VARGAS, LOTT, BRIZOLA AND ULYSSES WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN THE HISTORY OF REPUBLICAN BRAZIL

Fernando Alcoforado*

This article aims to highlight the role of four characters in the republican history of Brazil who were the most striking and decisive in the direction of future events for the benefit of the country. This was the case of Getúlio Vargas who stood out for making profound changes economic and social and modernize the country when he ruled Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and, also from 1950 to 1954. It was also the case of Marshal Henrique Teixeira Lott who prevented  attempts of coup d'état in 1954 and 1961 when he was Minister of War, ensuring the respect for democratic and constitutional legality. Also noteworthy was the decisive role by Leonel Brizola that prevented the coup d'état in Brazil in 1961 and his constant fight for the economic and social progress of Brazil and for national independence from the great powers from 1961 until his death in 2004. Finally, the last great character in Brazilian republican history was Ulysses Guimar?es, who stood out in the fight against the tyranny of the military dictatorship implanted in 1964 and his struggle for the redemocratization of Brazil from 1964 to 1988.

Getúlio Vargas returned to governing Brazil in the first half of the 1950s when he came to power through the electoral system, which, by printing to his government the same populist, nationalist and labor policy, adopted from 1930 to 1945, became the target of the American government and its internal allies, who wanted him out of power. In the 1951/1953 period, during the Vargas administration, a much more ambitious and complete planning effort was carried out than in the previous period. On that occasion, there was one of the most complete surveys of the Brazilian economy, in addition to proposing a series of infrastructure projects with their execution programs, including projects to modernize railways, ports, coastal shipping, electricity generation, etc. Measures were taken to overcome regional income disparities in Brazil, that is, to better integrate the Northeast with the rest of the national economy and to achieve monetary stability. BNDES and Petrobras were also created. For not accepting his deposition by the military in 1954, President Vargas committed suicide, and his attitude also represented the final act of the first ruler of Brazil, which guided his action in defense of national sovereignty and workers. The deposition of Getúlio Vargas in 1945 and his suicide in 1954 were consequences of this process. At that historic moment, in the middle of the Cold War, it was of fundamental importance for the United States, in its confrontation with the former Soviet Union, to keep under control its areas of influence in Latin America, including Brazil, and in other parts of the world. Getúlio Vargas was largely responsible for building the modern and independent Brazil project that is being destroyed since the 1964 coup d'état. He was, without a doubt, the greatest statesman in Brazil's republican history.

Marshal Henrique Batista Duffles Teixeira Lott was another great person in the history of Brazil and the important military in the recent history of Brazil because he was uncompromising in the defense of democratic legality and obedient to constitutional normality. In 1954, with the suicide of President Vargas and the inauguration of Vice-President Café Filho, Lott was appointed Minister of War of Brazil. When Carlos Luz, president of the Chamber of Deputies, assumes the interim presidency of Brazil due to the health problems of Café Filho and grants amnesty to a general who was punished by Lott when made speech in order to question the inauguration of President-elect Juscelino Kubitschek (JK ) and his vice-president Jo?o Goulart (Jango), Lott was outraged by the situation. This event, added to the position of Carlos Luz, who admitted the possibility of not passing the presidential sash to the president-elect at the end of 1954, generated a climate of tension within the armed forces. Lott, who had resigned from the ministry and gave up this purpose, opposed the attempted coup d'etat, raising support in opposition to interim president Carlos Luz.

With the preparations for the inauguration of JK and Jango, the political situation became very tense. On November 11, 1955, Lott took a stand in defense of the 1946 Constitution, which guaranteed the inauguration of President Juscelino Kubitschek and Vice Jo?o Goulart who were elected the previous year. This political-military crisis was solved with the impediment of the mandate of interim president Carlos Luz and the transfer of the presidency of the Republic to Nereu Ramos, president of the Federal Senate. Lott mobilized troops and civilians on the streets for JK's possession, which worked. Upon assuming the government, JK entrusted the position in the Ministry of War to Lott, whose management was marked by the transformation of the Armed Forces as a tool for maintaining democracy, in which the Brazilian army would be composed of men dedicated to the integrity of constitutional determinations. For his performance in the Brazilian political and military scene, Lott was nominated as a candidate for the PSD, JK's party, as his successor for the presidential elections by the PTB-PSD coalition, composing a slate with Jo?o Goulart for vice president of the Republic. Lott lost the 1960 election to Janio Quadros, but his vice, Jo?o Goulart of PTB, was elected.

Defeated, Lott does not abandon public life. In 1961, when members of the Armed Forces mutiny against the inauguration of President Jo?o Goulart after the resignation of Janio Quadros, Lott participates in the campaign against the coup d'état, taking a leading role alongside Leonel Brizola in the famous Campaign for Legality, when he articulated with several militaries nationalist and anti-coup to prevent the coup d'état. At this moment, Lott wrote an open letter to the military in which he urged them to collaborate to ensure democratic and constitutional legality. In opposing the decision of the Minister of War of Janio Quadros, who refused to accept the possession of Jango, Lott was sentenced to prison. When approached at his home, he demanded that he also be a marshal to arrest him, as he would not be detained by a military officer of lesser rank than himself, out of respect for the hierarchy of the army. When Marshal Sucupira arrives at his residence, Lott is taken to his cell, where he has served 15 of the 30 stipulated days of imprisonment. The attitude of Marshal Lott and Leonel Brizola was instrumental in preventing the coup d'état from occurring in 1961. When the coup d'état took place in 1964, Lott had his political rights revoked. Faced with this fact, the marshal decides to abandon public life and to stay at home, as he does not agree with the direction the Army was taking with the implementation of the military dictatorship contrary to all his legalistic principles and with respect for the Constitution. Lott died in 1984, a year before the end of the military dictatorship. His funeral had no military honors, but several admirers of this great Democratic military were present at his burial, including the then governor of the state of Rio, Leonel Brizola, who declared official mourning for the loss of such an important character in our history. Marshal Lott died, but he left an unparalleled legacy of the military committed to constitutional legality that should serve as an example for all military personnel to act in accordance with the Constitution to prevent further coups d'état in Brazil.

Leonel Brizola was another gigantic character in the history of Brazil. Brizola gained national prestige in 1961, when he was governor of Rio Grande do Sul, when he campaigned for legality in defense of democracy and the right of his brother-in-law, Vice President Jo?o Goulart, to be sworn in as President of the Republic when Janio Quadros resigned presidency of the Republic in August 1961. The military tried to prevent Goulart from succeeding him on the grounds of his alleged ties to the communists. After gaining the support of General Machado Lopes, commander of the 3rd Army, Brizola created the chain of legality with a group of radio stations in Rio Grande do Sul, which he used to issue, from the Piratini Palace, a national call denouncing the coup intentions behind the actions of the military and encouraging the population to protest in the streets. Brizola handed over the Rio Grande do Sul Military Brigade to the command of the 3rd Army, organized paramilitary committees of democratic resistance, distributed firearms to the population and transformed the government headquarters into a trench of resistance to the coup. In response, the coup military members ordered the bombing of the Piratini Palace, which was aborted because sergeants and noncommissioned officers at the Canoas Air Force Base did not comply with the orders of their superiors. Brizola opposed the move to the parliamentary regime proposed by the military as a condition for Goulart to take over. After twelve days of an imminent civil war, Jo?o Goulart accepted the proposal of the military and was installed president of the Republic that was in force for two years (1961-1962) reducing enormously his constitutional powers. With this measure, the three coup military ministers finally accepted the return and possession of Jo?o Goulart. On August 31, 1961, Jo?o Goulart returned to Brazil, and was sworn in on September 7, 1961. It can be said that Jo?o Goulart's inauguration in the presidency of the Republic was only effected thanks to the campaign for legality initiated by the then governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Leonel Brizola.  

Leonel Brizola collaborated with the Jo?o Goulart government, which sought to carry out basic reforms as a solution to the structural problems experienced by Brazil. On March 13, 1964, Jo?o Goulart and Leonel Brizola announced major changes in Brazil through a large rally at Central do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro. About 200 thousand people were present that day, which displeased the conservative sectors. At this rally, President Jo?o Goulart announced the signing of the decree that made state-owned private refineries and the decree that expropriated unproductive lands located on the side of roads and railroads to carry out agrarian reform. As the proposals were influenced by the thought of the left, the defenders of capitalism, of the latifundia and members of the Brazilian right feared about the growth of a possible communist government in the country. The rally in Central do Brasil was the decisive moment to determine the organization of the military to start the coup d'état that was launched on March 31, 1964, establishing a military dictatorship in the country. During the 1964 coup d'etat, Jo?o Goulart and Brizola maintained a tumultuous relationship, especially after Brizola's resistance proposals were not accepted by Jango. Brizola went into exile and returned to Brazil in 1979, after fifteen years in Uruguay, the United States and Portugal. In the same year, he founded and chaired the PDT - Partido Democrático Trabalho. In 1982, he was elected governor of Rio de Janeiro. In the 1989 presidential election, he narrowly missed the second round. A year later, he returned to rule Rio de Janeiro, being elected in the first round. Brizola passed away in 2004. In December 2015, President Dilma Rousseff signed the law that included Brizola in the Book of Heroes of the Fatherland. Brizola left a striking example of a great patriot and immeasurable courage in the struggle to overcome the great obstacles to the development of Brazil and to liberate the country from the centuries-old exploitation of international capital. 

Ulysses Silveira Guimar?es was another great person in the history of Brazil. Ulysses was president of the Chamber of Deputies on two separate occasions. With the end of the bipartisanship imposed by the military dictatorship, the MDB became in 1979 the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), of which Ulysses was national president. Ulysses held the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies in three periods (1956-1957, 1985-1986 and 1987-1988). He was the president of the National Constituent Assembly from 1987-1988, which inaugurated the new democratic order, after 21 years under the Military Dictatorship. He was one of the greatest combatants in the struggle for redemocratization in Brazil, having been one of the main opponents of the military dictatorship despite having supported it with the outbreak of the 1964 coup d'état. At the head of the MDB he participated in all campaigns for the return of the country to democracy, including the struggle for broad general and unrestricted amnesty. Along with other great national leaders, Ulysses led new campaigns for redemocratization, such as direct elections, popularly known by the slogan Diretas Já. Ulysses was also a candidate for the presidency of the Republic in the 1989 election. The new Constitution, in which Ulysses played a role fundamental, was approved on October 5, 1988, having been called by the Citizen Constitution, due to the democratic and social advances that it incorporated in the document. 

It is important to note that the democratic and citizen Constitution of 1988 has now been a fundamental instrument in Brazil to prevent the totalitarian temptation of President Bolsonaro, which systematically threatens to promote a coup d'état in Brazil. This Constitution has been used with the Supreme Federal Court to bar Bolsonaro's intentions to implant a dictatorship in Brazil under his command. Ulisses Guimar?es is still alive because the 1988 Constitution resulted from the action of the constituents under his command. Ulysses died in a helicopter plane crash on the coast of Angra dos Reis, south of the state of Rio de Janeiro, on October 12, 1992 and his body was never found. His name was inscribed in the Pantheon of the Heroes of the Brazilian Homeland by federal law no. 13,815, of April 24, 2019. Ulisses Guimar?es died, but left a legacy of uncompromising struggle in the defense of democracy and against the tyranny that should serve as an example for all Brazilian politicians.  

From the above, the four great characters in the history of republican Brazil left extraordinary legacies that should inspire all Brazilians committed to the struggle for national emancipation and the defense of democracy and constitutional legality. Getúlio Vargas left as a legacy his example of ruler that guided his action in defense of national sovereignty and the improvement of the social conditions of the Brazilian population, in addition to being largely responsible for building of the modern and independent Brazil project. Marshal Lott left an unparalleled legacy of the militar committed to constitutional legality that should serve as an example for all military personnel to act in accordance with the Constitution to avoid new coups d'état that characterized the history of Brazil. Leonel Brizola left a striking example of a great patriot and immeasurable courage in the fight against tyranny, by overcoming the great obstacles to the development of Brazil and by liberating the country from the centuries-old exploitation of international capital. Ulisses Guimar?es left an indelible legacy of uncompromising struggle in the defense of democracy and against the tyranny that should serve as an example for all Brazilian politicians. May Getúlio Vargas, Leonel Brizola and Ulysses Guimar?es serve as an example for future generations of Brazilians to make the best choices to elect future presidents of the Republic and parliamentarians committed to political, economic and social progress, as well as the Brazilian military to be inspired by the example of Marshal Henrique Teixeira Lott, opponent of coups d'état and dictatorships and great bulwark in the defense of the homeland and the constitutional order.  

* Fernando Alcoforado, 81, condecorado com a Medalha do Mérito da Engenharia do Sistema CONFEA/CREA, membro da Academia Baiana de Educa??o, engenheiro e doutor em Planejamento Territorial e Desenvolvimento Regional pela Universidade de Barcelona, professor universitário e consultor nas áreas de planejamento estratégico, planejamento empresarial, planejamento regional e planejamento de sistemas energéticos, é autor dos livros Globaliza??o (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,https://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globaliza??o e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporanea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, S?o Paulo, 2010), Amaz?nia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, S?o Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econ?mico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudan?a Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revolu??es Científicas, Econ?micas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Inven??o de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associa??o Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) e Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).