AI-5: 50 years ago, Brazil institutionalized torture and repression

Fifty years today, on December 13, 1968, Brazil’s military regime enacted a decree which came to define the dictatorship period of 1964-1985. Known as Institutional Act No. 5, or AI-5, it served to institutionalize the generals’ practices of torture, repression, and censorship, signaling the beginning of Brazil’s Years of Lead.

Four and a half years after the military coup which deposed President João Goulart and installed a dictatorship in charge of Brazil, AI-5 gave the head of state almost unlimited powers, closing the Congress, impeaching politicians, and suspending the right of habeas corpus for political prisoners.

In the early years of the dictatorship, the regime issued a series of “Institutional Acts,” dissolving political parties, establishing indirect elections for the presidency and enforcing the 1967 Constitution, drafted by the military. However, none were as repressive as AI-5.

The motivations behind AI-5

1968 was a difficult year for the generals. After four years in power, the regime’s opponents began organizing and mounting a credible resistance, launching significant protest movements against a dictatorship whose grip on Brazil appeared to be slipping.