João Goulart
Encyclopedia
João Belchior Marques Goulart (ˈʒuãw bewˈkiɔɾ ˈmarkis ɡuˈlaɾ; March 1, 1919 – December 6, 1976) was a Brazil
ian 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.
–João Goulart presidential bid was thus called "Jan–Jan", an amalgamation of Jânio and Jango.
His childhood nickname was "Janguinho" (little Jango), which came from an uncle named Jango. Years later, when he entered the world of politics, supported and advised by Getúlio Vargas
, his friends and colleagues started to call him Jango.
His grandfather, Belchior Rodrigues Goulart, descended from Azorean
immigrants who arrived at Rio Grande do Sul in the second half of the 18th century. In the group of first Azoreans established in the state there were at least three immigrants with the surname Govaert (latter adapted to Goulart or Gularte in Portuguese
) of Flemish
-Azorean ancestors; the surname Goulart originates from France.
, São Borja
, Rio Grande do Sul on March 1, 1919. His parents were Vicente Rodrigues Goulart, an estancieiro
(a rancher owner of large rural properties) and colonel of the National Guard on the 1932 Revolution on the field of Governor Borges de Medeiros, and Vicentina Marques Goulart, a housewife
. Most sources indicates his birth year as 1918, but is actually 1919. This happens because his father ordered a second birth certificate
in which he added one year to his son's age so Jango could attend the Law School at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University.
When Jango was born, the Yguariaçá Farm was an isolated location on the municipality of São Borja
. His mother Vicentina, therefore, had no medical care during childbirth. She had, however, the pivotal aid of her mother Maria Thomaz Vasquez Marques, which prevented the occurrence of a misfortune in the family. According to Jango's sister Yolanda, "my grandmother was the one able to revive little Jango which, at birth, already looked like dying". Like most Azorean descendants, Maria Thomaz was a devout Catholic. While trying to revive her grandson, warming him, she prayed to John the Baptist
. She promised the saint that if the newborn boy was to survive, he would be named after him and would not have his hair cut until the age of 3, when he would follow the procession
of June 24 dressed up as the saint.
Jango grew up as a skinny boy in Yguariaçá, alongside his five sisters: Eufrides, Maria, Yolanda, Cila, and Neuza. Both his younger brothers died prematurely: Rivadávia (b. 1920), died six months after birth, and Ivan (b. 1925), to whom he was deeply attached, died of leukemia
at 33.
Jango left to the nearby town of Itaqui
to study, which resulted from the decision of his father Vicente to form a partnership with Protásio Vargas, brother of Getúlio, after both leased
a small refrigerator house in that town from an English businessman. While Vicente ran the business for the following couple of years, Jango attended the School of the Teresian Sisters, along with his sisters. Although it was a mixed-sex school during the day, he could not stay the night at the boarding school
with his sisters. He would have to sleep at the house of a friend of his father. It was in Itaqui that Jango developed a taste for both soccer and swimming.
Upon his return to São Borja, ending his experience as a partner in the refrigerator house, Vicente decided to send Jango to attend the Ginásio Santana, run by Marist Brothers
in Uruguaiana
. Jango studied from the first to the fourth grade in the Santana boarding school, but failed to be approved for the fifth grade on later 1931. Angry with his son's poor achievements at school, Vicente decided to send him to attend the Colégio Anchieta in Porto Alegre
. In the state capital, Jango lived at a pension
with friends Almir Palmeiro and Abadé dos Santos Ayub, the latter very attached to him.
Aware of Jango's exceptional skills in soccer at school, where he played in the right back position
, Almir and Abadé convinced him to take a test for Sport Club Internacional
. Jango was then selected for the club's juvenile team. In 1932, he became a juvenile state champion. That same year he concluded the third grade of then ginásio (high school) on Colégio Anchieta, with an irregular academic achievement, which would also be repeated when he attended the Law School at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University. Sent back to Uruguaiana, Jango graduated on high school on Ginásio Santana.
that Jango acquired a venereal disease which paralyzed his left knee almost entirely. His family paid for expensive medical treatment, including a trip to São Paulo
, but he expected never to walk normally again. Because of the paralysis on the knee, Jango graduated separately from the rest of his class on 1939. He would never really act as a lawyer.
Soon after, Jango returned to São Borja. His depression because of the leg problem was visible. He isolated himself from the rest of the city at Yguariaçá Farm. According to his sister Yolanda, his depression would not last long. In early 1940s he decided to make fun of his own walking disability in the Carnival
, participating on the parade of the block Comigo Ninguém Pode (With me no one can).
The first invitation Jango received to enter a political party was made by Protásio Vargas, Getúlio's brother, which was in charge of organizing the Social Democratic Party
(Partido Social Democrático – PSD) in São Borja. Protásio realized that Jango could succeed in the world of politics, but Jango declined. Months later, however, he accepted Getúlio's invitation to join the Brazilian Labour Party
(Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro – PTB). He was the first president of local PTB, and would later become statewide and nationwide president of the party.
In 1947, Getúlio convinced Jango to run for a seat in the State Assembly. He was elected with 4,150 votes, becoming the fifth top voted out of 23 deputies, ahead of his future brother-in-law Leonel Brizola
(who was married to his siter Neusa until her death in 1993), another rising star of PTB. He was not an active member of the Assembly, but fought for the right of the needy to buy cheaper food. He soon became a confidant and political protégée of Vargas, becoming one of the party members to most insistently require him to launch a presidential candidacy for the 1950 elections
. On April 19, 1949, Jango launched Getúlio's candidacy for President at a birthday party held for the former President at Granja São Vicente, owned by Goulart.
In 1950, Goulart was elected for the Chamber of Deputies
. He achieved 39,832 votes, becoming the second top voted candidate of PTB on Rio Grande do Sul. Jango took office as a Federal Deputy on February 1951, but soon asked for temporary resignation from his term to become Secretary of the Interior and Justice in the administration of Rio Grande do Sul Governor Ernesto Dornelles. During the period in which he was a Secretary, which lasted until March 24, 1952, Jango engaged in restructuring the prison system, intending to improve life conditions of prisoners. He later resigned his job as Secretary, at the request of Vargas, in order to help the President with a political deadlock at the Ministry of Labor, using his major influence on the labor union movement.
(União Democrática Nacional – UDN) was mobilizing a coup d'état among the mass media, the upper middle class
and the Military forces
. As he took office, Jango had to reply accusations from several newspapers, including the New York Times
. As Minister of Labor, Goulart held the 1st Brazilian Congress of Social Security. He signed a series of decrees favoring the social security
, such as housing financing, regulation of loans by the Institute of Retirement and Pensions of Bank Employees (Instituto de Aposentadoria e Pensões dos Bancários – IAPB), and recognizing the employees of the Audit Committee of the Institute of Retirement and Pensions of Industry Employees (Conselho Fiscal do Instituto de Aposentadoria e Pensões dos Industriários).
In January 1954, Jango began studies for the review of the minimum wage
, facing two types of pressure: the mobilization of workers in larger cities to claim a readjustment of 100% that would increase the wage from Cr$
1,200.00 to Cr$ 2,400.00, and the rejection by entrepreneurs of the policy of reviewing the wage since the Eurico Gaspar Dutra
administration, which contributed to the impoverishment of several segments of the Brazilian society. The business community said it would agree with a 42% raise on the minimum wage, a measure that, according to them, would match the cost of living in 1951. On May Day Vargas signed into law the new minimum wage, increased by 100% as demanded by the working class.
Jango resigned as Minister of Labor on February 1954, passing the job to his legal substitute Hugo de Faria, and resumed his term as Federal Deputy. Among the reasons for his resignation was the strong reaction of the mass media and the Military forces against the new minimum wage.
The political crisis of the Vargas administration deepened after one of his bodyguards was involved in an assassination attempt against UDN leader Carlos Lacerda
on August 5, 1954. Vargas was put under pressure by the media, which demanded his resignation. The pro-coup movement at the Military was public. On August 24, 1954, at 1 am, Vargas called Jango on Catete Palace
and handed him a document to be read only after he got on Rio Grande do Sul. It was his suicide letter.
In October 1954, there were elections for the Federal Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, state governments, and State Assemblies. The second half of the year started off with uncertainties for PTB and its allies. Emotionally and politically shaken by attacks made by Vargas' rivals, Jango departed from political activities for a few weeks. He only returned after a series of meeting with PTB leaders in Rio Grande do Sul. Upon the end of such meetings it was decided that Jango would run for the Senate. However, both Jango and fellow PTB leader Ruy Ramos (two seats were being contested) were defeated on the dispute. PTB also lost the gubernatorial election in Rio Grande do Sul, although it was able to elect a large number of deputies in both the State Assembly and Chamber of Deputies.
On November 1954, PTB and PSD began to discuss an electoral coalition for the 1955 elections. Minas Gerais
Governor Juscelino Kubitschek was PSD's big bet for the Presidency. On November 7, Kubitschek gave an interview suggesting a coalition between the two parties. His candidacy was approved by the Minas Gerais branch of the party as soon as November ended. Then began the discussions for whom would run as his Vice Presidential candidate. After troubled negotiations, it was chosen the name he had initially proposed: João Goulart. The PSD National Convention was carried on February 10, 1955, with the confirmation of Kubitschek as the party's presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, Vargas' Vice President, Café Filho formed a government with several UDN Ministers, which impeded governance, and proved himself uncommitted with the latter President's government plans. Juarez Távora
, his Chief of Military Staff threatened, on December 1954, to veto Jango as a Vice Presidential candidate. In April 1955, the National Directory of PSD accepted the nomination of Jango and, on the same month, the alliance was approved by the PTB National Convention. The candidacy was ready, if not for new vetos to Jango in the Military and alongside dissident leaders of PSD.
After the PTB National Convention, a letter from Brazilian Communist Party
(Partido Comunista Brasileiro – PCB) leader Luiz Carlos Prestes to Jango was published on the press. On the letter, Prestes suggested that PTB and PCB could work together for the benefit of the Brazilian population. That was enough to intensify the actions of coup plotters. In addition to the smear campaign run by Carlos Lacerda on his newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa and the usual plotting inside the Military, April ended with a statement by former President Dutra on O Globo
that he personally opposed Jango's candidacy. From the institutional point of view, the crisis did not had major repercussions, and PSD, even with the dissidence of the party in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Pernambuco, ratified its support to João Goulart as running mate of Juscelino Kubitschek in a convention in June.
In 1956, Goulart was elected Vice President, as the running mate
of President Juscelino Kubitschek. Goulart was again elected Vice President in 1960. This time, however, the president was Jânio Quadros
, a member of a different party. (At the time, Brazilians could vote for a ticket that had candidates for president and vice president from different parties.)
Quadros resigned in 1961. According to some chroniclers, this was an attempt to promote a self-coup
.
With this in mind, Congress was initially reluctant to recognize Goulart as president. A compromise was agreed upon thanks to Leonel Brizola
and the "cadeia de legalidade" (chain of legality), and Goulart was able to take the presidency, but with his powers constrained by a parliamentary system of government.
A Constitutional Amendment was accordingly passed abolishing the presidential Executive and creating a parliamentary system of Government, and only then was Goulart allowed to take the oath of office as President, to serve as head of State only. Goulart then nominated Tancredo Neves
for appointment as prime minister.
During this period Goulart and his prime minister chose the three year plan as the economic plan of his government under the advisement of Celso Furtado
, his Minister of Planning. In order to strengthen the energy sector and to foster Brazilian development, Eletrobrás
– Latin America's largest power utility company – was created in 1962.
As part of the compromise that installed a parliamentary system of government in 1961, a plebiscite was set for 1963 to confirm or reverse the changes made to the Constitution. The parliamentary system of government was overwhelmingly rejected in the 1963 referendum and Goulart assumed the position of head of the Government.
Politically the presidential government of Goulart initiated in 1963 was marked by the administration closer ties to center-left political groups, and conflict with more conservative sectors of the society, specifically the National Democratic Union (Brazil).
Goulart also led Brazil in the drive for a nuclear-free Latin America, providing the impetus for the Five Presidents' Declaration and the Treaty of Tlatelolco
. Brazil's leadership on nuclear disarmament was a casualty of the military coup, and Mexico eventually stepped in to continue to drive for a nuclear-free region.
The president of ITT, Harold Geneen
, was also friends with the Director of Central Intelligence
John McCone
. The CIA performed psyops against Goulart, performed character assassination
, pumped money into opposition groups, and enlisted the help of the Agency for International Development and the AFL-CIO
.
On the night of March 31, 1964, a military-led coup overthrew Goulart. The coup installed successive right-wing hardliners as heads of state
who suspended civil rights and liberties of the Brazilian people. They abolished all political parties and replaced them with only two, the military government's party called the National Renewal Alliance Party
(Aliança Renovadora Nacional – ARENA) and the consented opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement
(Movimento Democrático Brasileiro – MDB). However, MDB had no real power, and the military rule was marked by widespread disappearance, torture, and exile of many politicians, university students, writers, singers, painters, filmmakers and other artists.
In the first of hours of March 31, 1964, General Olímpio Mourão Filho, in charge of the 4th Military Region, headquartered in Juiz de Fora
, Minas Gerais, ordered his troops to start moving towards Rio de Janeiro, to depose Goulart.
On April 1, at 12:45 pm, João Goulart left Rio for the capital, Brasília
, in an attempt to stop the coup politically.
When he reached Brasília, Goulart realized he lacked any political support. The Senate president, Auro Moura Andrade, was already articulating for congressional support of the coup. Goulart stayed for a short time in Brasília, gathering his wife and two children, and flying to Porto Alegre in an Air Force
Avro 748
aircraft. Soon after Goulart's plane took off, Auro Moura Andrade declared the position of President of Brazil "vacant".
In the first hours of April 2, Auro Moura de Andrade, along with the president of the Supreme Federal Court swore in Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli
, the speaker of the house, as president. This move was arguably unconstitutional at the time, as João Goulart was still in the country.
At the same time, Goulart, now in the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Porto Alegre, (still loyal to him at the time) contemplated resistance and counter-moves with Leonel Brizola, who argued for armed resistance. In the morning, General Floriano Machado informed the president that troops loyal to the coup were moving from Curitiba to Porto Alegre, and that he had to leave the country, risking arrest otherwise. At 11:45 am, Goulart boarded a Douglas C-47 transport for his farm bordering Uruguay
. Goulart would stay in his farms lands, until April 4, when he finally boarded the plane for the last time, heading for Montevideo
.
For the next 15 years, all the features of military dictatorship that Latin America has come to know were instituted: Congress was shut down, political opposition was reduced to virtual extinction, habeas corpus
for "political crimes" was suspended, criticism of the president was forbidden by law, labor unions were taken over by government interveners, mounting protests were met by police and military firing into crowds, peasants' homes were burned down, priests were brutalized…disappearances, death squads, a remarkable degree and depravity of torture…the government had a name for its program: the "moral rehabilitation" of Brazil.
Washington was very pleased. Brazil broke relations with Cuba and became one of the United States' most reliable allies in Latin America.
seeking political asylum. After his first years in Montevideo
, he bought a farm in the Uruguay-Brazil border, where he devoted himself to cattle. On 1966 he took part in Frente Ampla (Broad Front) political movement, which aimed to fight for the full restoration of democratic rule in Brazil through peaceful means. The end of Frente Ampla also resulted in the end of Jango's political activity. He decided to focus in managing his farms located in Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
On late 1973, then Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón invited Jango to live in Buenos Aires
and asked him to elaborate a plan to expand Argentine meat exports to Europe and other markets which would not traditionally buy the Argentine commodity. However, Perón's then Minister of Social Welfare and private secretary José López Rega
opposed to the designation. Nevertheless, Jango decided to stay in Buenos Aires.
On March 1976, the Argentine Army
dismantled in the town of La Plata
, a group of right-wing terrorists which planned to kidnap Jango's son and demand a high ransom in cash. With his personal security compromised, the former president distanced himself from Buenos Aires. This experience led Jango to route the new steps of his safe return to Brazil. This was, however, delayed because of the proximity of the electoral campaign in November of that year.
municipality of Mercedes
, on December 6, 1976 of an alleged heart attack. Since Goulart's body was not submitted to an autopsy
, his real cause of death
is unknown. Around 30,000 people attended his funeral service, which was censored from press coverage by the military dictatorship.
On April 26, 2000, former governor of Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro, Leonel Brizola
, said that former presidents João Goulart and Juscelino Kubitschek were allegedly assassinated in the frame of Operation Condor
and requested the opening of investigations on their death. They died allegedly of a heart attack and a car accident, respectively.
On January 27, 2008, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo
printed a story with a statement of Mario Neira Barreiro, a former member of the intelligence service of Uruguay
's dictatorship, declaring that Goulart was poison
ed, endorsing Brizola's suspicions. The order to assassinate Goulart, according to him, came from Sérgio Fleury, head of the Departamento de Ordem Política e Social (Department of Political and Social Order) and the licence to kill came from the president Ernesto Geisel
.
Jorgina Vieira, declared in an interview to the newspaper Zero Hora that Jango was one of the only white boys of São Borja to be a member of the block. In a particular Carnival celebration in the 1940s, he broke the high society
rules and led the block inside the aristocratic Clube Comercial, which would not allow blacks in their halls until the late 1960s.
era, Jango was more than once accused of being a communist. As a response to Carlos Lacerda, his most frequent accuser, he cited right wing politicians also supported by the Brazilian Communist Party which the latter would not criticize. In an interview to the newspaper O Jornal, Jango declared: "regarding the communists, they have supported indistinctly candidates of several political affiliations, conservatives or populists. I do not wish to distinguish such support, but I will only allow myself this question: is perhaps Colonel Virgilio Tavora communist, just because, ostensibly, he accepts the support of communists in Ceará? How to say that the illustrious patriot of UDN Milton Campos is communist, for accepting, as he did in Minas, the same votes requested by Mr. Afonso Arinos
here in Rio?".
brought over half a million people to the movies theaters, becoming the sixth largest grossing documentary of Brazil. It was also critically acclaimed, receiving three awards at the Gramado Film Festival and one at the Havana Film Festival
, beside the Silver Daisy, given by the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil – CNBB).
There are at least ten schools all over Brazil named after João Goulart, according to Google Maps
. Most of them are located on Rio Grande do Sul
, on the municipalities of Alvorada
, Ijuí
, Novo Hamburgo
, Porto Alegre
, Viamão
, and Jango's native São Borja
. There are three schools named after Jango in Rio de Janeiro
, in Balneário Camboriú
, Santa Catarina and another in São João de Meriti
in Rio de Janeiro. Also in Balneário Camboriú it was inaugurated, on December 6, 2007, exactly thirty-one years after the death of the President, a monument of Jango sitting in a bench of the Avenida Atlântica (in front to the Atlantic Ocean) with his two children. It was designed by artist Jorge Schroder upon the request of mayor Rubens Spernau.
On June 28, 2008, it was inaugurated the Avenida Presidente João Goulart (President João Goulart Avenue) in Osasco
, São Paulo. The boulevard is about 760 meters long and is the first of the city with a bicycle path
. Other cities, like Canoas
, Caxias do Sul
, Cuiabá
, Lages
, Pelotas
, Porto Alegre, Porto Velho
, Ribeirão Preto
, Rio de Janeiro, Rondonópolis
, São Borja, São Leopoldo
, São Paulo, and Sobral
already have roads honoring Jango, according to Google Maps.
On November 15, 2008, Jango and his widow Maria Teresa received political amnesty
from the Federal Government at the 20th National Congress of Lawyers in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
. The former First Lady will receive a restitution
of R$
644,000 (around US$ 322,000) to be paid in pensions of R$ 5,425 (around US$ 2,712) per month for Jango being restrained from practicing his job as a lawyer. She will also receive a restitution of R$ 100,000 (around US$ 50,000) for the 15 years in which her family was forbidden to return to Brazil.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian politician and the 24th President of Brazil
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...
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
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...
took office in 2003.
Name
João Goulart is nicknamed "Jango". The Jânio QuadrosJânio Quadros
Jânio da Silva Quadros , , was a Brazilian politician who served as President of Brazil for only 7 months in 1961.-Career:...
–João Goulart presidential bid was thus called "Jan–Jan", an amalgamation of Jânio and Jango.
His childhood nickname was "Janguinho" (little Jango), which came from an uncle named Jango. Years later, when he entered the world of politics, supported and advised by Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
, his friends and colleagues started to call him Jango.
His grandfather, Belchior Rodrigues Goulart, descended from Azorean
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
immigrants who arrived at Rio Grande do Sul in the second half of the 18th century. In the group of first Azoreans established in the state there were at least three immigrants with the surname Govaert (latter adapted to Goulart or Gularte in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
) of Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
-Azorean ancestors; the surname Goulart originates from France.
Early life
João Belchior Marques Goulart was born at Yguariaçá Farm, in the district (now town) of ItacurubiItacurubi
Itacurubi is a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its area is 1,120.8 km² and its population was 3,571 in 2003. Its elevation is at 169 m. The origin of the name comes from the Tupi language...
, São Borja
São Borja
São Borja is a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. São Borja is the oldest municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and was founded in 1682 by the Jesuits as the first of the Seven Points of the Missions, and named São Francisco de Borja, in honor of Saint Francis...
, Rio Grande do Sul on March 1, 1919. His parents were Vicente Rodrigues Goulart, an estancieiro
Estância
Estância is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Sergipe. Its population was 62,218 and its area is 642 km². The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Estância....
(a rancher owner of large rural properties) and colonel of the National Guard on the 1932 Revolution on the field of Governor Borges de Medeiros, and Vicentina Marques Goulart, a housewife
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
. Most sources indicates his birth year as 1918, but is actually 1919. This happens because his father ordered a second birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
in which he added one year to his son's age so Jango could attend the Law School at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University.
When Jango was born, the Yguariaçá Farm was an isolated location on the municipality of São Borja
São Borja
São Borja is a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. São Borja is the oldest municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and was founded in 1682 by the Jesuits as the first of the Seven Points of the Missions, and named São Francisco de Borja, in honor of Saint Francis...
. His mother Vicentina, therefore, had no medical care during childbirth. She had, however, the pivotal aid of her mother Maria Thomaz Vasquez Marques, which prevented the occurrence of a misfortune in the family. According to Jango's sister Yolanda, "my grandmother was the one able to revive little Jango which, at birth, already looked like dying". Like most Azorean descendants, Maria Thomaz was a devout Catholic. While trying to revive her grandson, warming him, she prayed to John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
. She promised the saint that if the newborn boy was to survive, he would be named after him and would not have his hair cut until the age of 3, when he would follow the procession
Procession
A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...
of June 24 dressed up as the saint.
Jango grew up as a skinny boy in Yguariaçá, alongside his five sisters: Eufrides, Maria, Yolanda, Cila, and Neuza. Both his younger brothers died prematurely: Rivadávia (b. 1920), died six months after birth, and Ivan (b. 1925), to whom he was deeply attached, died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
at 33.
Jango left to the nearby town of Itaqui
Itaqui
Itaqui is a municipality in Brazil, located in the southwestern part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, close to the Argentinian border, between Uruguaiana and São Borja. It sits at a mean altitude of 57 meters , by the Uruguay River. Its population is currently estimated at 42,000.- History :The...
to study, which resulted from the decision of his father Vicente to form a partnership with Protásio Vargas, brother of Getúlio, after both leased
Leasing
Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductible payments....
a small refrigerator house in that town from an English businessman. While Vicente ran the business for the following couple of years, Jango attended the School of the Teresian Sisters, along with his sisters. Although it was a mixed-sex school during the day, he could not stay the night at the boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
with his sisters. He would have to sleep at the house of a friend of his father. It was in Itaqui that Jango developed a taste for both soccer and swimming.
Upon his return to São Borja, ending his experience as a partner in the refrigerator house, Vicente decided to send Jango to attend the Ginásio Santana, run by Marist Brothers
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...
in Uruguaiana
Uruguaiana
Uruguaiana is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located on the left-hand shore of the Uruguay River that forms the border with Argentina. Opposite Uruguaiana, and joined to it by a road/railway bridge, lies the Argentine city of Paso de los Libres, Corrientes...
. Jango studied from the first to the fourth grade in the Santana boarding school, but failed to be approved for the fifth grade on later 1931. Angry with his son's poor achievements at school, Vicente decided to send him to attend the Colégio Anchieta in 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...
. In the state capital, Jango lived at a pension
Pension (lodging)
A pensione is a family-owned guest house or boarding house. This term is typically used in Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, other Continental European countries, in areas of North Africa and the Middle East that formerly had large European expatriate populations, and in some parts of South America...
with friends Almir Palmeiro and Abadé dos Santos Ayub, the latter very attached to him.
Aware of Jango's exceptional skills in soccer at school, where he played in the right back position
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
, Almir and Abadé convinced him to take a test for Sport Club Internacional
Sport Club Internacional
Sport Club Internacional is a Brazilian football team and multi-sport club from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, founded on April 4, 1909, and are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Cruzeiro. They play in red shirts, white shorts and...
. Jango was then selected for the club's juvenile team. In 1932, he became a juvenile state champion. That same year he concluded the third grade of then ginásio (high school) on Colégio Anchieta, with an irregular academic achievement, which would also be repeated when he attended the Law School at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University. Sent back to Uruguaiana, Jango graduated on high school on Ginásio Santana.
Political career
Sent back to Porto Alegre after graduating on high school, Jango attended the Law School, to satisfy his father's will, which desired to see his son with a higher education degree. There he restored contact with youth friends Abadé Ayub, and Salvador Arísio, and secured new friendships, making his first excursions in the state capital's nightlife. It was during that time of an intense bohemian lifestyleBohemian style
In modern usage, the term "Bohemian" is applied to people who live unconventional, usually artistic, lives. The adherents of the "Bloomsbury Group", which formed around the Stephen sisters, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf in the early 20th century, are among the best-known examples...
that Jango acquired a venereal disease which paralyzed his left knee almost entirely. His family paid for expensive medical treatment, including a trip to 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...
, but he expected never to walk normally again. Because of the paralysis on the knee, Jango graduated separately from the rest of his class on 1939. He would never really act as a lawyer.
Soon after, Jango returned to São Borja. His depression because of the leg problem was visible. He isolated himself from the rest of the city at Yguariaçá Farm. According to his sister Yolanda, his depression would not last long. In early 1940s he decided to make fun of his own walking disability in the Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
, participating on the parade of the block Comigo Ninguém Pode (With me no one can).
Beginning at PTB
Vicente died in 1943, leaving to Jango the responsibility of taking care of his rural properties. Jango soon became one of the most influential estancieiros of the region. Upon the resignation of President Getúlio Vargas and his return to São Borja in October 1945, Jango was already a wealthy man. He did not need to enter politics to rise socially, but the frequent meetings with Vargas, a close friend of his father, were decisive in Jango's decision to pursue a public life.The first invitation Jango received to enter a political party was made by Protásio Vargas, Getúlio's brother, which was in charge of organizing the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Brazil)
The Social Democratic Party was a liberal political party in Brazil between 1945 and 1965. Founded as a center-right party by Getúlio Vargas together with the left-leaning Brazilian Labour Party, it elected Presidents Eurico Gaspar Dutra in 1945 and Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira in 1955...
(Partido Social Democrático – PSD) in São Borja. Protásio realized that Jango could succeed in the world of politics, but Jango declined. Months later, however, he accepted Getúlio's invitation to join the Brazilian Labour Party
Brazilian Labour Party (historical)
The Brazilian Labour Party was a center-left populist political party in Brazil founded in 1945 by supporters of the late Getúlio Vargas. It was dismantled by the military after 1964 coup d'état.-History:...
(Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro – PTB). He was the first president of local PTB, and would later become statewide and nationwide president of the party.
In 1947, Getúlio convinced Jango to run for a seat in the State Assembly. He was elected with 4,150 votes, becoming the fifth top voted out of 23 deputies, ahead of his future brother-in-law Leonel Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
(who was married to his siter Neusa until her death in 1993), another rising star of PTB. He was not an active member of the Assembly, but fought for the right of the needy to buy cheaper food. He soon became a confidant and political protégée of Vargas, becoming one of the party members to most insistently require him to launch a presidential candidacy for the 1950 elections
Brazilian presidential election, 1950
-Historical context:After living in self-imposed exile in his Riograndense ranch between his overthrow in 1945 and 1950, former President Getúlio Vargas decided to run for the Presidency, as the candidate of the Brazilian Labor Party , one of the two he founded after he decided to put an end to his...
. On April 19, 1949, Jango launched Getúlio's candidacy for President at a birthday party held for the former President at Granja São Vicente, owned by Goulart.
In 1950, Goulart was elected for the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. As of 2006, the chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms...
. He achieved 39,832 votes, becoming the second top voted candidate of PTB on Rio Grande do Sul. Jango took office as a Federal Deputy on February 1951, but soon asked for temporary resignation from his term to become Secretary of the Interior and Justice in the administration of Rio Grande do Sul Governor Ernesto Dornelles. During the period in which he was a Secretary, which lasted until March 24, 1952, Jango engaged in restructuring the prison system, intending to improve life conditions of prisoners. He later resigned his job as Secretary, at the request of Vargas, in order to help the President with a political deadlock at the Ministry of Labor, using his major influence on the labor union movement.
Minister of Labor
In 1953, after an aggravation of the deadlock, Vargas appointed Jango as the Minister of Labor. The Vargas administration was in a deep crisis: the workers, unsatisfied with the low wages, were promoting strikes, and the right-wing party National Democratic UnionNational Democratic Union
The National Democratic Union was a political party that existed in Brazil between 1945 and 1965. It was ideologically aligned with the right-wing and conservatism, being considered the precursor of the current Democrats...
(União Democrática Nacional – UDN) was mobilizing a coup d'état among the mass media, the upper middle class
Upper middle class
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...
and the Military forces
Military of Brazil
The Brazilian Armed Forces is the unified military organization comprising the Brazilian Army , the Brazilian Navy and the Brazilian Air Force....
. As he took office, Jango had to reply accusations from several newspapers, including the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. As Minister of Labor, Goulart held the 1st Brazilian Congress of Social Security. He signed a series of decrees favoring the social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
, such as housing financing, regulation of loans by the Institute of Retirement and Pensions of Bank Employees (Instituto de Aposentadoria e Pensões dos Bancários – IAPB), and recognizing the employees of the Audit Committee of the Institute of Retirement and Pensions of Industry Employees (Conselho Fiscal do Instituto de Aposentadoria e Pensões dos Industriários).
In January 1954, Jango began studies for the review of the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
, facing two types of pressure: the mobilization of workers in larger cities to claim a readjustment of 100% that would increase the wage from Cr$
Brazilian cruzeiro
The cruzeiro was the currency of Brazil from 1942 to 1986 and again between 1990 and 1993. The name refers to the constellation of the Southern Cross, known in Brazil as Cruzeiro do Sul, or simply Cruzeiro ....
1,200.00 to Cr$ 2,400.00, and the rejection by entrepreneurs of the policy of reviewing the wage since the Eurico Gaspar Dutra
Eurico Gaspar Dutra
Eurico Gaspar Dutra , was a Brazilian marshal, politician and president of Brazil from 1946–1951.He was born in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, and like many other Brazilians, was from Azorean-Portuguese origin...
administration, which contributed to the impoverishment of several segments of the Brazilian society. The business community said it would agree with a 42% raise on the minimum wage, a measure that, according to them, would match the cost of living in 1951. On May Day Vargas signed into law the new minimum wage, increased by 100% as demanded by the working class.
Jango resigned as Minister of Labor on February 1954, passing the job to his legal substitute Hugo de Faria, and resumed his term as Federal Deputy. Among the reasons for his resignation was the strong reaction of the mass media and the Military forces against the new minimum wage.
The political crisis of the Vargas administration deepened after one of his bodyguards was involved in an assassination attempt against UDN leader Carlos Lacerda
Carlos Lacerda
Carlos Frederico Werneck de Lacerda was a Brazilian journalist and politician.Born in Rio de Janeiro, Lacerda was the son of a family of politicians from Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro State....
on August 5, 1954. Vargas was put under pressure by the media, which demanded his resignation. The pro-coup movement at the Military was public. On August 24, 1954, at 1 am, Vargas called Jango on Catete Palace
Catete Palace
The Catete Palace is an urban mansion in Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo neighborhood. The property stretches from Rua do Catete to Praia do Flamengo. From 1894 to 1960, it was Brazil's presidential palace and the site of Getulio Vargas' suicide. It now houses the Museu da República and a theatre...
and handed him a document to be read only after he got on Rio Grande do Sul. It was his suicide letter.
Vice President
After Vargas' suicide, Jango thought about leaving politics forever. However, at the President's burial on August 26, 1954 he seemed to have given up the idea, declaring that "we, within the law and order, we'll know how to fight with patriotism and dignity, inspired by the example that you [Vargas] left us".In October 1954, there were elections for the Federal Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, state governments, and State Assemblies. The second half of the year started off with uncertainties for PTB and its allies. Emotionally and politically shaken by attacks made by Vargas' rivals, Jango departed from political activities for a few weeks. He only returned after a series of meeting with PTB leaders in Rio Grande do Sul. Upon the end of such meetings it was decided that Jango would run for the Senate. However, both Jango and fellow PTB leader Ruy Ramos (two seats were being contested) were defeated on the dispute. PTB also lost the gubernatorial election in Rio Grande do Sul, although it was able to elect a large number of deputies in both the State Assembly and Chamber of Deputies.
On November 1954, PTB and PSD began to discuss an electoral coalition for the 1955 elections. Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
Governor Juscelino Kubitschek was PSD's big bet for the Presidency. On November 7, Kubitschek gave an interview suggesting a coalition between the two parties. His candidacy was approved by the Minas Gerais branch of the party as soon as November ended. Then began the discussions for whom would run as his Vice Presidential candidate. After troubled negotiations, it was chosen the name he had initially proposed: João Goulart. The PSD National Convention was carried on February 10, 1955, with the confirmation of Kubitschek as the party's presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, Vargas' Vice President, Café Filho formed a government with several UDN Ministers, which impeded governance, and proved himself uncommitted with the latter President's government plans. Juarez Távora
Juarez Távora
Juarez Távora is a town and municipality in the state of Paraíba in the Northeast Region of Brazil.-References:...
, his Chief of Military Staff threatened, on December 1954, to veto Jango as a Vice Presidential candidate. In April 1955, the National Directory of PSD accepted the nomination of Jango and, on the same month, the alliance was approved by the PTB National Convention. The candidacy was ready, if not for new vetos to Jango in the Military and alongside dissident leaders of PSD.
After the PTB National Convention, a letter from Brazilian Communist Party
Brazilian Communist Party
Brazilian Communist Party is the oldest political party still active in Brazil, founded in 1922, and one of the only Brazilian parties with a Stalinist orientation...
(Partido Comunista Brasileiro – PCB) leader Luiz Carlos Prestes to Jango was published on the press. On the letter, Prestes suggested that PTB and PCB could work together for the benefit of the Brazilian population. That was enough to intensify the actions of coup plotters. In addition to the smear campaign run by Carlos Lacerda on his newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa and the usual plotting inside the Military, April ended with a statement by former President Dutra on O Globo
O Globo
O Globo is a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. O Globo is the most prominent print publication in the Marinho family's Brazilian media conglomerate....
that he personally opposed Jango's candidacy. From the institutional point of view, the crisis did not had major repercussions, and PSD, even with the dissidence of the party in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Pernambuco, ratified its support to João Goulart as running mate of Juscelino Kubitschek in a convention in June.
In 1956, Goulart was elected Vice President, as the running mate
Running mate
A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position but can also properly be used when referring to both candidates, such as "Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were...
of President Juscelino Kubitschek. Goulart was again elected Vice President in 1960. This time, however, the president was Jânio Quadros
Jânio Quadros
Jânio da Silva Quadros , , was a Brazilian politician who served as President of Brazil for only 7 months in 1961.-Career:...
, a member of a different party. (At the time, Brazilians could vote for a ticket that had candidates for president and vice president from different parties.)
Quadros resigned in 1961. According to some chroniclers, this was an attempt to promote a self-coup
Self-coup
A self-coup or autocoup is a form of coup d'état that occurs when a country's leader, who has come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures taken may include...
.
The Goulart administration
Goulart was out of the country at the time Quadros resigned. However, several political and military elements thought Goulart was too radical for the presidency. They objected to his left-wing tendencies, his nationalist policies and his willingness to seek closer relations with Communist countries. These elements called for the vice presidency to be declared vacant so new elections could be held.With this in mind, Congress was initially reluctant to recognize Goulart as president. A compromise was agreed upon thanks to Leonel Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
and the "cadeia de legalidade" (chain of legality), and Goulart was able to take the presidency, but with his powers constrained by a parliamentary system of government.
A Constitutional Amendment was accordingly passed abolishing the presidential Executive and creating a parliamentary system of Government, and only then was Goulart allowed to take the oath of office as President, to serve as head of State only. Goulart then nominated Tancredo Neves
Tancredo Neves
Tancredo de Almeida Neves, SFO more commonly Tancredo Neves was a Brazilian politician. He was born in São João del Rey, in the state of Minas Gerais, of mostly Portuguese, but also Austrian descent and graduated in law. The Neves family name comes from an Azorean great great grandfather...
for appointment as prime minister.
During this period Goulart and his prime minister chose the three year plan as the economic plan of his government under the advisement of Celso Furtado
Celso Furtado
Celso Monteiro Furtado was an important Brazilian economist and one of the most distinguished intellectuals of his country during the 20th century. His work focuses on development and underdevelopment and on the persistence of poverty in peripheral countries throughout the world...
, his Minister of Planning. In order to strengthen the energy sector and to foster Brazilian development, Eletrobrás
Eletrobrás
Eletrobras is a major Brazilian power utility. It's also Latin America's biggest power utility company, tenth largest in the world and is also the fourth largest clean energy company in the world. It is currently expanding its operations in the continent, as well as in Africa. The company's full...
– Latin America's largest power utility company – was created in 1962.
As part of the compromise that installed a parliamentary system of government in 1961, a plebiscite was set for 1963 to confirm or reverse the changes made to the Constitution. The parliamentary system of government was overwhelmingly rejected in the 1963 referendum and Goulart assumed the position of head of the Government.
Politically the presidential government of Goulart initiated in 1963 was marked by the administration closer ties to center-left political groups, and conflict with more conservative sectors of the society, specifically the National Democratic Union (Brazil).
Goulart also led Brazil in the drive for a nuclear-free Latin America, providing the impetus for the Five Presidents' Declaration and the Treaty of Tlatelolco
Treaty of Tlatelolco
The Treaty of Tlatelolco is the conventional name given to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean...
. Brazil's leadership on nuclear disarmament was a casualty of the military coup, and Mexico eventually stepped in to continue to drive for a nuclear-free region.
Basic reforms
The main reason for Goulart's fall was his Basic Reforms plan (Reformas de Base), a group of social and economic measures of nationalist character that predicted a greater state intervention in the economy. Among the reforms were:- Education reform: it aimed to combat adult illiteracy with the widespread use of the pioneering teachings of Paulo FreirePaulo FreirePaulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy.-Biography:...
and his method. The government also proposed to hold a university reform and prohibited the operation of private schools. It was imposed that 15% of the income produced in Brazil would be directed to education.
- Tax reform: control of profits transfer by multinational companies with headquarters abroad; the profit should be reinvested in Brazil. The income taxIncome taxAn income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
would be proportional to personal profit.
- Electoral reform: extension of voting rights to illiterates and low-ranking military officers.
- Land reform: non-productive properties larger than 600 hectares would be expropriated and redistributed to the population by the government. At that time, the agricultural population was larger than the urban.
The military coup
President Joao Goulart was not favorably viewed in Washington. He took an independent stand in foreign policy, resuming relations with socialist countries and opposing sanctions against Cuba; his administration passed a law limiting the amount of profits multinationals could transmit outside the country; a subsidiary of ITT was nationalized; he promoted economic and social reforms. And Attorney-General Robert Kennedy was uneasy about Goulart allowing "communists" to hold positions in government agencies.. President Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara were also worried.The president of ITT, Harold Geneen
Harold Geneen
Harold "Hal" Sydney Geneen , was an American businessman most famous for serving as president of the ITT Corporation.-Biography:...
, was also friends with the Director of Central Intelligence
Director of Central Intelligence
The Office of United States Director of Central Intelligence was the head of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the principal intelligence advisor to the President and the National Security Council, and the coordinator of intelligence activities among and between the various United...
John McCone
John McCone
John Alexander McCone was an American businessman and politician who served as Director of Central Intelligence during the height of the Cold War.- Background :...
. The CIA performed psyops against Goulart, performed character assassination
Character assassination
Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration, misleading half-truths, or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person...
, pumped money into opposition groups, and enlisted the help of the Agency for International Development and the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
.
On the night of March 31, 1964, a military-led coup overthrew Goulart. The coup installed successive right-wing hardliners as heads of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
who suspended civil rights and liberties of the Brazilian people. They abolished all political parties and replaced them with only two, the military government's party called the National Renewal Alliance Party
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...
(Aliança Renovadora Nacional – ARENA) and the consented opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement
Brazilian Democratic Movement
The Brazilian Democratic Movement was a political party in Brazil that existed from 1965 to 1979. It was formed in 1965, when the military government that overthrew President João Goulart abolished all existing political parties...
(Movimento Democrático Brasileiro – MDB). However, MDB had no real power, and the military rule was marked by widespread disappearance, torture, and exile of many politicians, university students, writers, singers, painters, filmmakers and other artists.
In the first of hours of March 31, 1964, General Olímpio Mourão Filho, in charge of the 4th Military Region, headquartered in Juiz de Fora
Juiz de Fora
-Industry, Trade, and Culture:Juiz de Fora is the second most important industrial center in the state of Minas Gerais, despite being the fourth largest in terms of population. It was once the state's largest city, position which was held up until the beginning of the 20th century...
, Minas Gerais, ordered his troops to start moving towards Rio de Janeiro, to depose Goulart.
On April 1, at 12:45 pm, João Goulart left Rio for the capital, Brasília
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
, in an attempt to stop the coup politically.
When he reached Brasília, Goulart realized he lacked any political support. The Senate president, Auro Moura Andrade, was already articulating for congressional support of the coup. Goulart stayed for a short time in Brasília, gathering his wife and two children, and flying to Porto Alegre in an Air Force
Brazilian Air Force
The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces"...
Avro 748
Avro 748
The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed by the British firm Avro in the late 1950s as a replacement for the now-aged DC-3s then in widespread service as feederliners. Avro concentrated on performance, notably for STOL operations, and found a dedicated...
aircraft. Soon after Goulart's plane took off, Auro Moura Andrade declared the position of President of Brazil "vacant".
In the first hours of April 2, Auro Moura de Andrade, along with the president of the Supreme Federal Court swore in Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli
Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli
Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli, LS was a Brazilian politician who was President of Brazil in 1961 and 1964. Mazzilli's father was Domingo Mazzilli , an Italian from Montemurro, Basilicata, who immigrated to Brazil in 1892, at the age of 15. The mother, Angela Luizzi, was also from Montemurro and...
, the speaker of the house, as president. This move was arguably unconstitutional at the time, as João Goulart was still in the country.
At the same time, Goulart, now in the headquarters of the 3rd Army in Porto Alegre, (still loyal to him at the time) contemplated resistance and counter-moves with Leonel Brizola, who argued for armed resistance. In the morning, General Floriano Machado informed the president that troops loyal to the coup were moving from Curitiba to Porto Alegre, and that he had to leave the country, risking arrest otherwise. At 11:45 am, Goulart boarded a Douglas C-47 transport for his farm bordering Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. Goulart would stay in his farms lands, until April 4, when he finally boarded the plane for the last time, heading for Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
.
For the next 15 years, all the features of military dictatorship that Latin America has come to know were instituted: Congress was shut down, political opposition was reduced to virtual extinction, habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
for "political crimes" was suspended, criticism of the president was forbidden by law, labor unions were taken over by government interveners, mounting protests were met by police and military firing into crowds, peasants' homes were burned down, priests were brutalized…disappearances, death squads, a remarkable degree and depravity of torture…the government had a name for its program: the "moral rehabilitation" of Brazil.
Washington was very pleased. Brazil broke relations with Cuba and became one of the United States' most reliable allies in Latin America.
Life in exile
On April 4, 1964, Jango and his family landed in UruguayUruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
seeking political asylum. After his first years in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, he bought a farm in the Uruguay-Brazil border, where he devoted himself to cattle. On 1966 he took part in Frente Ampla (Broad Front) political movement, which aimed to fight for the full restoration of democratic rule in Brazil through peaceful means. The end of Frente Ampla also resulted in the end of Jango's political activity. He decided to focus in managing his farms located in Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
On late 1973, then Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón invited Jango to live in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and asked him to elaborate a plan to expand Argentine meat exports to Europe and other markets which would not traditionally buy the Argentine commodity. However, Perón's then Minister of Social Welfare and private secretary José López Rega
José López Rega
José López Rega was Argentina's Minister of Social Welfare during the Peronist government started in 1973 by Juan Perón and continued after Perón's death in 1974 by his third wife and vice-president, Isabel Martínez de Perón , until the coup d'etat of 1976 that initiated the so-called National...
opposed to the designation. Nevertheless, Jango decided to stay in Buenos Aires.
On March 1976, the Argentine Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...
dismantled in the town of La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
, a group of right-wing terrorists which planned to kidnap Jango's son and demand a high ransom in cash. With his personal security compromised, the former president distanced himself from Buenos Aires. This experience led Jango to route the new steps of his safe return to Brazil. This was, however, delayed because of the proximity of the electoral campaign in November of that year.
Death
João Goulart died in his farm La Villa, in the ArgentineArgentina
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...
municipality of Mercedes
Mercedes, Corrientes
Mercedes is a city in the center of the . It is a first-class municipality with a population of about 35,000 inhabitants , and the head town of the department of the same name, which also includes the towns of Felipe Yofre and Mariano I. Loza...
, on December 6, 1976 of an alleged heart attack. Since Goulart's body was not submitted to an autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
, his real cause of death
Cause of Death
Cause of Death is a 1990 album by American death metal band Obituary. Cause of Death is considered a classic album in the history of death metal. The artwork was done by artist Michael Whelan...
is unknown. Around 30,000 people attended his funeral service, which was censored from press coverage by the military dictatorship.
On April 26, 2000, former governor of Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro, Leonel Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
, said that former presidents João Goulart and Juscelino Kubitschek were allegedly assassinated in the frame of Operation Condor
Operation Condor
Operation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
and requested the opening of investigations on their death. They died allegedly of a heart attack and a car accident, respectively.
On January 27, 2008, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo
Folha de S. Paulo
Folha de S. Paulo, known simply as Folha , is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in São Paulo since 19 February 1921. Owned by the Frias de Oliveira family since 1962, it has Brazil's largest circulation since 1986. Alongside O Globo and O Estado de S...
printed a story with a statement of Mario Neira Barreiro, a former member of the intelligence service of Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
's dictatorship, declaring that Goulart was poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed, endorsing Brizola's suspicions. The order to assassinate Goulart, according to him, came from Sérgio Fleury, head of the Departamento de Ordem Política e Social (Department of Political and Social Order) and the licence to kill came from the 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:...
.
Afro-Brazilians
Closeness to poor people, especially Afro-Brazilians, was a normal behavior for the young Jango. The main leader of his Carnival block Comigo Ninguém Pode, mãe-de-santoMãe-de-santo
A Mãe-de-santo is a priestess in Umbanda, Candomblé and other African-Brazilian religions. In Portuguese those words means mother of saint, which is a improper translation from the Yoruba language word "iyalorishá", a title given to priest women in African religions. Iyá means mother, and the...
Jorgina Vieira, declared in an interview to the newspaper Zero Hora that Jango was one of the only white boys of São Borja to be a member of the block. In a particular Carnival celebration in the 1940s, he broke the high society
High society (group)
High society refers to a category of people deemed to have greater social status or prestige, and their related affiliations, social events and practices which together define a group variously referred to as "Society" or high society. Such groups are defined by certain key events and cultural...
rules and led the block inside the aristocratic Clube Comercial, which would not allow blacks in their halls until the late 1960s.
Communism
Like many other progressive politicians of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
era, Jango was more than once accused of being a communist. As a response to Carlos Lacerda, his most frequent accuser, he cited right wing politicians also supported by the Brazilian Communist Party which the latter would not criticize. In an interview to the newspaper O Jornal, Jango declared: "regarding the communists, they have supported indistinctly candidates of several political affiliations, conservatives or populists. I do not wish to distinguish such support, but I will only allow myself this question: is perhaps Colonel Virgilio Tavora communist, just because, ostensibly, he accepts the support of communists in Ceará? How to say that the illustrious patriot of UDN Milton Campos is communist, for accepting, as he did in Minas, the same votes requested by Mr. Afonso Arinos
Afonso Arinos
-Works:* Os jagunços * Pelo sertão In the XIX th century, Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco was recognized as one of the most influential intellectuals of his time. His work is part of Brazils' most prestigious literature and contains a strong message of social criticism....
here in Rio?".
Tributes and amnesty
In 1984, exactly twenty years after the coup, filmmaker Sílvio Tendler directed a documentary rebuilding Jango's political career through archive footage and interviews with influential politicians. JangoJango (film)
-Content summary:The film traces the life of João Goulart, 24th President of Brazil, who was deposed by a military-led coup on March 31, 1964 after he proposed a broad program of reforms in areas such as land, education and elections. Goulart was popularly known as "Jango", therefore the title of...
brought over half a million people to the movies theaters, becoming the sixth largest grossing documentary of Brazil. It was also critically acclaimed, receiving three awards at the Gramado Film Festival and one at the Havana Film Festival
Havana Film Festival
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Spanish-language filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as Festival of New Latinamerican Cinema of La Havana.The festival takes place...
, beside the Silver Daisy, given by the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil – CNBB).
There are at least ten schools all over Brazil named after João Goulart, according to Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
. Most of them are located on 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...
, on the municipalities of Alvorada
Alvorada
Alvorada is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, adjacent to the city of Porto Alegre. The city is also known as "The Capital of Solidarity." Alvorada is primarily a bedroom community with most workers commuting to adjacent cities such as Porto Alegre to work. Alvorada is built around its main...
, Ijuí
Ijuí
Ijuí is a municipality in the state Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.With 79,412 inhabitants.- Famous natives :Ijuí is where the Brazilian national soccer team ex-coach, Dunga, was born.-See also:*List of municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul...
, Novo Hamburgo
Novo Hamburgo
Novo Hamburgo is a city in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.Its population is 237,044 . The city covers an area of 217 square kilometers, and the average temperature is 19°C, a mild one for the region...
, 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...
, Viamão
Viamão
Viamão is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In size it is the largest municipality in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre and the seventh most populous in the state.The origin of the name Viamão is controversial...
, and Jango's native São Borja
São Borja
São Borja is a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. São Borja is the oldest municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and was founded in 1682 by the Jesuits as the first of the Seven Points of the Missions, and named São Francisco de Borja, in honor of Saint Francis...
. There are three schools named after Jango 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 Balneário Camboriú
Balneário Camboriú
Balneário Camboriú is a major beach resort in the Brazilian southern state of Santa Catarina. The town, with its steep hills dropping down to the sea, is popular amongst South Americans. The main ocean boulevard is called Avenida Atlântica...
, Santa Catarina and another in São João de Meriti
São João de Meriti
São João de Meriti is a brazilian city in Rio de Janeiro state. Its historical name is São João do Rio Meriti. Its population was 468.309 inhabitants in 2008...
in Rio de Janeiro. Also in Balneário Camboriú it was inaugurated, on December 6, 2007, exactly thirty-one years after the death of the President, a monument of Jango sitting in a bench of the Avenida Atlântica (in front to the Atlantic Ocean) with his two children. It was designed by artist Jorge Schroder upon the request of mayor Rubens Spernau.
On June 28, 2008, it was inaugurated the Avenida Presidente João Goulart (President João Goulart Avenue) in Osasco
Osasco
Osasco is a municipality and city in São Paulo State, Brazil, is located in the Greater São Paulo and ranking 5th in population among São Paulo municipalities. The current mayor is Emidio Pereira de Souza ....
, São Paulo. The boulevard is about 760 meters long and is the first of the city with a bicycle path
Bicycle Path
Bicycle Path is a historic road in Central Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, built in the late 19th Century in order to capitalize on the bicycle craze of that period...
. Other cities, like Canoas
Canoas
Canoas , which won city status in 1939, is the fourth largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its population is over 300,000 people. The city is adjacent to the capital of the gaúcho state: Porto Alegre...
, Caxias do Sul
Caxias do Sul
Caxias do Sul is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. Coordinates: 29°10′0″ S, 51°11′0″ W....
, Cuiabá
Cuiabá
Under the Koppen climate classification, Cuiaba features a tropical wet and dry climate. Cuiabá is famous for its searing heat, although temperatures in winter can arrive sporadically at 10 degrees, indeed atypical, caused by cold fronts coming from the south, and that may only last one or two...
, Lages
Lages
Lages, formerly Lajens, is a Brazilian town located in the central part of the state of Santa Catarina, in the region known in Portuguese as "Planalto Serrano"....
, Pelotas
Pelotas
Pelotas is a Brazilian city and municipality , the third most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Pelotas is located 270 km from Porto Alegre, the capital city of the state, and 130 km from the Uruguayan border...
, Porto Alegre, Porto Velho
Porto Velho
Porto Velho is the capital of the Brazilian state of Rondônia, in the upper Amazon River basin. The population is estimated to be 426,558 people...
, Ribeirão Preto
Ribeirão Preto
Ribeirão Preto is a municipality and city in the Northeastern region of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is nicknamed Brazilian California, because of a combination of an economy based on agrobusiness plus high technology, wealth and sunny weather all year long. With 605,114 inhabitants,...
, Rio de Janeiro, Rondonópolis
Rondonópolis
Formerly known as Rio Vermelho , Rondonópolis is the third-largest city in Mato Grosso. It is located around from Cuiabá the capital of the state.- Overview :...
, São Borja, São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo is an important Brazilian industrial city located in the south state of Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies a total area of 103.9 km² at circa 30 km from the State Capital, Porto Alegre. Climate is sub-tropical, with temperatures varying from 2°C minimum at Winter to more than...
, São Paulo, and Sobral
Sobral
-People:* José María Sobral , Argentine military scientist and Antarctic explorer* Leila Sobral , Brazilian basketball player* Marta Sobral , Brazilian female basketball player...
already have roads honoring Jango, according to Google Maps.
On November 15, 2008, Jango and his widow Maria Teresa received political amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
from the Federal Government at the 20th National Congress of Lawyers in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
-History:The northeastern tip of South America, Cabo São Roque, to the north of Natal and the closest point to Europe from Latin America, was first visited by European navigators in 1501, in the 1501–1502 Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci, who named the spot after the saint of the day...
. The former First Lady will receive a restitution
Restitution
The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery. It is to be contrasted with the law of compensation, which is the law of loss-based recovery. Obligations to make restitution and obligations to pay compensation are each a type of legal response to events in the real world. When a court...
of R$
Brazilian real
The real is the present-day currency of Brazil. Its sign is R$ and its ISO code is BRL. It is subdivided into 100 centavos ....
644,000 (around US$ 322,000) to be paid in pensions of R$ 5,425 (around US$ 2,712) per month for Jango being restrained from practicing his job as a lawyer. She will also receive a restitution of R$ 100,000 (around US$ 50,000) for the 15 years in which her family was forbidden to return to Brazil.
External links
- Archontology: João Belchior Marques Goulart
- Jango: Um perfil (1945–1964) English review of his biography in Portuguese by Marco Antonio Villa.
- National Security Archive Article about the declassification of secret documents.
- Cooperative research
- Third world traveler
- Brazil: Documents Shed New Light on US Support for 1964 Coup