In March 1964, the world was in the throes of the Cold War, polarized by the United States and the Soviet Union. On the American continent, Cuba had resisted U.S. invasion a few years earlier and subsequently set up a communist regime.
Fear of communism spread throughout the Americas — in some places, for genuine reasons, but in many others, the Red Scare was merely used as a motive for political propaganda. It is nothing new that fear is an effective tool for bringing together different interests and mobilizing the masses.
That’s the story we’re going to tell here. 60 years ago to the day, on March 31, 1964, the Brazilian military, with the support of a significant part of civil society, began mobilizing its troops to carry out a coup.
The democratically elected president, João “Jango” Goulart had been pressured politically and cornered by the military. He didn’t even try to resist his ousting.
And if he had tried, U.S. ships were on their way to the Brazilian coast to offer the global superpower’s symbolic and logistical support to the military coup.
From the next 21 years, five generals succeeded each other in charge of Brazil, in a regime that treated opponents and critics as enemies of the nation. Their motto? Brazil: love it or leave it.
In the first episode of the special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, to set the ground for the next episodes, we’ll dive into an overview of the Brazilian dictatorship — in its social, economic, and institutional aspects.
Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device:
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer
This episode used music from Envato. License codes: Fifty Chevy by SCOREWIZARDS (YZ24TPX), Jazz Bossa Nova by kornevmusic (FE5V5VK), Dystopian Investigative Pulsing Drone by Orchestralis (UNG9LSP), Mysterious Suspenseful Investigative Documentary by lucafrancini (7LB2QQX), A Documentary Background by bdProductions (SN6PXBE), Ambient Productivity by SCOREWIZARDS (NRLF26PT3V), Suspense Documentary Pulsating Drama by music2noise (CS5T58P), Cinematic Ambient Documentary by bdProductions (9VNJTUD), Dark Documentary Soundtrack by Orchestralis (U3FC6WQ), Drama Documentary by cleanmindsounds (K2USYKN), Documentary Background by cleanmindsounds (Y5JM2WD), and International movement by Orchestralis (5D788QQ). Another audios used in this episode: Speech by President João Goulart at the Central do Brasil Rally (13/03/1964)(YouTube), Farewell Remarks to President of Brazil (JFK Library), Audio of the AI5 Meeting (Carlos Fico), Let’s Jangar – João Goulart’s Jingle in 1960 (YouTube), O Guarany – Carlos Gomes (Arquivo Nacional), National Flag Anthem (Palácio do Planalto), Jango’s Interview on TV Tupi in 1961 (YouTube), TV Brasil
Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at podcast@brazilian.report
Brazil has 21.7 million active businesses, but the vast majority (14.5 million) are one-person endeavors.…
Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, spent only BRL…
Venezuela has not had a real democracy for years. The inflection point probably came in…
Cities with a high percentage of voters for former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro recorded higher…
Welcome to our Tech Roundup, where we bring you the biggest stories in technology and…
The Central Bank’s latest Focus Report, a weekly survey of leading banks and investment firms,…