Fifty-nine years ago, in Brazil, the military promoted the coup that overthrew the then president João Goulart and imposed a dictatorship that lasted more than 20 years. Today everyone knows that the coup was orchestrated by the US ambassador, businessmen and politicians from the National Congress.
By: Editorial PSTU Brasil
Today, it is important to unmask the false image that some try to pass on of the military dictatorship, as if it had been an incorruptible regime, of defense of the homeland, of peace, order and tranquility. The regime established by the 1964 coup was characterized from the beginning by widespread repression. Union leaders, peasants and students were arrested, tortured and assassinated. Around 10,000 Brazilians were forced to leave the country and had to live in exile at some point.
Coup was to silence the voice of the workers and subordinate the country
The reason for the coup was to appease the great effervescence of the struggles that were breaking out between workers, peasants, and soldiers. In the years prior to 1964, workers’ organization and struggle for better wages and working conditions grew.
The working class fought and, most of the time, managed to wrest wage increases and rights from the bosses. Between 1961 and 1964 the number of economic strikes in services and industry quadrupled. The strikers reached 5.6 million, which was the highest strike increase in the country’s history up to then. In October 1963 there was a great strike, known as the strike of the 700,000, the result of the unification of various salary campaigns from different labor sectors.
In the countryside, the Peasant Leagues organized rural workers into unions, especially in the Northeast. They forced colonels and large landowners to respect labor rights and won agrarian reform with their struggle.
Even within the Armed Forces there were fights. Many low-ranking soldiers and officers supported the workers’ and peasants’ struggles and also began to participate in the country’s political life, something that was (and still is) exclusive only to great commanders and generals.
Before the coup, the sailors rebelled against the high command of the Navy, rioting at the headquarters of the Metalworkers Union of Rio de Janeiro. They demanded the recognition of their association, the improvement of food and that no punitive measures be taken against those who were there. marines were sent [fusileros navales] to suppress the revolt, but they joined the mutineers.
This entire effervescent scenario was tremendously frightening for the Brazilian bourgeoisie and US imperialism. It was necessary to end democratic freedoms, such as the right to strike, close unions, impose censorship, arrest and torture those who opposed the military regime.
Torture and murders
Many people were arrested and killed under the dictatorship. In the Brazilian countryside alone, an estimated 1,196 peasants and more than 8,000 indigenous people were killed by the repression, according to the final report of the Peasant Truth Commission in 2014. Hundreds of leftist militants and young student activists were also murdered. Intellectuals who did not represent any danger to the military were even assassinated, such as Anísio Teixeira, a central figure in the history of education in Brazil.
The “economic miracle” and the super-exploitation of the worker
Under the dictatorship, the military favored multinationals, vehicle assemblers, and caused enormous external debt with large foreign banks. The so-called “economic miracle” was sustained on the basis of repression and enormous exploitation. They promised growth and “sharing the pie”, but for the workers only the effects of the economic crisis of the late 1970s were left over. The foreign debt exploded, as did inflation. Anyone who has lived at that time knows very well what famine, unemployment and rampant inflation were.
The crisis led workers, students and peasants to resume the fight against the regime. The workers’ strikes in the ABC region of São Paulo are one of the most important episodes of that moment. In 1983-1984, the “Diretas Já” campaign drew crowds to the streets across the country. The military could no longer govern and the dictatorship ended.
In the dictatorship, corruption ran loose
The dictatorship, whose objective was to guarantee the profits of the large capitalist groups, promoted one of the most corrupt periods in our history. Characters such as Maluf, Collor, Antônio Carlos Magalhães, Delfim Netto and many others who became notoriously corrupt emerged from that period. It was the time of the contractors’ spree, since the dictatorship promoted pharaonic works everywhere, which became an inexhaustible source of bribes and overbilling. The difference is that the censorship of the press and the repression prevented corruption from coming to light and being denounced. Anyone who dared to do so could be killed.
Amnesty for criminals: impunity opened space for the ultra-right
Argentina and Uruguay also experienced bloody military dictatorships in the 1970s. But in these countries, generals and torturers were tried and imprisoned for their crimes. In Brazil, unfortunately, the story was different. Here, the elites agreed to hide the crimes from the military. The Amnesty Law promulgated in 1979 by João Baptista Figueiredo, the last general to hold power, granted amnesty to any citizen who could be considered a criminal during the military period, including officers and torturers.
At the same time, none of the governments that followed the redemocratization process, including those of the PT, acted to open the files of the dictatorship and punish torturers and soldiers. The result is that the crimes of that period have not been expiated, the barbarism was not known to the general public. Thus, the Armed Forces and their leadership would emerge unscathed in the midst of so many crimes and blood. For this reason, to this day they meddle in the country’s politics, believing themselves to be a “moderating power.”
As if that were not enough, the 1988 Constitution carries an authoritarian rubble negotiated with the military, which is article 142. In the interpretation of the military, the article confers on them a “moderating power”, thus placing it above the three powers of the Republic, to “guarantee law and order”.
If the crimes of the dictatorship had come to light, with military officers brought to trial and convicted, we certainly would not see Bolsonaro and his ilk praising torturers and murderers. And it would be very difficult for generals of the Armed Forces to assume the political and ideological role that they have enjoyed in recent years.
Bolsonarism. The political project of the military today
During the Bolsonaro government, the Armed Forces openly commemorated the 1964 coup. Even today, military schools teach that the 1964 coup was a “revolution” in “defense of democracy.” Torturers, like Brilhante Ustra, are treated like heroes.
The generals who led the Bolsonaro government were promoted by the PT and most of them went through the occupation of Haiti, as was the case with General Heleno. Under Bolsonaro, more than 8,000 military personnel held government posts, received benefits, and enjoyed privileges. These soldiers defend ultra-liberal and conservative ideas, such as the privatization of the Unified Health System (SUS) and the collection of monthly fees in public universities, as stated in the document “Proyecto de Nación, Brasil en 2035”, signed by the Villas Bôas institutes. , Sagres and Federalists. In addition, they consider environmental and indigenous protection legislation as an obstacle to agribusiness and mining. “[Es necesario] remove the restrictions of indigenous and environmental legislation, which are found to be radical, in the attractive areas of agribusiness and mining”, says the document published by the press in 2022.
But the military knows that only a dictatorship can make their far-right project viable. That is why they supported Bolsonaro and, with him, permanently threatened democratic freedoms. The only reason they could not stage a coup was because they did not have the support of either US imperialism or the majority of the bourgeoisie. Even so, military commanders implicitly supported the January 8 coup attempt.
No amnesty for coup plotters! History needs to come clean
More than ever it is necessary to open all the files of the dictatorship, to demand an exemplary punishment for State agents who committed crimes such as arbitrary arrests and torture. Punishing the repressors of the past is fundamental to combat the repressors of today and tomorrow, a necessity to defend the worker and popular organizations. As long as history does not come clean, the ultra-right will continue to raise its head to defend the military dictatorship.
It is also necessary to punish all the soldiers who, under the Bolsonaro government, committed crimes, such as General Eduardo Pazuello, former Minister of Health who used the population as a guinea pig to prove the unscientific thesis of herd immunity. [frente a la pandemia].
It is necessary to punish in an exemplary manner the entire leadership of the Armed Forces that was involved in or colluded with the coup. We can no longer tolerate the big agreements that mark our history and that have resulted in impunity for criminals.
We must do what was not done with the overthrow of the dictatorship: not grant amnesty to any coup plotter, defender of the dictatorship and torturers, in addition to sweeping away the authoritarian rubble of the Constitution. For this reason, more than ever, this March 31, we need to sing loud and clear the slogan “No amnesty for the coup plotters!”
Amnesty for those persecuted by the dictatorship!
Bolsonaro tried to end the Truth Commission and subordinated it to Damares Alves, Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights. Many repair requests were rejected by the collegiate. Now, on the eve of the anniversary of the coup, on the 30th, the Commission meets again. On the collegiate’s agenda is the review of trials carried out in the management of Damares. We defend amnesty for all those persecuted by the dictatorship. It is necessary to fight for justice, memory and reparation.
Article published in www.pstu.org.br, 3/30/2023.-
Translation: Natalia Estrada.