WikipediaExtracts:1964 Brazilian coup d'état
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The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état (Portuguese: Golpe de estado no Brasil em 1964) was the overthrow of Brazilian president João Goulart by a military coup from March 31 to April 1, 1964, ending the Fourth Brazilian Republic (1946–1964) and initiating the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964–1985). The coup took the form of a military rebellion, the declaration of vacancy in the presidency by the National Congress on April 2, the formation of a military junta (the Supreme Command of the Revolution) and the exile of the president on April 4. In his place, Ranieri Mazzilli, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, took over until the election by Congress of general Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, one of the main leaders of the coup.
Democratically elected vice president in 1960, Jango, as Goulart was known, assumed power after the resignation of president Jânio Quadros, in 1961, and the Legality Campaign, which defeated an attempted military coup to prevent his inauguration. During his government, the economic crisis and social conflicts deepened. Social movements political, labor, peasant, student, and low-ranking military milieus advocated for a set of "base reforms" proposed by the president. He met growing opposition among the elite, the urban middle class, a large portion of the officer corps, the Catholic Church and the press, who accused him of threatening the legal order and of colluding with communism, social chaos and the breakdown of military hierarchy. Throughout his tenure, Goulart had come under numerous efforts to pressure and destabilize his government and plots to overthrow him. Brazil's relations with the United States deteriorated and the American government allied with opposition forces and their efforts, supporting the coup. Goulart lost the support of the center, failed to approve the base reforms in Congress and in the final stage of his government relied on pressure from reformist movements to overcome the resistance of the Legislature, leading to the height of the political crisis in March 1964.
On March 31, a rebellion broke out in Minas Gerais, jointly led by the military and some governors. Military loyalists and rebels prepared for combat, but Goulart did not want a civil war. The loyalists initially had the upper hand, but mass defections deteriorated the president's military situation and he successively traveled from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília, Porto Alegre, the interior of Rio Grande do Sul and Uruguay. Coupists controlled most of the country by the end of April 1, and Rio Grande do Sul on the 2nd. Congress declared Goulart's position vacant while he was still in Brazil's territory, at dawn on the 2nd. Movements to defend his term, such as a call for a general strike, were insufficient. While a part of society welcomed the self-styled "revolution", another was the target of strong repression. The political class expected a quick return to a civilian government, but in the following years an authoritarian, nationalist and pro-American dictatorship was consolidated.
Historians, political scientists and sociologists have given numerous interpretations to the event, which was both the implantation of the military dictatorship and the last of several political crises of the Fourth Brazilian Republic with similar opponents, as in 1954, 1955 and 1961. In the international context, the coup was part of the Cold War in Latin America and occurred at the same time as several other military coups in the region.
