THE BRAZILIAN COUP D’ETAT OF 1964

The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état was conducted by the Brazilian military in late March 1964 against President João Goulart, who had recently succeed the allegedly deranged, democratically elected Jânio Quadros (a.k.a. Jango) in 1963 (according to some sources, Mr. Goulart resigned due to reasons of “Force Majeure”).
Photo: João Goulart


The entire ordeal really started in 1963 when Military forces (army/navy/air force) “persuaded” Jango into a compromise, with the congress, whereby the presidential powers would be reduced through the approval of a constitutional amendment changing Brazil into a parliamentary democracy with Jango as a weakened head of state. Yet, Mr. Quadros appears to have outmaneuvered the Brazilian military by re-instating the presidential system by calling a “National Referendum”.


The crux of the issue lies in the fact that Jango, in all fairness to the upper-level, right wing military elements of the time, was undoubtedly a “closet” socialist during the height of the cold war, around the time of the Cuban missile crises. In fact, Jango was politically isolated, in view of his tragic misjudgment (in fact, also a series of contradictory missteps) of conducting a completely independent (and potentially dangerous) foreign policy. Because he openly criticized the Bay of Pigs invasion by the US, while at the same time also (openly) criticizing the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Mr. Quadros appeared misleading to BOTH Washington and Moscow! Such naïveté, during a time when the Bi-Polar Geo-political game was on the brink of another World War, along with the pending Domino theory suggesting that all Latin American countries would fall one after another in case Brazil followed Cuba. In a continues attempt to be fair towards all the parties involved (the US administration, NATO, and the upper echelon of the Brazilian Military), I must concur with this point of view, given the typical, devious stratagems which the KGB (under advisement of the Soviet politburo) was capable of accomplishing.

The coup thrust Brazil into a military dictatorship lasting until the election of Tancredo Neves in 1985.