After 21 years of dictatorship and a long period of political reopening, with the negotiation of a sweeping amnesty along the way, Brazil finally approved a democratic constitution in 1988 and returned to holding direct elections for president the following year.
Step by step, the country was rebuilding its democracy: creating new institutions, guaranteeing citizens more mechanisms of representation, participation, and control, expanding social rights, and facing up to some aspects of socioeconomic inequality.
Brazil’s political culture, however, changed little, and democratic education remained precarious. Instead of putting the previous decades into debate, Brazilian elites thought that a silent national conciliation would be more practical. And certainly more comfortable for them, as they themselves had participated in the dictatorship.
Fast forward to the 2010s. As social media flooded Brazil’s public debate with political questions, many lacked the political training to interpret the country’s complexities and reject simplistic solutions. Corruption scandals and unfulfilled promises also contributed to inflate populist radicalism.
In a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, militarism resurfaced in Brazil and made a return to the presidency under a political figure who presented himself as an outsider. He was retired Army captain Jair Bolsonaro — an open nostalgist for the military dictatorship, torture, and the treatment of opponents in the old molds of “leftist enemies of the country”.
In his four years in office, Bolsonaro followed the script of autocratization and tried to undermine the functioning and legitimacy of several democratic institutions, including the electoral system. He went further, though.
The Federal Police believes he pressured the military commanders around him to carry out a coup after losing the 2022 elections. Just as they had done in 1964, in a coup that Bolsonaro made a point of officially celebrating more than half a century on, in the middle of the 21st century. The ex-president is under investigation. The silence of Brazil’s post-dictatorship “national conciliation” had been explicitly broken.
In the fourth and final episode of the special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, from within to abroad, we tell the story of how Brazil dealt with its past and returned to the brink of a coup d’état between 2022 and 2023.
If you missed the third episode, check it here.
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This episode used music from Envato. License codes: Dark Suspense Documentary by Orchestralis (2JUZ4YK), Mysterious Suspense Documentary by Author (5NT23DQ), Suspense Rising by ARCHIMUSIC (VR3KPZ9FW7), In Documentaries by SersalStudio (5XATQNSRJD), Dramatic Documentary Cinematic by cleanmindsounds (T8UDKF4M73), Documentaries Sad Suspense Piano by ColorFilmMusic (TZFSUAB), Suspense Documentary Cinematic by ColorFilmMusic (5428SAPLFB), Cinematic Ambient Lo Fi by MusicDog (5D9WYPVGAX). Audios featured in this episode: Dilma Roussef’s Opening Speech while establishing of the National Truth Comission, Bolsonaro’s tribute to Torturer Carlos Aberto Brilhante Ustra on Dilma Roussef’s impeachment voting session (TV Camara), Bolsonaro’s speech amid 2018 election stating that he “would send leftists to the end of the beach” (Bolsonaro’s Social Media), Gal. Pazuello with then-President Bolsonaro stating on video “One orders, the ther complies” (Bolsonaro’s Social Media), SBT vignette with Dictatorhip’s slogan “Brazil: Love it or Leave It.
Listen to the other episodes about the 1964 coup and the 21-year military dictatorship:
In this episode:
- Isabela Cruz holds a law degree from the State University of Rio de Janeiro and a master’s degree in social sciences from the Fundação Getulio Vargas. Prior to The Brazilian Report, she covered politics and the judicial system for Nexo.
- Anaís Passos is a professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Federal University of Santa Catarina and a member of the research network “The Military in Politics in Brazil”, at the King’s Brazil Institute.
- Emílio Meyer is a constitutional law professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, where he coordinates the Center for Studies on Transitional Justice. He is a member of the Critical Transitional Justice Network.
Background reading:
- The military’s responsibility for the Jan. 8 capital riots
- What former Army and Air Force commanders said about the coup plot
- How the United States acted against Bolsonaro’s putschism
- How Lula is dealing with the military after Jan. 8
- What Brazil is doing or not in response to the riots
- The roles of the Armed Forces according to the Constitution
- Listen to songs that defined the resistance against dictatorships in the Southern Cone
Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at [email protected]
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