navy, French military, Brazilian military, Romanian Navy and Polish Police.-Canadian Navy:Similar to the French usage, the Canadian Navy uses the French-language rank of "Aspirant de marine" to denote a junior officer under training. The same rank in the...
on January 18, 1921, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1922 and was stationed with the 1st Infantry Regiment in Vila Militar until July 5 of that year.
Costa e Silva was promoted to general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
on August 2, 1952 and reached the final rank of Army General
Army General
For the army rank of General, as opposed to the specific rank of Army General, see General officer.Army General is a title used in many countries to denote the rank of General nominally commanding an army in the field...
on November 25, 1961. He underwent training, as part of a joint program, in the United States of America from January to June 1944, after having been an assistant instructor of general tactics at the School for Command and the Army General-Staff. He served as a military attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
from 1950 to 1952, and was then appointed to command of the 3rd Military Region (Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
) from 1957 to 1959, and even later command of the 4th Army (Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
) from August 1961 to September 1962. He was then appointed chief of the General Personnel Department and then the chief of the Department of Production and Works.
During the government of João Goulart
João Goulart
João Belchior Marques Goulart was a Brazilian politician and the 24th President of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on April 1, 1964. He is considered to have been the last left-wing President of the country until Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003.-Name:João Goulart is...
, Costa e Silva put down student left-wing demonstrations that broke out in the Northeast and was removed from command of the 4th Army. At the end of 1963, He actively participated in the plot that overthrew Goulart's presidency (identified with Communism during the Cold War), who the military accused of planning a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. Shortly thereafter Costa e Silva was appointed the Minister of War just after of victory of the 1964 Brazilian Revolution on April 1, 1964 and remained in that position after the start of Castelo Branco
Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco
Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was a Brazilian military leader and politician.He was President of Brazil, as a military dictator, after the 1964 coup d'etat...
government that was inaugurated several week later on April 15.
As Minister of War, Costa e Silva defended the interests of the so-called hardliners during the Cold War, the ultraright faction of the Armed Forces. As such he was considered an acceptable candidate to succeed Castelo Branco as president. This also served well to isolate more moderate soldiers – such as future president Ernesto Geisel
Ernesto Geisel
Ernesto Beckmann Geisel, was a Brazilian military leader and politician of German descent who was President of Brazil from 1974 to 1979.-Early life and family:...
and his future auxiliary Golbery do Couto e Silva
Golbery do Couto e Silva
Golbery do Couto e Silva was a Brazilian General of the Army, who developed the Brazilian National Security Doctrine....
- from posts of responsibility.
While Costa e Silva was campaigning for the Presidency of the Republic, he barely escaped death during a left-wing terrorist attack at Guararapes International Airport
Guararapes International Airport
Recife/Guararapes-Gilberto Freyre International Airport is the airport serving Recife, Brazil. The name Guararapes is a reference to the Guararapes Battle, fought in the surrounding area...
in Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
on July 25, 1966. The attack happened while he was waiting alongside around 300 other people at the airport. Several men were left dead or injured in what became known as the Attack of the Guararapes. Since the airplane that was supposed to take him had broken down earlier that day in João Pessoa
João Pessoa
João Pessoa , is the capital city of the state of Paraíba, was founded in 1585 and sometimes called the city where the sun rises first, is a Brazilian city and the easternmost city in the Americas at 34º47'38"W, 7º9'28"S. Local residents call its easternmost point Ponta do Seixas. It is also...
, Costa e Silva decided to leave Recife by automobile, thereby avoiding the assault.
Presidency
Costa e Silva was elected president in an indirect election by the National Congress on October 3, 1966 due the Revolution of 1964 and was sworn in on March 15, 1967.The new president suppressed the Broad Front (Frente Ampla), an opposition movement that had brought together politicians from the pre-1964 period. He fought against inflation, revised government salaries and enlarged exterior trade. He also began a reform of the administrative organs, expanded the communication and transportation systems, but failed to resolve the problems in the education system. His period was used as a basis of the "Brazilian Miracle" – a growth rate ranging from 9–10% per year.
In 1968, the death of college sophomore
Sophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...
Edson Luís de Lima Souto
Edson Luís de Lima Souto
Edson Luís de Lima Souto was a Brazilian teenager student killed by the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro after a confrontation in the restaurant Calabouço, in downtown Rio de Janeiro...
in a confrontation with a police officer provoked a massive protest (The Hundred Thousand March) in Rio de Janeiro. The political situation worsened in August, when deputy Márcio Moreira Alves recommended in a speech that young women should refuse to dance with military cadets in an act of protest against the military regime. The government asked the National Congress to prosecute the deputy. Although Congress was dominated by the pro-government ARENA
National Renewal Alliance Party
The National Renewal Alliance Party or Aliança Renovadora Nacional was a conservative political party that existed in Brazil between 1966 and 1985...
, the request was refused. Costa e Silva then called together the Council of National Security and published a law known as AI-5 (Institutional Act 5)
AI-5
The Ato Institucional Número Cinco – AI-5 was the fifth of seventeen major decrees issued by the military dictatorship in the years following the 1964 coup d'état in Brazil...
which placed Brazil under a tight dictatorship. It indefinitely closed Congress and gave the president the right to rule by decree and summarily dismiss state governors.
Armed resistance against Costa e Silva's government intensified in 1969. The most serious case of terrorism took place on June 26, 1969 when Diógenes José Carvalho de Oliveira, Pedro Lobo de Oliveira and José Ronaldo Tavares de Lira e Silva, members of an eleven-man terrorist cell that was part of the People's Revolutionary Vanguard (VPR), managed to detonate a bomb at the General Headquarters of the 2nd Army in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
. The car-bomb was launched (without a driver) towards the compound's front gate. The guards fired on the vehicle, which hit the external wall of the headquarters. Mário Kozel Filho, a soldier who was completing his compulsory military service and serving as a sentry on that day, left his post and ran towards the direction of the vehicle, trying to see if anyone was trapped inside. At that moment the car, filled with 50 kilograms of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
, exploded, damaging everything within a 300 meter radius around it. Kozel's body was ripped to pieces from the force of the explosion, and six other soldiers were seriously wounded. In response to this terrorist attack, the government intensified its repressive and subversive activities.
After suffering a cerebral thrombosis
Thrombosis
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss...
, Costa e Silva was removed from the office of president on August 31, 1969. Although Vice President Pedro Aleixo
Pedro Aleixo
Pedro Aleixo served as President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1937 and as Vice-President of Brazil from March 15, 1967 to October 14, 1969....
should have succeeded him, the three armed forces ministers instead took power as a military junta
Brazilian Military Junta
A Military Junta or Junta Militar ruled Brazil from August 31 to October 30, 1969, between the sudden illness of President Artur da Costa e Silva and the swearing-in of Emílio Garrastazu Médici as his successor....
.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, new amendments to the 1967 constitution were added that gave the document an even more authoritarian tone than previously. However, it was overall less repressive than the AI-5. This "Constitutional Correction no. 1", sometimes referred to as the Constitution of 1969, was passed into law by the junta before it gave power over to General Emílio Garrastazu Médici
Emílio Garrastazu Médici
Emílio Garrastazu Médici, was a Brazilian military leader and politician. His rightist rule from 1969 to 1974, marked the apex of military governments in Brazil.-Early life:...
. Costa e Silva died on December 17 of that same year, the victim of a heart attack.
Due to the large amount of censorship practiced against the press at that time, many people did not accept the official version of events about Costa e Silva's illness, instead believing he had been deposed by the more conservative elements of the military regime. Regardless of such theories, it has yet to be proven that Costa e Silva was anything else but seriously ill at the time of his removal.
Costa e Silva was to date the last Brazilian politician to be on the cover of the U.S. edition of TIME Magazine.
Terrorist attack of Guararapes
On July 25, 1966 occurred in Brazil, the first terrorist act with grave consequences. A bomb exploded in the lobby of the International Airport of Recife killing Edson Regis de Carvalho (Journalist – PEPernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
) and Nelson Gomes Fernandes (Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
– PE
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
). 14 others were injured in the explosion. This act is considered the beginning of armed struggle in Brazil.
That morning of July 25, 1966, Marshall Costa e Silva, a candidate for the presidency, was expected by some 300 people who waited him at the Guararapes International Airport
Guararapes International Airport
Recife/Guararapes-Gilberto Freyre International Airport is the airport serving Recife, Brazil. The name Guararapes is a reference to the Guararapes Battle, fought in the surrounding area...
. At 08:30, a few minutes before the arrival of Marshall, the service announced that sound due to crash the plane, he would be moving by land from Joao Pessoa to Recife and go directly to the building of SUDENE
Sudene
The Superintendency for the Development of the Northeast , or Sudene for short, is a Brazilian governmental agency created in 1959, during the government of President Juscelino Kubitschek , to stimulate economic growth in the northeastern region of Brazil, one of the poorest of the country, that...
, where a rally would occur.
This statement caused the early withdrawal of the public. The policeman Sebastian Tomaz de Aquino, "Paraíba", once popular soccer player in the Santa Cruz, saw a black bag abandoned by the Bookstore "SODILER", located in the airport lobby. Thinking that someone had forgotten it, he took it to the counter of the Department of Civil Aviation (DAC). There was a loud explosion. The sound amplified by the enclosure, the smoke, the damage produced groans of the wounded and caused panic and rush to the public. After the first moments of terror, the terrorist act was a tragic toll of 16 victims.
Killed the journalist and secretary of the government of Pernambuco Edson Regis de Carvalho and retired vice-admiral Nelson Gomes Fernandes. The policeman "Paraíba" wounded in the face and legs, which resulted a few months later, in the amputation of his right leg. The then Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, Sylvio da Silva Ferreira, suffered an open fracture of the left shoulder and traumatic amputation of four fingers of his left hand.
They were also wounded lawyers Collares Haroldo da Cunha Barreto and Antonio Pedro Morais da Cunha, public officials Ivanco Raposo and Fernando Ferreira de Castro, José Oliveira Silvestre students, Amaro Duarte Days and Laertes Lafaiete, Professor Anita Ferreira de Carvalho, the shopkeeper Idalina Maia, policeman Jose Severino Person Baker, Congressman Luiz de Melo Magalhães and Eunice Gomes de Barros and his son, Roberto Gomes de Barros, only six years old.
Chance, transferring the site of arrival of the future president, prevented the tragedy was greater. One of the executors of the attack, revealed by surveys and interviews Gorender Jacob, was the militant political Raimundo Gonçalves Figueiredo, code-named Chico, who would be killed by the Civil Police, in April 1971, cited as part of the VAR-Palmares.
Still, according to Jacob Gorender, militant Revolutionary Brazilian Communist Party (Pcbr), the mastermind of the attack was Father Alipio de Freitas, the Popular Action (AP).
The family of Raymond Goncalves de Figueiredo was compensated and given his name to a street in Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...
. His wife, Regina Maria Figueiredo Leite Lobo, was murdered a year after his death by agents of repression in the so-called Massacre of Quentin.
One year after the attack on July 25, 1967, a bronze plaque was dedicated at the airport:
Homage City Reef At What topple Dos Guararapes Airport on 25 July 1966, victimized by the Folly of their fellows. – Admiral Nelson Fernandes – Reporter Edson Regis – Glorified By Sacrifice Their names will always be remembered to posterity Recalling The violent and tragic terrorist attacks, Sorrelfa practiced by the enemies of the Fatherland.
Father Alipio de Freitas, still alive, was awarded as political persecution with a monthly pension and the more retro in the approximate amount of R $ 1,900,000.
See also
- List of Presidents of Brazil, History of Brazil (1964-present)
- 1964 Brazilian coup d'état