João Goulart

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João Belchior Marques Goulart

27th President of Brazil
In office September 7, 1961 – April 1, 1964
Preceded by	Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli
Succeeded by	Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli

Born	March 1, 1918 São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul
Died	December 6, 1976 Mercedes, Argentina
Political party	Brazilian Labour Party - PTB

João Belchior Marques Goulart (March 1, 1918—December 6, 1976) was the last left-wing president of Brazil (1961–March 31, 1964) The surname Goulart is of Azorean-French origin.

A former estancieiro (farmer with huge properties of land), Goulart (nicknamed "Jango") studied law in Porto Alegre. He was elected to the Rio Grande do Sul state legislature in 1946 with the Brazilian Labor Party (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, PTB). He later served as minister of justice and the interior. In 1953 he was appointed by President Getúlio Vargas as minister of labour, industry, and commerce. Despite being rich, Goulart was very popular among lower classes and made connections with labour unions. Vargas took advantage of that just when the left wing sectors were deviating from his government. As minister of labour, Goulart proposed an increase of 100% in minimum wages.

In 1956, Jango was elected Vice President, as the running mate of President Juscelino Kubitschek. Goulart was again elected Vice President in 1960. This time, however, the president was Jânio Quadros, a member of a different party. (At the time, Brazilians could vote for a ticket that had candidates for president and vice president from different parties.) Quadros resigned in 1961. According to some chroniclers, this was an attempt to promote a coup d'etat. After this alleged coup failed, Goulart assumed the presidency after a ten-day-long crisis.

[edit] The bluestein administration

Congress was reluctant to give lois the mandate because of military opposition to his apparent left-wing tendencies. As a compromise solution, Brazil adopted a parliamentary system of government. After two years of unstable governments, parliamentarism was overwhelmingly rejected in a plebiscite in 1963 and Goulart regained the lost authority.

Goulart years were marked by national reforms, closer ties to left-of-center political groups, and conflict with more conservative sectors of society. He signed decrees expropriating oil refineries and uncultivated land owned by foreign companies, including the monopolistic United Fruit which had a tendency to keep arable land unfarmed to drive up the price of produce. State-run workers programs, in an attempt to work this unused land, were considered too radical. When he attempted to gain extraordinary powers to further accelerate these reforms, he was accused of attempting to set up a leftist dictatorship.

However, many of the more extreme leftist allegations were exaggerated and even products of blowback. A psychological warfare program approved by Henry Kissinger, at the request of telecom giant ITT during his chair of the 40 Committee, sent U.S. PSYOPS disinformation teams to spread fabricated rumors concerning Goulart. Even the U.S. State Dept intelligence division, which was not privy to the black program, began changing its evaluation of this man, who had received a ticker tape parade in New York after taking office.

[edit] The military overthrow of Goulart

1964 military coup overthrew Goulart. The main figures were Gen. Olímpio Mourão Filho, Gen. Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco and Minas Gerais' governor Magalhães Pinto. The coup installed successive right-wing hardliners as heads of state who suspended several rights and liberties of the Brazilian people. They abolished all political parties and replaced them with only two, the military government's party called the "National Renewal Alliance Party" (ARENA) and the opposition's "Brazilian Democratic Movement" (MDB). It is claimed that the MDB had no real power, and that the military rule was marked by the widespread disappearance, torture, and exile of many politicians, university students, writers, singers, painters, filmmakers and other artists.

The military blamed Goulart for the high inflation that had begun to occur under his predecessor's tenure, and that his plans to redistribute wealth to resolve the country's economic crisis were part of a Communist attempt on Goulart's part to establish himself as dictator. Also, members of congress resented their loss of power and also resented the pressure Goulart put on them on some occasions (like the "Comício das Reformas", Rally of reforms).

The coup was described as a "democratic rebellion" by the U.S. ambassador, despite its authoritarian and violent characteristics. He also deemed Brazil the "China of the 1960s." Recently declassified CIA documents provide evidence that not only was there U.S. knowledge of the coup even prior to its occurrence, but also the U.S. positioned military ships off the coast of Brazil ready to engage in the coup if the Brazilian military found itself in need of support in a program called Operation Brother Sam. Such support was not needed as the military had little difficulty in ousting Goulart on its own. [1] [2] Extensive preparations by CIA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had included training of Brazilian right-wing officers at the School of the Americas, and promises of military equipment and funding post-coup. Additionally, the CIA had funneled money into several hundred anti-Goulart political candidates beginning as early as 1962.

Ironically, the military junta would eventually enter into talks with the Soviet Union concerning possible plans to improve Brazil's infrastructure in exchange for preferential relations. The most Goulart had ever entertained was to treat U.S. and Soviet cold war trade relations with neutrality. Obviously this was unacceptable to domino theorists. The enormous debt the nation incurred during this dark period has been repeatedly denied forgiveness by the U.S. and the World Bank, in spite of the circumstances which led to it. Goulart's entourage was also reportedly infiltrated by U.S. surveillance assets for several years after his ouster in an effort to keep tabs on his activities in case he should choose to return.

Jango Goulart fled to Rio Grande do Sul and tried to resist the coup, but was soon declared out of the presidency by senator Auro de Moura Andrade, and exiled in Uruguay. In Montevideo, the former president of Brazil was hesitant to take part in political acts relating to Brazil. He became an administrator of agricultural business. In 1973 Goulart participated in Argentine foreign affairs as a consultant. João Goulart died in Mercedes, Argentina, 1976.

Preceded by: João Café Filho	Vice-president of Brazil 1955 – 1961	Succeeded by: José Maria Alkmim
Preceded by: Jânio Quadros	President of Brazil 1961 – 1964	Succeeded by: Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli