Instead of threadmarking them at posting - you leave them to threadmark later. I only bring it up because it limits the amount of people coming and commenting on this frankly excellent timeline - as they most likely think it doesn't often update or hasn't updated when it actually has
A Lusophone World
Lusitania
Donor
Thank you for pointing it out. I will endeavor to keep them up to date.
Well this really does show that with the right circumstances Indonesia and Malaysia could of emerged from colonization completely different.
It was the emergence of a dominant party centered in Java that kept the Dutch East Indies together. This was the same with India and in reading the period after WW2 for both countries it seemed that a unified country was not inevitable. Given the proper support to specific groups and weakening of others we end up with radically different regions.
I think the hardest part for everyone to follow might be the fact the regions history from colonies to independence spans several decades as is not presented in easy to follow manner. Something I can look at rectifying in a future post.
Note: we will provide an updated Indian subcontinent post like this one in the 1970s while continuing to update this region.
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Venditg
Banned
Hey great Timeline man. I googled one of the historical figures and maybe you would like to have it.
Attachments
This is crazy, just found out that I missed a bunch of updates prior to the last update. Pleasant surprise!!!
Wonder what the new tone for Federation involvement in Brazil will take. Might military deployment be on the table? Surely the US will not be pleased but should Brazil care when Latin America is going up in flames with Washington barely keeping the lid closed? Hasn't Argentina send any aid to it's two neighbors? Both ties to the Federation and desire to keep communists out of it's borders are plenty of motivation.
Who cashes in Sues Canal fees?
Is the French-American relationship any different from OTL? Their actions are no different from the Portuguese after all.
Did the Portuguese sign the Treaty of Rome? Were they even invited?
How will Soccer evolve in the Federation and Lusitania Alliance? It looks to be gearing up to be a Soccer superpower. Would greater connection with Brazil and it's Samba Soccer effect the African youth growing up? Size alone means internal League(s) will rather competitive. The French Community as well.
Wonder what the new tone for Federation involvement in Brazil will take. Might military deployment be on the table? Surely the US will not be pleased but should Brazil care when Latin America is going up in flames with Washington barely keeping the lid closed? Hasn't Argentina send any aid to it's two neighbors? Both ties to the Federation and desire to keep communists out of it's borders are plenty of motivation.
Who cashes in Sues Canal fees?
Is the French-American relationship any different from OTL? Their actions are no different from the Portuguese after all.
Did the Portuguese sign the Treaty of Rome? Were they even invited?
How will Soccer evolve in the Federation and Lusitania Alliance? It looks to be gearing up to be a Soccer superpower. Would greater connection with Brazil and it's Samba Soccer effect the African youth growing up? Size alone means internal League(s) will rather competitive. The French Community as well.
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Venditg
Banned
@Lusitania now,sorry to ask you a question that doesn't involve the last update, but I am curious to know if you know something about it since your African update.
I met a girl who has a half Portuguese half Angolan and her father is a Portuguese Muslim military man who served (?) In Mauritania.
I don't know of any connection between Portugal and Mauritania , on Google and other search engines it seems the two countries don't even have diplomatic relations or even interacted in the last 60 years.
Can you illuminate me on that?
I met a girl who has a half Portuguese half Angolan and her father is a Portuguese Muslim military man who served (?) In Mauritania.
I don't know of any connection between Portugal and Mauritania , on Google and other search engines it seems the two countries don't even have diplomatic relations or even interacted in the last 60 years.
Can you illuminate me on that?
Lusitania
Donor
No just had writers block on the Brazil section. I had a few rewrites and now my lastest Brazil section is with reviewers.
Nice to hear. Obrigado!
1960 - World - Brazil (1of 2)
Lusitania
Donor
1960 – 1969
World (cont.)
Brazil (1 of 2)
Brazil entered the 1960s full of optimism and hope as the JP presidency ended, the crowning of achievement under JK had been the rapid development of the country with huge investment in infrastructure, investment by both Brazilian and foreign companies in both resource development as well as manufacturing as the country attempted manufacture its own products and increase its exports. But the crowning achievement of the presidency was the building of a new capital in the interior called Brasilia along with rapid transit connection from it to its two largest cities Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.World (cont.)
Brazil (1 of 2)
Construction of Brasilia 1956-1960
Brazil High Speed train connecting Rio – Sao Paulo – Brasilia
Inaugurated in 1960
Operating line in Red
Planned unbuilt line in Green
The high-speed train built by Federation / Brazilian consortium had gone badly over budget with costs almost twice the original cost and part of the line connecting Belo Horizonte to Brasilia unfinished. While the 1950s had seen Brazil begin its transformation from an undeveloped country to one that at long last started becoming an industrial and economic regional power able to assert its own values and views the development and manner in which it had been done had garnished a lot of criticism and claims of corruption. Nevertheless, the Brazilian people felt proud and filled with pride in the country’s accomplishments believing that a new modern Brazil would become a partner in the security and progress of the free world.
While President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira and those around him felt that much was needed still to be done the Brazilian constitution prevented him from running a second consecutive term and in the 1960 Brazilian Presidential election the electorate had a choice of four different candidates with very different views regarding their vision for Brazil in the 1960s.
1960 Brazilian President Candidates
Fernando Ferrari, Jânio Quadros, Carlos Lacerda & Ademar de Barros
The coalition that had governed Brazil during the 1950s and been instrumental in electing both Vargas and JK was splintered and struggled to agree on the best candidate. In the majority agreed to support Fernando Ferrari but in doing so the left wing of the coalition headed by the PTN left and joined in Ferrari main opponent Jânio da Silva Quadros. Quadros was a divisive candidate who both seemed to unify many who were critical of the Vargas/JK decade and its abuses but also turned off many by his dismissive and combative nature. Nothing personified this contrast than the very public spat between Carlos Lacerda leader of the main anti Vargas/JK party the UDN and Jânio da Silva Quadros. The dispute and animosity between the two leaders resulted in the UDN withdrawing from Quadros coalition and nominating their own leader for President. Lastly Adhemar de Barros the leader of the PSP. With the anti-establishment camp splintered Fernando Ferrari seemed likely to win but Jânio da Silva Quadros with the support of both left and nationalist parties (PTN, PR, PL and PSP) captured the public imagination with his catchy campaign slogans and jingles all while attacking the corruption and waste of the previous administration and government officials. Fernando Ferrari supported by (PSD, PTB, PST, PSB and PRT). The anti-establishment, conservative and pro USA factions admonished by the current political and foreign policy positions of Brazil seemed to favor Adhemar de Barros. But neither Barros or Lacerda were able to expand their message beyond their political base and as the campaign progressed the election seemed between Quadros and Ferrari. Meanwhile the election for VP pitted Joao Goulart (Jango) supported by Vargas/JK coalition against Milton Campos who was Quadros running mate.
As the campaign progressed it grew very acrimonious with personal attacks against each candidate. Ferrari while a very capable deputy could not match the populist Quadros who was able to galvanize the average Brazilian and portray Ferrari as stooge to the powerful and foreign interests. Ferrari tried to counter by pointing out the progress the country had made and the advancements but, in the end, Quadros was a political phenomenon, his jingle was everywhere, and it became impossible to counter his popularity and he won the election by 129,000 votes. But while Quadros was able to garner the voters support the same could not be said about his VP running mate Milton Campos, Goulart won VP by 350,000 votes.
Following the election Quadros decided to visit Europe for three months much to the anger of his allies who wanted him to stay in Brazil to plan his administration. He visited France, Britain, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the Federation. While in Europe he met with political and business leaders as well as leaders of opposition parties, labor leaders and leftwing intellectuals signaling he wanted to have a much broader exposure than his predecessors. In the Federation Quadros seemed to go out of his way to reach out to opposition leaders and other groups. The Portuguese government never interfered with Quadros and he left the Federation a week before his inauguration neither condemning the Federation as some of his leftwing supporters had hoped nor did he praise the country but only stated he enjoyed visiting the people of the Federation.
On 31 January 1961 Quadros took office and in his inaugural speech, he emphasized the issues of government inefficiency, inflation, and debt. Quadros laid the blame for the country's high rate of inflation on his predecessor, Juscelino Kubitschek, whom he berated for nepotism and corruption. Quadros quickly replaced most incumbent ministers with members of the PTN, PSP and PR and other parties that had supported him. This proved the start of his problems as Quadros ability to govern effectively was hampered throughout his presidency by his inexperience with party politics and his small staff.
At the beginning of his presidency, Brazil was faced with high inflation and large debts to foreign countries. Quadros' government announced an anti-inflation program in March that simplified exchange rates and cut public spending. The reforms gained the approval of the IMF, and Quadros was able to renegotiate debts with the United States and Europe. Brazil received a total of 3.5 billion dollars of new loans, greatly mitigating the debt crisis that it had been facing. That represented a major breakthrough for the Quadros administration, as several previous Brazilian presidents had failed to renegotiate the debt and had relied on secondary markets such as the Federation.[1] In addition to his campaign against inflation, Quadros attempted to reduce bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption. He launched an anti-corruption campaign and largely bypassed the bureaucracy by issuing presidential decrees. However, the policies undermined morale within the government and alienated many members of Congress, and this was exacerbated by his failure to cooperate with his allies, as he rarely consulted with his main political backers on important decisions and held only two cabinet meetings in his first month in office. As Quadros alienated the bureaucracy many government programs suffered as government oversight was reduced. As president, Quadros also dissipated his energy on relatively unimportant issues, exerting significant effort to outlaw gambling and to ban women from wearing bikinis on the beach.
Quadros pursued an independent foreign policy, outlining "freedom, independence, and non-interference" as his guiding principles. He also tried to pursue closer relationships with Africa and Middle East, hoping to gain influence in the non-aligned movement. He attempted to show solidarity with newly independent African countries by promoting decolonization and opposing racism. He also tried to promote trade and cultural exchanges with those countries. However, Quadros' government often supported states that contradicted his efforts such as his continued support of white minority government South Africa. But the biggest deterrent to Quadros increasing Brazil’s influence in Africa and Middle East was the continued close economic relations with the Federation. For all his rhetoric he realized that the Federation was already following a foreign policy he supported. But while his predecessors had aligned themselves with the Federation instead of America, he hoped to strike a more balanced approach and play the major powers against one another. However, his willingness to embrace the communist governments of Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union alienated many of his supporters, and upset most major parties in congress. One of his most controversial positions came as a result of the Cuban Nationalist (with American support) liberation of Cuba. While most of South American governments either supported or remained quiet at the onset of the invasion Quadros came out against the invasion. His position and rhetoric were condemned by many of his critics and as the Cuban war progressed and territory under Nationalist Cuban control expanded, he tempered his criticism and voiced his support to the Cuban people.
On the economic front, Quadros policies proved inadequate in resolving the problems that Brazil was facing. Inflation was still over 40% while economic growth had slowed to just over 2% and as 1961 turned into 1962, inflation grew instead of falling as productivity decreased. The JK economic plan had been to increase Brazil’s industrial, agricultural, and manufacturing production with the goal of reducing imports and stabilizing the economy. But under Quadros many of the initiatives started under JK stalled and imports grew, and as a result Brazil’s economy stalled.
In December of 1961 Quadros proclaimed two new initiatives:
- Educational Reforms – building on the education plan started under JK administration the Education plan called for expansion of free elementary education to grade 6 for all children both rural and urban. This plan included free textbooks and equipment. Stating in 1963 school attendance for all children till age of 12 was made mandatory this included requirement that all jurisdictions be they cities or villages were required to have enough schools for all school age children and that attendance became the responsibility of mayor and council with severe penalties if not met.[2] Secondly the government plan was to double the number of secondary schools, colleges and Universities by end of decade. Lastly borrowing from Federation was an aggressive adult illiteracy program that utilized the schools in the evening and had a goal of eliminate illiteracy for those under 60 by end of the decade.
- Electoral Reform - granting all adults over age of 18 the right to vote including those who were illiterate.
In spring of 1962 Quadros got into a new conflict with the US government of President Kennedy. In 1962 the US administration began a program of replacing Communist Cuba with Nationalist Cuba on the international stage. Foremost in the American plan was replacing Communist Cuba with Nationalist Cuba in the OAS. Quadros came out against it and became the principal opponent of the American plan. While American influence within the OAS was very strong the growing communist threat in the Americas and US inability to suppress it had left many leaders demanding additional support. Many governments had used the Cuban issue as a way to pressure the Americans. The Americans continued gathering support for their position and by summer of 1962 had gathered sufficient support to be able to remove Communist Cuba from the OAS. The motion was scheduled to be voted at the Mexican OAS Conference in October 1962.
Quadros continued his opposition to the American plan and put forward his own plan. His idea was to allow for the addition of Nationalist Cuba while at same time maintaining Communist Cuba in the OAS. Quadros decided to not only attend the OAS conference but to seek additional support for his proposal. One week prior to the conference Quadros visited several capitals in Latin America to gather support for his proposal. He visited Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico and met with the government leaders. For all Quadros failures domestically he was able to gather enough support that many in the American administration worried that Quadros would derail the American plan. Quadros arrived in Mexico City on October 5 and met with Mexico’s president Adolfo López Mateos who was very receptive to his plan. It was during his meeting with President Mateos that Quadros learned of the attempted coup in the Federation. During the rest of the day President Quadros stayed at the Brazilian Embassy keeping up to date on the developments in Lisbon and Federation by the Brazilian embassy in Lisbon. When word of the coup failure reached him, he was both relieved and disappointed. He was heartened at the Federation people rejection of the coup and contemplated the use of such tactics in Brazil to further his agenda and weaken his critics. The next day Quadros left the Embassy and his motorcade travelled to the OAS conference under Mexican police protection. When his limousine was 2 blocks from the OAS conference a powerful bomb hidden in a car parked along his route exploded just as the limousine passed. The force of the blast lifted up his limousine and sent it flying over 50 feet into the building across the street. Quadros was killed along with most of his entourage travelling in the accompanying vehicles.
News of the attack and Quadros death coming at same time as the attempted coup in the Federation came as a great shock to majority of the people in Brazil. The Brazilian congress was in shock too as five of its members who had accompanied Quadros to Mexico City were also killed. The Brazilian constitution stipulated that in the event of death of President the VP would become president, but many conservatives argued that VP Goulart was ineligible to be president due to his strong support and closeness to the Federation. Goulart himself had been the target of an assassination attempt on the same day as President Quadros was assassinated but the plot had been discovered and four individuals arrested. Even though the attempt on Goulart was thwarted several prominent conservative and pro-American elements of the military still pushed forward with their plan to replace Goulart. The arrest of the assassins could of undid the conspirators but several supporters within the Brazilian police slipped poison in the captured assassins’ food and they died before they could reveal anything. The death of the prisoners revealed that there were conspirators throughout the Brazilian police. The conservatives in congress were not strong enough to prevent Goulart from becoming President and as he took the oath of Presidency General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco commander of the military in Belem ordered his forces to seize state of Para and proclaimed that he was calling on other political and military leaders in opposing the seizure of Brazil by the Federation and its conspirators led by Goulart. The country stood in fear and anxious to see who would else would revolt and what other military units would join in the attempted coup. As General Branco issued his proclamation news started appearing in many Brazilian newspapers and media stations that both Quadros assassinations and the attempt on Goulart had been orchestrated by the Americans working with the conservatives. The conservatives and their newspapers, radio and television stations denied all of this.
The government response to the assassination and military revolt was twofold; the Brazilian Congress launched hearings into the assassination and attempted coup by the military to see if they were connected while the remainder of the Brazilian military moved against General Branco forces in the state of Para. 12 October 1962 became known as the “Operação Frei Caneca” as thousands of conservatives including Congressman Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli and members of the government and police were arrested. Several prominent conservatives such as Plínio Salgado and Olimpio Mourão Filho testified against conspirators and evidence was resented that not only was the American CIA involved but that American embassy officials including Ambassador had taken part in organizing the coup.[3] Most damaging was the news that several Americans had been captured alongside Brazilian conspirators. With all the evidence against the Americans President Goulart declared the American Ambassador Abraham Lincoln Gordon persona non grata and was given 24 hours to leave Brazil
Meanwhile General Branco forces suffered significant desertions as news of CIA and American involvement spread throughout Brazil. On 20th of October news of CIA involvement in Portuguese Federation attempted coup made headlines in Brazil, this alongside news of American involvement in planning and participation of the Brazilian coup resulted in the attempted coup loosing much of its support, worse many conservatives felt duped and betrayed by the news that it was a CIA plot and they been duped by the Americans. By 25th of October General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco had lost over half of his forces and soldiers sometimes whole units abandoned Belem and switched to the Government side. When Brazilian forces moved in against the remaining revolting forces, they surrendered and General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was found dead from a gunshot in the Belem City Hall.
[1] The US government in an attempt to break Brazil’s cozy alignment with the Federation coerced IMF to suddenly approve new loans to Brazil. An attempt to make a condition of the IMF loans to repeal several agreements with the Federation including the barter agreement almost scuttled the deal but in the end the Americans were too anxious to break close relationship with the Federation dropped the conditions.
[2] iOTL well into the 1980s and 1990s school attendance by poor was still an issue with many families not able to afford the costs of school supplies and uniforms. Here Quadros drawing on the Portuguese example made Education a cornerstone of his administration with free uniforms and school supplies. In 1963 free lunch was started in some schools which by 1970 had become standard in all schools. To the anguish of many jurisdictions, they have less than two years to adhere to the primary, secondary and adult illiteracy requirements before severe penalties including dismissal and arrests.
[3] Several prominent conservatives that were approached but refused to join due to Goulart pro Federation stand. These conservatives such as Plínio Salgado and Olimpio Mourão Filho both of whom suffered assassination attempts in the summer of 1962 turning them from indifferent to anti-coup and government informers
[4] The Portuguese had maintained a dual embassy in Brazil with the Federation renting an office in a building in Brasilia while its large Embassy was built, at same time most of the Federation personnel and functions remained in Rio de Janeiro. When the Embassy was moved to Brasilia Rio building became the 12th consulate in Brazil.
Sorry for the delay several events conspired to delay my writing of this post. First as I have indicated I write several months in advance and had all of 60s and 70s completed but when I started posting the Portuguese-South America section did not seem right and been revising the section since the 1940s. We have till the 1950s seen a small deviation in the events and lives of South America with majority being concentrated in Brazil and Argentina. As we got to 1960s several major events were needing to be changed as the iTTL Brazil had deviated sufficiently to make the changes necessary.
The first major change is in Quadros victory, for iOTL he won by over 1.5 million with the largest lead in Brazilian history. iTTL the victory was less pronounced and without that huge landslide victory Quadros never put forward his resignation attempt. The second biggest change is in regards to Goulart for the years under JK administration and continued exposure and interaction with the Federation had converted him to an advocate of Portuguese Corporatism (the working together of government, industry and labor ) to the betterment of the country and its people. Gone was the Goulart who was supposedly pro Communist. Questions/ Comments?
Return on January 3rd we discuss the 2nd part of Brazil in the 1960s.
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I don't see the Federation allowing just anyone to vote even when it does reforms eventually, and it might influence other nations too that one must be qualified to vote.
This is big and I'm almost certain it'll eventually be focused on Imams and Extremists even online down the line, esp. given the more antagonistic European/Pan-Arabic relationship TTL.
The US really dropped the ball here. Not only has Brazil become tied by the kidney to the Federation anti-Americanism is now the norm in the country.
So I'll assume Portuguese Corporatism is a real geopolitical force that'll probably be practiced across Africa, South America and Asia?
Lusitania
Donor
Thank you. Sorry for delay in responding.
Glad you enjoy them.
Ok sorry for delay and we are now posting the general Brazil. Which as can be seen makes some major changes both in development as well as political. The communist threat is greater and all of South American countries involved. We will post 2nd part of Brazil in 2 weeks then move on to Argentina then go to Chile with a final smaller update in Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela. Lots to come and look forward to comments and questions.
If I understand your question correctly the Suez Canal is closed with Israel on one side and Egypt on other with several sunk ships in center and no one let other have access.
As yes their actions are similar in some ways but french have held the American respect because it been a civilized nation for such a long time. The Portuguese are not in the same league and are being supported by other Europeans.
So while France and US have their differences the Americans don’t want to alienate the French too much since the French have already indicated they will stand on their own.
No the Portuguese are not eligible because they don’t consider Portuguese democracy a true democracy and just like iotl only democratic countries are invited. So neither federation, Spain. Galicia and Greece are eligible to join.
Well the federation is part of the UEFA.
We have a very big section on Portuguese sports.
Where as the French community is part of African federation.
Complicated and we discuss in detail in sports and culture section.
Hm...not sure but we are known to get around. How old is she?
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Lusitania
Donor
Yes the hard coup does but we only post to 1962 so much more to post.
Actually it’s population will be smaller as higher educated people usually have less children.
Yes and thank you.
You actually need to go back and read the political section of the 1950s. The Portuguese let everyone born in the federation over age of 18 vote. That was the “federation idea”.
Now how can the Portuguese allow that ? Won’t the Africans vote for independence and take over and the answer is no. Just like the non communists don’t take over in all the communist nations that have universal suffrage. The trick was control who people can vote for. The Portuguese allowed opposition parties to participate but they had to adhere to very strict rules.
1) no political party associated or affiliated with foreign entity
2) no political party can be against the constitution
3) no political party can support independence
4) no political party can support taking the rightful property of citizens.
In addition those running for office also needed to adhere to the following.
A) no person with criminal record can run for election
B) no person who not swear to uphold all previous 4 points not able to run
All citizens select 3 parties in a ranked election.
Lastly chamber of deputies is appointed by government and they plus the legislature vote on government legislature that is prepared in cabinet which is not part of legislature.
Have we made it hard to follow? A bit yes that is Portuguese democracy.
Yes in future it will but in the 1960s the biggest target was American evangelical missionaries who were kicked out of country with few left in remote areas. But the biggest difference will be larger % as Catholic.
In terms of Muslims they like in federation will need to be licensed by the Brazilian Islamic Center. If anyone caught preaching who is not licensed they get censored and if speech was to take action against government then imprisonment.
The Brazilians and Argentinians along with few other South American countries view their independence with pride. While friendship and mutual respect will drive the alliance between the 3 Amigos as they are know it was the fact that federation did not dwarf the Brazilian or Argentina economies that they respected it and wanted a partner.
The biggest factor that arose in the 1960s was Brazilian nationalism and belief they could achieve their goals and be equal to any nation.
América will continually treat those smaller countries with lack of respect and while at one time these countries had no alternative what the Brazilians and Argentinians have proven is there is an alternative.
Yes it will be standard political and economic model of Lusitania Alliance nations first and over time find its way to other countries.
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1960 - World - Brazil (2of 2)
Lusitania
Donor
1960 – 1969
World (cont.)
Brazil (2 of 2)
The Goulart Presidency
World (cont.)
Brazil (2 of 2)
The Goulart Presidency
The attempted coup weakened the conservatives greatly both within congress and also in the military. Several military leaders either resigned as more evidence was uncovered of additional supporters of the coup within the military but President Goulart refused to launch any further investigations into the military and police. Demonstrations against America including several marches against both American embassy and consulates forced the police to cordon them off from protestors. When several American missionaries were attacked the American government issued a warning to all Americans in Brazil to leave. On 12 December 1962 President Goulart proclaimed the foreign residency registration, requiring any foreigner to receive government permission to stay in country more than 30 days. Many Americans including many evangelical and protestant missionaries left Brazil refusing to present themselves to the Brazilian government “kangaroo court”. On 15 January 1963, Goulart passed a law that no foreigner could speak in public without permit and all foreign government or religious leaders were required to register with the police upon arrival in the country. By end of March 1963 almost all the American missionaries had left the country with only a handful authorized to stay. On 1 May 1963 President Goulart attended the inauguration of the new Federation Embassy in Brasilia and announced the requirement of all countries to move their embassy to Brasilia by 1970.[1] It was not till 1 July 1963 that relations between Brazil and America normalized and American Ambassador John Wills Tuthill arrived in Brasilia as the new US Ambassador but by then the American position in Brazil had been greatly weakened and he spent his whole term defending American position but stayed out of Brazilian politics and affairs.
While President Quadros has expended a lot of his time and effort on political fights with the US and others political leaders President Goulart main priority was to jump start the Brazilian economy and to reduce the high inflation. To accomplish this, he and his cabinet came out with three major economic initiatives:
- Tax Reforms - increased taxes on dividends sent out of country, taxes for corporations and high-income earners were also increased. A Value added tax was also instituted on luxury items.
- Banking and Stock Exchange Reforms – Suffering from fiscal problems and investor confident the government brought forward legislation to modernize both the country’s banks as well as stock market. New Government oversight was proposed with the creation of the Banco Central do Brasil (Central Bank of Brazil) to manage the country currency, set exchange rates and manage the country foreign currency reserves but most importantly regulate Brazilian banks. As part of the legislation individuals, families and corporations were prohibited from owning more than 15% of more than one bank. Bank Oversight Law allowed the Central Bank to not only set banking regulations but also audit banks. Also included in the reforms was the creation of the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil) to regulate and manage Brazil stock exchanges. As part of the reforms the two principal stock exchanges (Rio and Sao Paulo) were linked together and privatized.[2]
- Economic Reform - To tackle the economic situation the government plan was named Plano Trienal, which Proposed by the Minister of Planning Celso Furtado.[3] The plans major objectives to reduce inflation and to improve the country current account deficit by reducing imports. The crucial component of the plan was to stimulate the growth of domestic production of basic commodities used by Brazilians, construction materials, clothing, and energy to meet or exceed domestic demand. The plan called for taxing of agricultural land not being utilized, expansion of agricultural production which included increased herbicides and fertilizers and increasing productivity.[4] The plan also called for the doubling of both steel and cement production and to reduce or eliminate import in many critical components as well as manufactured goods.[5]
At same time Brazil benefited from the deteriorating economic situation in both Columbia and Peru, two primary coffee producers, due to communist insurrection in those countries. By 1964 Columbia coffee production had suffered 80% drop while production in other Latin American countries also suffered leading to an increase in price of coffee. Gone too was the American control of the Brazilian commodities which accounted for majority of the country’s exports in the early 1960s. In December 1963, the government of Goulart announced a minimum price for Brazilian coffee which was opposed by American and European companies. From January to April 1964 Brazil refused to sell at lower price, Brazil got a huge boost when the Federation and several other countries in Central America also joined in the Brazilian floor price, when coffee producers in South East Asia joined the Brazilian position the Europeans relented and started buying at the new price. The American government fought against what they called the Coffee Consortium. But with coffee inventories at record lows many American coffee companies such as Nabob agreed to purchase the coffee at the new floor price. This had the effect of providing the coffee producing countries with an increase in foreign currency and producers with larger profits. In October 1964 Goulart government announced the creation of Coffee Producers Council that would regulate coffee quality and production within Brazil. This was opposed by many producers who planned on greatly increasing production to take advantage of higher prices for coffee. The idea was adopted by several other countries who together with Brazil worked to limit production so that over production would be reduced and prices did not fall.[6] This of course ran counter to the International Coffee Organization (ICO) who claimed oversight over the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) that had been set up in 1962 to manage coffee production and prices. In 1965 Brazil and majority of coffee producers withdrew from the ICO. In 1966 a new ICA was negotiated which abided by Brazilian position and a new ICO was formed.[7] The new ICA had strict national quotas that were enforced. As prices increased many producers expanded their production with size of coffee plantations increasing 30% between 1964 – 1968 but governments were required to cut overproduction and Brazil took the initiative by burning and destroying much of the increased acreage. This had the effect of forcing other small producers to follow suit. Although vigilance against overproducing and smuggling continued to be an ongoing issue that occupied the ICO for decades to come.
For all the economic success the Goulart presidency failed to take the growing communist threat in neighboring countries seriously by bolstering border defenses and military spending concentrating instead of economic matters.[8] In August 1964 the communist threat that had been plaguing its neighbors: Columbia, Peru, Bolivia reached Brazil as rebels attacked both civilians and the government institutions in the states of Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso.[9] This coincided with attacks on several police stations and government buildings in both Rio and Sao Paulo. The government was completely caught off guard to both the communist attacks in the cities and the guerrillas along the border provinces.
The communist threat was being directed by two Brazilians Carlos Lamarca and Carlos Marighella. “Os Dois Carlos” the two Carlos as they were known were instrumental in both organizing and directing the Brazilian communists both inside and outside of Brazil during the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1954 Carlos Marighella left Brazil where he been living in hiding since the communist party been outlawed and travelled to China where he stayed for four years. There he was trained by Chinese communists in organizing and directing a communist insurrection. In 1958 he returned to South America and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN) as a Chinese communist inspired organization. Due to ongoing war between Chinese Communists and Soviet Communists he was hunted by both the Brazilian Communists who were Soviet backed and the Brazilian police he left Brazil a year later and setup in Bolivia which was partially under Communist control (Chinese backed). He received funds from China and setup “Radio Brazil” to inspire and educate the Brazilian people in the glories of communism and overthrowing the Brazilian government. In 1960 one of the new recruits Carlos Lamarca, a former military officer joined Carlos Marighella and became one of ALN principal military leaders. In 1962 he returned to Brazil to organize the clandestine communist cells in Brazil’s major cities. In 1964, one month after the communist guerillas crossed border and initiated their attacks in Brazil’s border states the communist cells under Lamarca started attacking government offices and civilians in Brazilian major cities.
The two Carlos, Principle leaders of the ALN from 1960-1966
Carlos Marighella (left) and Carlos Lamarca (right)
In 1964 the military neglected by Goulart since the 1962 attempted coup struggled to deal with both attacks. The initial military strategy to the communist attacks along the border states was to move most of Brazil’s army units to the border region in the west. The attacks in the cities resulted in that strategy being questioned and condemned by the various state governors and congress who demanded army be deployed to protect the cities and assist the police in combatting the communist forces in the east. As the attacks in the cities continued both the military and Federal Public Safety Department (Departamento Federal de Segurança Pública) bungled their response resulting in public discontent, frustration and demands for action while public faith in Goulart administration diminished, especially when both the military and police responded to congress inquiries at their failures showcased the Goulart government underfunding and short staffing of both. What was lacking was the intelligence from both Departamento de Ordem Política e Social (DOPS) Delegacia Especial de Seguranca Política e Social (DESPS).[10] The two intelligence organizations were tasked with keep vigilance both in Brazil and at its borders against these types of insurgencies. In the days following the attacks along the border there had been many questions asked why the country was not better prepared, then when the attacks in some of Brazil’s major cities happened the questions became demands to know why the country had been caught unprepared and neither intelligence organization sounding the alarm at the country’s greatest security threat. Rumors of internal infighting and interdepartmental rivalry leading to security breach resulted in the government launching investigations into intelligence failing.[11] [12]
In October 1964 news that over 10,000 communist rebels were operating along the border and that the military was having problems dealing with the insurgents along with increase in bombings and attacks including the assassination of the governors of Rio de Janeiro and Recife resulted in many within Congress and many news organizations to condemn Goulart presidency with incompetency. On 20 October 1964, to combat the insurgency and provide the government with ability to deal with the threat and growing emergency President Goulart declared State of Emergency. Unfortunately, the situation grew worse with military admitting it had lost half of the state of Mato Gross and images of thousands of civilians fleeing the fighting decreased public confidence in both Goulart and congress who were taking a lot of blame for not passing the state of emergency. From 25 October to 10 November Brazil suffered 157 bombings and attacks. On 10th of November the Portuguese Federation’s Prime Minister Dr. Antonio Rapazote secretly visited Brasilia meeting with President Goulart, Prime Minister Tancredo Neves along with senior members of the governing coalition (PSD, PTB, PST, PSB and PRT) who were both leery and intrigued at the Federation involvement. He also met with General Emílio Garrastazu Médici the most senior military leader. Included in the Portuguese entourage was a divisive figure, former President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira who had been living in the Federation since 1962.[13] For three days the Portuguese and Brazilians discussed how to deal with the communist threat besieging the country. But while the Portuguese offered support and ideas, he made sure leaders knew they had to come up with their own Brazilian solution.[14]
The National Council
The Portuguese PM left on 15th of November same way he had arrived in secret while discussions continued between the President, Congress and Military. Goulart now a shell of the man who had vehemently tried to lead his country for the last three years became very reclusive and instead let other such as Prime Minister Tancredo Neves or the Minister of Economic Development and Planning Celso Furtado lead the discussion, at same time former President JK role also increased and he took a leading position in the negotiations and planning. On 1 December 1964, the government announced the creation of a National Council led by Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, and President Goulart, it included two other members: Celso Furtado in charge of the finance and economy[15] and General Emílio Garrastazu Médici in charge of the country military in combatting the crises facing the country. A new state of emergency was declared, and this time congress passed it. The state of emergency included measures granting the government additional powers and restricting people’s rights. As part of the declaration of the State of Emergency the upcoming presidential elections were cancelled but the National Council promised to hold elections at a later date when the country was safe.[16]The creation of the National Council was an attempt at bring in several different political elements into the government to and to provide it with a broader appeal. The populist side was represented by JK and Goulart, while the conservatives were represented by General Emílio Garrastazu Médici, who as part of their demands for joining was control of both military and security. As the country faced unprecedented attacks both along its borders and within the progressive side thought it was a necessary compromise.
Under General Médici direction the new government outlawed many leftwing parties both in congress and outside and had their leaders and MPs arrested for supporting the rebels.[17] Most of the country’s leftwing and communist newspapers were also closed and its editors and journalists imprisoned. At same time some of the countries radical labor organizations such as Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do ABC and Movimento Unificador dos Trabalhadores (MUT) were targeted. Many of the unions leaders and organizers were imprisoned and government attempted to have more moderate unions to represent the workers. To deal with the communist threat the government both increased the length of time men had to serve from 18 months to 24 and increased the number of recruits. On top of that the government recalled 20,0000 men in the reserves to boost the size of the military[18] and gave the Federal Public Safety Department unchecked powers to arrest anyone who acted or spoke against the government. Any person could be detained for seven days without charges. While all these actions would boost Brazil military it would take two to three months for the extra troops to be ready therefore to help combat the communist rebels the Brazilian government requested Portuguese assistance and less than two weeks later two infantry divisions and one mechanized division along with several units of the Portuguese air force began arriving in Brazilian ports.
The country and its people were in shock at both the insurgency attacks and the government action, luckily opposition to the government was unorganized and small although widespread as people reacted with shock at what they perceived a coup. Demonstrations were met with heavy police presence and massive arrests. During the months of December 1964 to February 1965 Brazil suffered an additional 500 bombings and violent attacks with opposition parties and those opposed to the government suffering the greatest casualties. While government offices, police stations and military installations also were attacked the highest casualties were civilians and the supporters of those who opposed the government. Universities became hotbed of protests therefore the government kept universities closed after the Christmas break. All education and university staff background and political action were investigated, and thousands were fired. Starting in 1965 thousands of left-wing politicians, intellectuals, union members and those opposed to the government of Brazil not in police custody fled the country for US or Europe.[19]
With the boost in military forces and the arrival of the Portuguese forces the Brazilian army was able to push the rebels back in the states of the states of Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso. By April 1965 calm had returned to the majority of Brazilian cites and countryside with most Brazilians starting to finally feel safer. Many people praised the government action and were thankful for the end of the communist threat. On 5 June 1965 Operation Môa was launched against the rebel insurgents in the border states, the operation comprised of seven Brazilian and three Portuguese divisions along with air support from both Brazilian and Portuguese air force. Over the months of June, July and August over 15,000 rebels were captured and 5,979 killed with the remaining rebels being pushed back into Peru and Bolivia. Of the 15,000 rebels caught less than 25% were Brazilian with majority coming from Peru and Bolivia. The Brazilian government paraded the captured rebels in front of the Brazilian and World presses and used the foreign insurgents in Brazil as reason Brazil needed to expand its fight against communism by fighting communist rebels in the neighboring countries, unfortunately the terrain was some of the most difficult both in Brazil and its neighbors.
On 10 September 1965, Brazil and Federation signed two important treaties that brought the two countries closer. The Brazil – Portuguese Federation Cooperation and Mutual Defense Treaty was signed linking the two countries militaries closer. The Portuguese agreed to keep one division in Brazil to help fighting the communist rebels along with air support. While both countries agreed to share their military intelligence. Brazil agreed to send to the Federation two divisions two assist it in its fight against the growing communist threat from its neighbors. At same time Brazil took huge step diplomatically by joining the Lusitania Commonwealth as its first Associate member. The Commonwealth had been formed in 1961 between Federation and its smaller Portuguese aligned neighbors (Galicia, Guinea Boke, Lombok and Bali). It was a military, political and economic alliance allowing for free movement capital, people, and goods between the member countries. Portuguese Federation was also required to provide both economic and military support to the smaller members. In summer of 1965 Katanga became the sixth member and provided additional clout and power to the Commonwealth. It was then that Brazil started negotiations to join the Commonwealth but as an associate member instead of regular member. Allowing the country to reduce the tariffs and duties between the six full members and Brazil. (Brazil membership was viewed as equal to the Federation and would be a model for other countries to join as associate members.
Following the establishment of the National Council, President Goulart went from being in complete charge of the country to being forced to share the burdens of governing. As 1965 progressed the other members of the council started exerting their own influence in their area of specialty. General Médici was responsible for not only the country’s military but also its security and the country’s police and intelligence organizations. Celso Furtado managed the country finances and economic development, while one of the country’s biggest industrialists, Mario Wallace Simonsen, became the Minister of Industry reporting to Celso Furtado. Overseeing the Council was JK who easily slipped into the leadership position of the country. This left President Goulart in an awkward situation. While technically still the President of Brazil his authority and power within the government was much diminished. JK had much admiration for his old VP and in several meetings with Goulart discussed areas of national importance that Goulart could oversee. Over the spring of 1965 Goulart slowly assembled the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education and Culture under his oversight. Fashioning a super ministry Goulart would lead the country’s efforts to continue modernizing its education system and health systems.
Under JK directions Brazil became more assertive on the international stage. In 1966 following the stabilization of the border situation in the west JK turned his attention to Uruguay. That year following the referendum failure Commander Gregorio Conrado Álvarez Armelino who was in charge of the capital’s Republican Guard moved to establish order and seize power. Many of the country civilian politicians opposed the coup. Diego Gestido one of the country’s leaders and considered by many a hero appealed for support from Uruguay neighbors. Meanwhile the Americans came out in support of the coup. In a hurried telephone conversation between governments of Argentina and Brazil it was agreed they send in their forces and re-establish civilian control. On 19th of March both Brazilian and Argentina forces moved into Uruguay and quickly established control of the country. Majority of Uruguay forces did not oppose the Brazilian/Argentinian forces and the Republican Guard only put-up token opposition before surrendering while Commander Gregorio Conrado Álvarez Armelino took refuge in the American Embassy. The US condemned the “invasion”, and the UN with American pressure passed a motion condemning Brazil and Argentina “aggression”. President JK announced that both Brazilian and Argentina troops would be out of Uruguay within six months at most as soon as elections and civilian government could be sworn in. On 1 July 1966 after the election of new civilian President, Diego Gestido, both countries withdrew from Uruguay well ahead of the six-month deadline.[20]
In 1968 Brazil was involved in another power struggle with another one of its neighbors this time Paraguay. In 1966 Brazil and Paraguay started negotiating the development of the continents’ largest hydro electric project at the time. The Itaipu hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. In 1967 Paraguay President Alfredo Stroessner, broke off negotiations due to Brazil and Argentina invasion of Uruguay the previous year.[21] News of the Paraguay decision put the two countries in direct confrontation with Brazilian government accusing President Alfredo Stroessner of reneging on his agreement due to American pressure. On 23 December 1967 President Alfredo Stroessner was overthrown by fellow Paraguay General and onetime friend General Andrés Rodríguez. General Rodríguez was able to seize the capital, Asunción, and surrounding region but units loyal to Stroessner and the Colorado Party still loyal to him controlled majority of the country. President Rodríguez requested help from its neighbors and both Argentina and Brazilian forces moved into the country and defeated the Paraguay forces loyal to Stroessner. Once again, the US, Stroessner main backer condemned the military action of the two countries but both countries cited President Rodríguez request and once more pledged to withdraw within six months. On 15 June 1968 Brazil and Paraguay signed the Itaipu dam treaty allowing for the start construction of the dam the following year.[22]
The military intervention by Brazil in both Uruguay and Paraguay soured Brazilian and USA relations and had the situation in Peru and Bolivia not deteriorated that year the American government would of surely imposed sanctions on both Argentina and Brazil. But as fate would have it in 1968 the government of Peru suffered its greatest defeat to the communist rebels with the fall of Lima. Meanwhile the Bolivia government collapsed, and Communist General Juan José Torres González assumed power in La Paz. To make matter worse one of the principal advisors of the Bolivian communist movement was none other than Ernesto "Che" Guevara. A fact that much boosted both his political and military prestige. The fall of Bolivia and loss of Peruvian capital could not have come at a worse time with the US forces fully committed both in South America elsewhere the USA in desperate need of partners that could engage the growing communist threat in continent and reluctantly supported Brazil, Argentina and Chile to military action against Bolivia. The USA blocked any sanctions against the three countries and resumed normal trade in return the three countries committing close to 100,000 troops between the three countries and on 1 March 1969 the liberation of Bolivia started.[23]
But the biggest Brazilian military action during the 1960s did not occur on the South American continent but instead on the African continent. In 1967 the Federation was attacked by the Pan African Alliance and two Brazilian divisions stationed in Portuguese West Africa participated in counterattack against Zambian forces and were some of the first units to enter Zambian capital Lusaka. Meanwhile Brazilian navy including jets on its aircraft carrier Minas Gerais supported Portuguese forces against both Republic of Kongolese and Benin forces. Meanwhile from 1967 to 1969 Brazil operated over a dozen refugee camps for South Africans fleeing the SA civil war. While the country treated the South Africans with respect in 1969 when the last camps were closed less than 10% of the South Africans had accepted Brazilian offer for residency opting instead for America, or other British commonwealth countries.[24]
The National Council – Economy
In 1965 Minister of Finance and Economy Celso Furtado and Ministry of Industry Mario Wallace Simonsen analyzed Plano Trienal started under President Goulart and made several major adjustments:The National Council – Economy
- Power production had not reached the goal due to allocation of investment while nearly a third of the country electricity was still be generated by oil generators. With no oil production of its own Brazil was dependent on oil imports which had to be bought either using foreign reserves or barter with the Federation. While in 1965 over 12 hydro dams were in various stages of construction and another 10 were in the planning stage, the country had huge coal reserves that could be used to generate electricity and Minister of Industry planned on greatly increasing the country electricity production. Minister Simonsen worked with the half dozen Brazilian energy companies to develop the “Plano Energia Brasil”. The plan called for the building of over 50 coal power generating stations which included the conversion of the oil generating stations to coal or their closure.
- Brazil was blessed with hundred of rivers that could be used to generate electricity and only a small fraction were being exploited. While several large-scale projects were being studied the government worked with both state governments and industry to put together a state task forces to look at feasibility of regional and local hydro dams that would supplement the national hydro dams.[25]
- Rail and Highway expansion – after more than five year delay the last leg of the Rio de Janeiro – Brasilia high speed train was started but after much discussion the government decided to link Belo Horizonte to Urberlandia instead of directly to Brasilia. At same time the most used portion of the high-speed rail between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro was to be doubled and several portions straightened to increase speed to 245 km/h using the new Portuguese RM E.569 Electric locomotive. The rail plans that had the greatest impact in the country was the updating and expansion of the national rail system operated by Rede Ferroviária Federal. The ambitious plan called for not only the expansion of both passenger and freight transportation between Brazils major cities but also standardization of gage and trains allowing for train to run on different tracks throughout the country. A year after the Brazilian intervention in Uruguay Brazil signed an agreement with Uruguay and Argentina to link the three countries train network with the goal of train service between Brazil and Argentina through Uruguay.[26] The government also authorized the construction by private companies of several major toll highways and bridges connecting many of the major cities.
- The government decided to reduce oil consumption and to boost the country’s sugar cane plantation and processing plants which were partial idle by bringing back a WW2 program requiring all gasolines in the country to be at least 25% ethanol by 1965 and 45% by 1969.The government announcement had the effect of providing the country agriculture industry with a huge shot in arm.[27]
- Another major government initiative was vehicle production in the country, in 1965 over half the vehicles sold in Brazil were imported while export of vehicles manufactured in Brazil was negligible. With Brazil joining the Lusitania Commonwealth a new potential market and also source of vehicles was opened to Brazil. The Portuguese Federation which by 1965 was not only self-sufficient in vehicle production but was exporting vehicles to over 50 countries provided a new market to one of the worlds largest vehicle manufacturers the Japanese. Since 1960 they had been wanting to break into Portuguese market, but Portuguese tariffs and investment restrictions had kept them out. With Brazil entering the Commonwealth market they felt they finally had an opportunity to break into the tight Portuguese market. As part of Brazil entry into the commonwealth the Portuguese and Brazilian signed the Brazilian-Federation auto pack, the agreement allowed for tariff free vehicle trade between the two countries (for every vehicle Portuguese automakers sold in Brazil, Brazilian automakers could sell same amount in Federation tariff free). The only issue was that vehicle content had to be 80% built in the commonwealth. The Japanese automakers expanded and built new vehicle and parts plants in Brazil while European automakers such as Fiat also expanded their Brazilian presence.[28] The American automakers GM and Ford both operating in Brazil had different strategies. GM which had been absent from the Portuguese market was able for the first time to start selling vehicles in the Federation while Ford which was present in both Federation and Brazil decided to dedicate Ford Brazil production to trucks while its plants in Federation would produce cars for both markets. By 1969 vehicle production in Brazil had reached 700,000 vehicles.
The National Council – Political Reforms and Repression
From 1965 to 1966 the National council continued to promise new Congressional, state and local elections as well as Presidential Elections. But in late 1966 the government stunned both its congressional allies and adversaries by announcing constitutional consultations which would be voted by the people in a referendum in 1968. The new elections would be only held after the referendum. Meanwhile police and DOPS continued to arrest demonstrators for the slightest infractions. On 10 June 1965 government passed a law that all demonstrations and marches had to be approved by government and organizers were responsible for any damage and injuries.The National Council – Political Reforms and Repression
The number of arrests and people in prisons continued to increase and by 1966 there were tens of thousands of individuals incarcerated for political and demonstration infractions. New internment camps were built in the Amazon and interior of the country. Majority of those arrested were offered parole on condition they abstain from future demonstrations and protests. Many of those released had severe restrictions placed on them and many fled the country. To the surprise of many the government did not place any restriction on leaving the country and countries such as USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Britain had large number of Brazilians seeking asylum.
DOPS expanded its surveillance of the population and recruited many informants to keep tabs on those the government considered dangerous. News of torture and deaths circulated amongst the population. In January 1966 JK and General Médici had a major rupture due to JK and many progressives in and out of government anger over the continued attacks against Brazilians by DOPS and police forces under direction of General Médici. In a showdown with General Médici JK spearheaded major security and intelligence reforms. The National Council separated the security and policing from the Ministry of Defense under General Emílio Garrastazu Médici. Armando Ribeiro Severo Falcão was appointed Minster of Justice while Juracy Montenegro Magalhães was appointed Minister of Interior. In During 1966 the number of individuals detained for political reasons was reduced to few thousand. At same time, the surveillance by DOPS increased exponentially. On 18 August 1966 DOPS agents were able to capture communist Carlos Lamarca after received intelligence that he was in Belo Horizonte staying at safe house. In 1967 and 1968 the number of detained stayed low with vast majority serving less than three months in detention followed by 2-5 years of probation in which they were prohibited from participating or speaking at non-authorized political rallies or meetings. Even members of the ruling coalition or “cleared” parties were subject to arrest for speaking out or participating in non-authorized rallies.
In 1967 the constitutional consultations and meeting heard from many different people arguing for return to pre state of emergency while others demanded immediate elections, only a few people spoke out in favor of limiting voting and increased security. On 9 May 1967 six officers stormed the constitutional consultation in the city of Curitiba. They killed three guards and took over 50 hostages. They demanded the resignation of the National Council and Presidential and congressional elections as well as the freeing all political prisoners. They announced that they would execute one hostage every hour till their demands were met. After they executed the third hostage the Federal Police and Military Police launched a join attack to free the hostages and capture the terrorists. In the raid 15 hostages were killed along with all six of the hostage takers.
The government declared three days of mourning but continued with the consultations. After over eight months of consultation the council with the help of the National Council drafted a new constitution which was presented on 20 December 1967.
The main features of the new Constitution were:
- Restriction of political rights: direct elections for leaders would only be held at state and county level. In federal territories governors were chosen in indirect elections by the correspondent Legislative branch (the National Congress and State Legislatures). All state and Federal territories Legislatures and counties would still be elected by people.
- Restriction of civil rights: any meeting, assembly or gathering of people should be formal, must be previously authorized and conducted under supervision. Unauthorized meetings would be disbanded by the police and participants sued or detained.
- Military (uniformed) State Police Corps will provide both Federal police and state police with support in case of civil disturbance.
- Political parties could not be associated or affiliated with any foreign government or foreign organization. All political parties must swear allegiance to the constitution. Political parties were required to have their party policies and list of candidates to to be approved by Election commission to be allowed to participate in elections.
- All individuals seeking to run in elections had to swear allegiance to the constitution, not have any criminal record and belong to approved party.
- Definition of both states and county responsibilities and jurisdiction.
- Establishment of a permanent National Council that would be headed by President, Prime Minister, Minister of Economy & Finance and Minister of Defense. Reporting to the National Council would be Government Cabinet and bureaucracy.
- The national and state congresses would be comprised of elected deputies and appointed senators that would represent state and national regions and organizations.
- Granting the President and National Council, the right to issue decrees (Decretos-Lei) that would enter in force at the moment of their publication and be inscribed in the statute-book after 30 days in the absence of Congressional deliberation on them.
- Granting right to vote to all people over age of 18 born in Brazil or nationalized Brazilian per Brazilian law who did not have a criminal record or received a pardon.
When news of the result and approval of the constitution there were many demonstrations in many Brazilian cities, the largest demonstrations were in Rio and Sao Paulo where over 50,000 people marched against the implementation of the constitution. While the government took a hands off approach to the peaceful demonstrations they took a heavy hand to the nightly rioting by some of the more radical opposition members and anarchists. In four nights of sporadic rioting 369 people died and 4,561 were arrested. While the rioting was going on several opposition congressmen asked the Supreme Constitutional Court to annul the referendum but after 2 days of deliberation the court ruled that the referendum was valid and that the government changes had not invalidated it.
After four days of rioting the country finally calmed down and the police and justice department began the process of processing all those detained. Anyone arrested for rioting but not committed any property damage or personal injuries and death, was granted immediate parole for period of five years. Anyone arrested for rioting who committed property damage but no personal injuries and death, was granted immediate parole for period of ten years. Anyone arrested for rioting and committed personal injuries and death, was incarcerated for 5-30 years depending on the injuries and if there were any deaths.
Over the next five years those opposed to the government found it more and more difficult to attent university or find employment and thousands would leave Brazil citing loss of freedom and political oppression.
The National Council – Military
During the 1960s Brazil’s major helicopter and plane manufacturer Helibras continued to expand both civilian planes and civilian/military helicopters it produced. During the 1960s Helibras increased the number of planes it manufactured to eight with the launch of the 20 passenger HEL-510 plane. In 1967 marked the year it opened its second plant in Recife as part of the government plan to help northeast Brazil develop. Its helicopter division branched into military helicopters with the launch of its first multipurpose helicopter in 1967, meanwhile the sale of its four civilian models surpassed production and customers had to wait six months for delivery. In 1968 Helibras benefited from Brazil - Portuguese military pack and received several Soviet military helicopter models captured during the Portuguese – Pan African War.The National Council – Military
The two major Brazilian armaments manufacturers IMBEL and INA provided Brazil armed forces and police with all the guns and while “Companhia Brazileira de Cartuchos (CBC Group) continued manufacturing the munitions for the guns being manufactured by IMBEL and INA. In 1969 both IMBEL and INA started selling guns to the newly admitted Commonwealth countries as they rearmed both their reformed police and military. Meanwhile Brazil two largest private gun manufacturers Forjas Taurus and Amadeus Rossi. continued to manufacture guns and rifles for both domestic and export with plants in both Brazil and the Federation. All these companies also benefited from strong demand for Brazilian guns in Latin America.
The Brazilian Navy continued its modernizing program, the main Brazilian naval shipyard in Rio de Janeiro Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ). During the 1960s AMRJ continued building Cruisers “Pará class” and Light Cruisers “Recife class” based on Brazilian French naval agreement. In 1969 Brazil partnered with the Portuguese in the development of the D Henriques CV class aircraft carriers and Gomes Class destroyers. While the order for the last Orca III submarine was cancelled and Brazil ordered three Orca IV class submarines.
Following the 1965 communist insurgency war the Brazilian army expanded their Jungle Warfare as well as Mountain Brigades. With continuous communist threat from its western neighbors (Columbia, Peru and Bolivia) whose terrain was either mountainous or jungle the military greatly expanded these two brigades and by 1969 their strength was almost a division. In 1968 the Law-and-Order Operations Brigade were also expanded.
The National Council – Domestic Development
The national Council, or more specifically Minister João Goulart made great strides in expanding both education and health government objectives. Following the implementation of the 1968 constitution Goulart resigned as President but stayed on as Minister of National development. The ministry was responsible for Agriculture, health, education and culture. Agriculture production increased 10% from 1965-1969 as mechanization, availability of fertilizers and pesticides (majority manufactured in Brazil) started providing the country with tangible benefits. The education initiative including the adult literacy program was able to reduce illiteracy amongst adults by 25%. The Number of students in secondary, college and university increased by over 35% during the 1960s.The National Council – Domestic Development
The Minister of Justice expanded the fiscal and regulation investigation division of the Federal Police to combat fraud, corruption and violation of government laws. The penalties for bribing police were increased to maximum of 20 years in prison and death for police accepting bribes.
In 1967 government set Brazilian content regulations on both its radio, television and cinema industries, the value was set at 25% with continued increases till it reached 50% by 1970.
[1] The Portuguese had maintained a dual embassy in Brazil with the Federation renting an office in a building in Brasilia while its large Embassy was built, at same time most of the Federation personnel and functions remained in Rio de Janeiro. When the Embassy was moved to Brasilia the Rio building became its 12th consulate in Brazil.
[2] The Banking and Stock Exchange reforms caught majority of the major players by surprise for President Goulart and the Minister of Economy Miguel Calmon du Pin e Almeida Sobrinho had announced the legislation without any prior notification. The legislation over 500 pages was criticized not because of its content but because of the lack of input by many of the people affected by the legislation. Several Conservative newspapers called it the Federation Banking and Stock Exchange reforms due to many similarities in the regulations. For all the criticism the legislature was enacted with some minor changes in October 1963.
[3] In 1960 Furtado left Brazil and spent two years in Federation where he was able to witness its government, business, and labor alliance in the development of the country but more importantly production of many commodities and basic goods to satisfy first domestic demand and later for export. He left the Federation contemplating how that could be implemented in Brazil not knowing that two months after arriving he would be tasked with the exact task.
[4] One of the most contested parts of Plano Trienal was export limitations placed on many agricultural, construction and even some manufactured goods obligating the producers to prioritize domestic supply first. In 1963 an amendment was passed in congress which let producers export 1/3 of all increase in production till production equaled domestic production.
[5] To accomplish the objectives of Plano Trienal a Economic National council comprising of government, business and labor representatives was setup to coordinate the national objectives to actions that private enterprise and individuals could utilize. Similar councils on the state level were also setup. Note: not all councils were successful in spurring development, but many projects were started including supporting domestic production of Phillips and Electrolux. In 1965 the German companies Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart) and Siemens AG created a joint German Appliance company for the European market and selected Brazil as it first plant for the Commonwealth market. The Japanese car manufacturers also expanded their Brazilian plants (commonwealth requirements stated 80% of content had to be manufactured in the commonwealth countries to qualify for reduced tariffs. Many criticized foreign companies’ involvement in Plano Trienal but they were the first to “show the way” increasing production, increase employment and increase profits. Note: Many foreign companies sold their exports at “cost” to foreign subsidiaries who then sent profit from sales to parent company (as way around the restrictions in sending dividend out of Brazil).
[6] In 1962 following the expulsion of the American Ambassador and what was perceived as anti-American laws in Brazil the US imposed sanctions on Brazilian goods as well as investment limitations. This unfortunately worked against the American interests as it doubled coffee prices in the US just as alternative sources became unreliable. During 1963 many American companies imported Brazilian coffee and repackaged it as Columbian in Columbian ports. When Columbian production collapsed due to civil war the Brazilian government used the opportunity to stop such clandestine exports hoping to put pressure on the US to eliminate the sanctions. The tactic was partially successful with sanctions being replaced with a variety of tariffs which opened US to Brazilian goods again.
[7] The USA, Canada refused to sign the new ICA and join the revamped ICO. The coffee producers Columbia, Nicaragua, Peru and Ecuador also refused to join but due to communist insurgencies in these countries they accounted for less than 10% of world production.
[8] Like Quadros, President Goulart ignored the communist insurrection situation in neighboring countries. He believed that by increasing the wellbeing and standard of living of Brazilians they ignore the communist message. Unfortunately, economic success and improved standard of living were not enough to those who were swayed by the message of communism utopia that they would establish were there be no exploitation and enough food and goods for all regardless of their economic situation and work.
[9] During the late 1950s and 1st half the of the 1960s communist insurrections in Central America and many South American countries steadily worsened. Even as Nationalist Cuba pushed Communist Cuba north and took over most of the island the situation in the Americas grew worse. The two countries that suffered the greatest insurrections was Columbia and Peru where multiple communist rebel groups not only combated the government but fought each other. By 1964 communist rebels controlled over 75% of the country and the western government were kept in power due to American intervention and support.
[10] The DESPS had jurisdiction over the capital (Rio till 1960, then both Brasilia and Rio since the transfer of capital in 1960). While DOPS had jurisdiction over rest of country.
[11] In 1965 a top-secret report was presented to the government. It laid much of the blame on the leadership of the two organizations as well as outlining many structural errors, fraud, and corruption in how the two organizations were run and competed against each other. Following the release of the report both intelligence organizations were stripped of most of their leadership and merged into DOPS. The Departamento de Ordem Política e Social (DOPS) became solely responsible for internal vigilance while a new agency Serviço Nacional de Informações (SNI) National Information Service became responsible for external threats.
[12] The report detailed how both organizations were rocked by inter departmental rivalry and had deliberately setup fake communist cells in rival agency’s jurisdiction resulting in the rival wasting resources observing fake cells while real cells were not found. That both organizations had discovered several communist cells but had kept it secret from government and police for political reasons. Distrust and anger with Goulart Presidency and their leadership feeling of betrayal due to failed attempted coup had resulted in leaders planning to use the communist attacks to attack the credibility of the government and lead to military and conservative seizure of the government. The leadership had kept the existence of cells from regional leaders or police, this had led to some field operatives becoming despondent and not performing their jobs. Both agencies misjudged the attacks by the communists by weeks to few months and were caught flatfooted. Following the attacks both agencies spent a great deal of effort and time covering up their mistakes going as far as ordering the death of several operatives, several survived the assassination attempt and provided evidence to police investigators. Over two dozen leaders were detained and 10 sentenced to prison terms of 8-30 years with 6 top officials sentenced to death for their part in the deception and betrayal of the country.
[13] Following the end of his term as President he and his family decided that some time away from Brazil would be good idea and allow for country to heal and provide him opportunity to rest. For the first six months JK travelled Europe splitting most of his time between London and Paris where he maintained homes. On 12 June 1961 while he was travelling to meet some friends at a dinner party his car was attacked by what would later be known to be two Brazilian communists. Their real identities were never found but the organizer Devanir Jose de Carvalho was captured by French police while JK and his wife recovered. JK had been shot once in his right arm but his wife Dona Sarah Kubitschek languished in hospital for two months. His driver and bodyguard had not survived the attack. JK and his family stayed in Paris for remainder of 1961 but after receiving warning of potential new threats he decided to seek refuge in Portuguese Federation which he viewed as safer. He arrived in Lisbon om 19 December 1961 and after his wife was deemed to be strong enough to travel, he decided to move to Luanda where he would live till his return to Brazil. While in Luanda he was in constant demand and visited many officials and places. Luanda the largest and wealthiest city in the Federation boasted the headquarters of over half of Portuguese industrial might. It was there he met not only the growing Brazilian Diaspora but also the growing Portuguese company executives, government officials and intellectuals of African, Emigrant, Indian and Asian backgrounds something that impressed him very much. The Portuguese middle class and upper class were as likely to be non-European something that was unique to the country. The two years in Luanda changed JK, while an admirer of Federation his time in Federation provided him with a unique opportunity to understand the Federation Government, Industry and Labor collaborative model.
[14] Many historians have commented that the sole reason for Portuguese PM to visit Brasilia was to bring JK back to Brazil and to show the leaders he had the Portuguese support.
[15] In 1963 Furtado would survive the first of two assassination attempts. Two of the four men who attacked his car and security guards were killed. Furtado was shocked by the attack and more so when news that the two attackers were identified as communist sympathizers. He had since the 1950s admired the communist system for their accomplishment and disregarded the danger they posed to freedom of west. In 1964 the second attack took place as communist rebels entered Brazil from Peru and Bolivia. This time he was injured and hospitalized for several weeks, during his hospital stay news of not only the capture of some of his attackers but also capture of a communist cell in Brasilia that was under the direct instruction of the China tasked with assassination of Brazilian political and military leaders. Several “documents’ were discovered in the cell’s hideout and many communist collaborators within government were arrested. Faced with the evidence of the Communist attack against Brazil and its leaders including him shook Furtado and caused him to lose any admiration he had felt for them. On 15 August 1964 he wrote a letter that was published in several Brazilian newspapers denouncing communism as an ideology and one he apologized for once believing it had merit and not a danger to world. His renunciation was applauded in centrist and conservative circles while condemned by the far left.
[16] When the idea of a national Council was brought up many including JK were leery of the idea feeling that it would contravene the constitution. Two days before the announcement of the council was made public the government petitioned the Supreme Federal Court for its opinion on the constitutional validity of the council. Two hours before the declaration the supreme court ruled 7 – 4 that the National Council was valid with the approval of Congress. Congress had approved the National Congress the day before in a heated and stormy debate with several left wing and rightwing parties objecting.
[17] In addition to both communist parties (Brazilian communist and Communist party of Brazil), and the socialist parties (Brazilian Socialist Party, Socialist Revolutionary) the government also banned National Democratic Union (UDN) due to its antigovernmental political attacks.
[18] The reservists were called for a term of 6 months but at double the standard soldiers pay.
[19] Several Leftwing politicians and individuals questioned the increase in attacks with doubling and tripling of police and military units in Brazilian cities and countryside. Many pointed to many different types of explosives being used some of which were military grade. The biggest evidence they said was the attacks on left wing labor organizations and left-wing politicians since national council took control. Some even went as far as accusing secret government forces of using the communist attacks as cover to attack those who were critical of the government.
[20] See 1960 -1969, World, Uruguay & Paraguay.
[21] In 1966 Portuguese Engineering company Soares da Costa SA and Brazilian engineering company Camargo Corrêa started the feasibility and design project under the Paraguay and Brazilian governments’ direction.
[22] See 1960 -1969, World, Uruguay & Paraguay.
[23] Following the establish pf the People’s Democratic Bolivian Republic, President Juan José Torres González demanded that Brazil stop all aggression against communist “refugees” living in Bolivia. They were really not refugees but the remnants of the failed communist attack on Brazil and on occasion would attack patrolling Brazilian units along the border. This was followed by threats against all its southern neighbors. He demanded that Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina had one year to return all lands stolen from Bolivia. When no country responded to Bolivia demands Bolivian troops invaded Paraguay on 1 January 1969. Chile. Brazil and Argentina used the premise of the 1968 Montevideo Mutual Defense Accord as justification to declare war on Bolivia and defeat the communist government in power.
[24] See 1960-1969 World, Africa, South African Civil War & Portuguese Intervention in SA.
[25] During the 1960s Brazil brought online 10,0000 MW of Hydro Electric power. In 1969 the country embarked on its largest Hydro projects Tucuruí on the Tocantins River and Itaipu on the Paraná along the Brazilian – Paraguay border with a combined 25,000 MW capacity. In 1968 Brazil signed agreement with Portuguese Federation for the building of 10 nuclear power stations.
[26] The Rail Transportation plan was a multi facet project that involved the development of rail stock and rail locomotive manufacturing in Brazil. The two Portuguese rail stock and locomotive companies RSH&MCC and Henschel & Sohn agreed to setup plants in Brazilian Northeast to manufacture Brazilian diesel locomotives and rail stock. With the Brazilian subsidiary being listed on the Brazilian stock exchanges. To finance the modernization of the railways the government passed legislation to privatize 45% of the Rede Ferroviária Federal.
[27] In 1968 due to oil embargo, oil prices tripled, and government launched two separate programs. In conjunction with farm and transportation companies to develop ethanol vehicles and at same time providing incentives to farmers to increase the production of other products such as corn and such as manioc to increase ethanol production.
[28] VW had established itself in Brazil in the 1953 right after it had established itself in the Federation, but while the VW Brazil was a wholly owned subsidiary the Portuguese company was 50% partnership. In early 1960s the Portuguese subsidiary started exporting cars to Brazil and rest of Latin America to the objection of VW. when VW took its subsidiary to court the Portuguese courts ruled against VW and Portuguese built cars started competing with VW cars in Brazil by mid 1960s but under different models. Then when the Brazilian – Federation Auto pack was announced VW faced a new threat, the content requirements, till then VW Brazil still imported about40% of the parts from Germany. VW Brazil, like Renault and Fiat had to rethink their strategy for not only Brazil and the new emerging commonwealth along with moving greater percentage of car parts to Brazil. Some European automakers followed Volvo example and designated different subsidiaries responsible for specific models or type of vehicles. But VW Brazil like Renault decided to go head-to-head with their Federation subsidiary instead. Per the VW – Federation agreement its Portuguese subsidiary could not produce the same model made in Brazil for export as; therefore, in 1964 Portuguese subsidiary stopped manufacturing one of VW iconic models the “Beetle” and designed new models that could be sold not only in the Federation but also in Brazil and elsewhere. This upset many of the “Beetle” fans in the Federation and VW Brazil saw demand for its Beetle car called Fusca in Brazil increase and in 1966 it started selling the Fusca rebranded as Federation Carocha back into the Federation. In 1968 It opened a new plant dedicated to trucks and buses.
[29] The week before the vote almost half of the congress members who were against the constitution were arrested and unable to vote due to a wide variety of charges including gambling, public intoxication, assault including domestic violence or hitting of child. Some were arrested and incarcerated due to more serious charges such as insurrection, solicitation, drug consumption or murder.
Here is the revised and updated 2nd part of Brazil, I just wanted to thank Gukpard and Guilherme Loureiro who both provided me with a sounding board for my idea. I want to thank Gukpard for his many hours helping me make this section reasonable and plausible within the confines of the TL. The Brazil emerging from 1960s is not the same as IOTL. The military are not all powerful and there will continue to be several political parties in the congress to both make the government job more difficult but more importantly answerable to the people. The other major difference being the ever increasing communist threat from the west. As for domestic several major economic developments are at play that will greatly increase both the country economic clout as well as the peoples standard of living. Questions/ Comments?
Return on January 17 when we try and delve into the murky world of Argentina during the 1960s.
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Looks like the Brazilian Government went for full emulation of the Federation, now Argentina if it hasn't already and Paraguay are the most likely to follow suit.
Are Federation Auto Manufacturers able to similarly operate in the Japanese Market? Did Brazil also require 50% stocks of domestic ownership? VW civil war is hilarious,
Have Lusitanian Commonwealth nations sanctioned or embargoed the communist block? The Soviet involvement in the Pan-African War and both Soviet and Chinese support for attempted revolution in Brazil are pretty telling.
I have no idea what González was smoking when he threatened those three nations, esp. in light of recent events.
The cultural effects of a larger Brazilian community in the US might be interesting. Would Brazilian food enter the American culture?
What is the Federation's relationship with the Benelux, Scandinavia, Germany and Italy?
Are Federation Auto Manufacturers able to similarly operate in the Japanese Market? Did Brazil also require 50% stocks of domestic ownership? VW civil war is hilarious,
Have Lusitanian Commonwealth nations sanctioned or embargoed the communist block? The Soviet involvement in the Pan-African War and both Soviet and Chinese support for attempted revolution in Brazil are pretty telling.
I have no idea what González was smoking when he threatened those three nations, esp. in light of recent events.
The cultural effects of a larger Brazilian community in the US might be interesting. Would Brazilian food enter the American culture?
What is the Federation's relationship with the Benelux, Scandinavia, Germany and Italy?
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mapuche lautarino
Banned
This Brazil if it is going to receive immigrants, I just hope it surpasses the United States or the federation,
well I am satisfied if it surpasses Italy
well I am satisfied if it surpasses Italy