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I SPECIAL AR€ADER'SDIGESTREPRINT FEATURE Seldomhasamajornationcomeclosertothebrinkof disasterandyetrecoveredthandidBrazilinitsrecent triumphoverRedsubversion .Thecommunistdrivefor domination-markedbypropaganda,infiltration,terror -wasmovinginhighgear .Totalsurrenderseemedimmi- nent--andthenthepeoplesaid No! Thisdramaticandilluminatingaccountnotonlytellsof apeople'sdetermineddefenseoftheirfreedom,itpro- videsablueprintforactionbyconcernedcitizensinother nationsthreatened bycommunism. THECOUNTRY THATSAVEDITSELF By CLARENCEW. HALL SeniorEditor,TheReader'sDigest T HE STAGE wasallset,the timetableforthefirst phaseoftheRedtakeoverdeter- mined .Onthecalendarsofcom- munistleadersinBrazil-ason thoseofMoscow,HavanaandPe- king-thedatesfortheprogressive grabsatpowerwereringedinred : first,chaos ;then,civilwar ;then, totalcommunistrule. ForyearstheRedshadbeeneye- ing,withslaveringhunger,this greatsprawlingcountry,bigger thanthecontinentalUnitedStates andcontaining 77 millionpeople, roughlyhalfSouthAmerica'spop- ulation .Besidesbeingenormously richwithuntappedresources,Bra- zilisthekeytothewholehuge continent .Sinceitbordersonten countries-everySouthAmerican countryexceptEcuadorandChile -itsdirectorindirectruleby communistswouldofferprime

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ISPECIALA R€ADER'S DIGEST REPRINT FEATURE

Seldom has a major nation come closer to the brink ofdisaster and yet recovered than did Brazil in its recenttriumph over Red subversion. The communist drive fordomination-marked by propaganda, infiltration, terror-was moving in high gear. Total surrender seemed immi-nent--and then the people said No!This dramatic and illuminating account not only tells ofa people's determined defense of their freedom, it pro-vides a blueprint for action by concerned citizens in othernations threatened by communism.

THE COUNTRYTHAT SAVED ITSELF

By CLARENCE W. HALL Senior Editor, The Reader's Digest

THE STAGE was all set, thetimetable for the first

phase of the Red takeover deter-mined. On the calendars of com-munist leaders in Brazil-as onthose of Moscow, Havana and Pe-king -the dates for the progressivegrabs at power were ringed in red :first, chaos ; then, civil war ; then,total communist rule.

For years the Reds had been eye-ing, with slavering hunger, this

great sprawling country, biggerthan the continental United Statesand containing 77 million people,roughly half South America's pop-ulation . Besides being enormouslyrich with untapped resources, Bra-zil is the key to the whole hugecontinent. Since it borders on tencountries-every South Americancountry except Ecuador and Chile-its direct or indirect rule bycommunists would offer prime

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opportunities to subvert one neigh-bor after another . The capture ofthis colossal potential could swingthe balance of strength disastrouslyagainst the West . Compared to it,the communization of Cuba was aminor thing, a tiny bauble.

Now all was in readiness . Infla-tion was rife, and getting worse bythe day ; corruption was rampant ;unrest was everywhere-perfectfor communist purposes . The gov-ernment of President Joao (Jango)Goulart was riddled with radi-cals, the congress loaded withRed stooges . Skillfully, for years,extreme leftists had sown the prop-aganda that revolution in Brazilwas inevitable . Scores of scholarlytomes were written about thenation's spiraling descent towardeconomic and social chaos ; mostobservers and scholars concededthat the coming explosion wouldbe bloody, leftist-led, and with astrong Castro cast . Brazilians gen-erally looked toward the futurewith the helpless, frozen fascina-tion of people watching theapproach of a whirling cyclone . ABrazilian byword was, "The ques-

CLARENCE W . HALL, a Senior Editor ofThe Reader's Digest and former executiveeditor of Christian Herald, spent weeks inBrazil while the revolution was still fresh inmemory. Together with Digest Roving Ed-itor William L . White, he interviewed indetail participants in the events, top govern-ment officials and military men, citizens ofall walks of life.

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tion is no longer whether revolu-tion is coming, but when."

The country was indeed ripe forthe picking. Ammunition by theton had been smuggled in by theReds ; guerrilla teams had beenwell-rehearsed, lower echelons ofthe armed forces were infiltrated,detailed plans for the takeoverwere in order; "liquidation lists"of prominent anti-communists hadbeen drawn up . Luiz Carlos Pres-tes, head of the technically out-lawed but aggressively activeBrazilian Communist Party, waspublicly gloating, "We alreadyhave the power ; we have now onlyto take over the government!"Coup of the Embattled AmateursTHEN SUDDENLY-and to Red

plans devastatingly-somethinghappened. In the nick of time, acounterrevolution beat them tothe punch . Brazil's long-sufferingmiddle class, rising in well-organ-ized and unexpected strength,staged its own revolution-andsaved Brazil .Unique in the annals of South

American political upheavals, therevolution was carried out not byextremists but by normally law-abiding, moderate groups . Al-though its climactic phase wasaccomplished by military action,the leadership behind the sceneswas supplied and continues to beshared by civilians. The coup wasswift (about 48 hours from start to

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THE COUNTRY THAT SAVED ITSELF

finish), relatively bloodless (fewerthan a dozen people were killed),and popular beyond expectations .

A huge victory for Brazil itself,it was an even bigger one for theentire free world . For, as a highU.S. official in Brasilia comment-ed, "It marks a change of the tidewherein all the major victorieshave seemed to be Red, thoroughlydebunking the communist claimthat `history is on our side .' "

Of its significance Lincoln Gor-don, U.S. ambassador to Brazil,says, "Future historians may wellrecord the Brazilian revolution asthe single most decisive victory forfreedom in the mid-2oth century .This was a homegrown, do-it-your-self revolution, both in its concep-tion and accomplishment . Not oneU.S. dollar or brain cell was in-volved!"

How, precisely, did Braziliansbring it off? The inside story ofthis genuine people's revolution-planned and executed by embat-tled amateurs working againsthardened communist revolutionar-ies-is a blueprint for every nationsimilarly threatened . It is invigor-ating proof that communism canbe stopped cold, when people aresufficiently aroused and deter-mined .

Drift Toward ChaosTHE STORY begins shortly after

the resignation in August i96i ofthe eccentric President Janio Qua-

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dros. His successor, the left-leaningVice President Joao Goulart, justback from visits to Russia and RedChina, had no sooner taken officethan it became plain in what direc-tion he was taking the country .No communist himself, Jango

might as well have been . Power-hungry, he thought he was makingthe comrades a tool of his ambi-tions; instead they used him . Thedoors to Red infiltration, for yearshalf-ajar, were now flung wideopen . Inflation, stimulated byfloods of printing-press money re-leased by the fiscally irresponsi-ble President Juscelino Kubitschekyears before, was now stepped upby Jango ; the value of the cruzeiroplummeted by the day . Capital,sorely needed to develop the coun-try, was fleeing abroad ; foreign in-vestments were rapidly drying upunder heavy restrictions and con-stant threats of expropriation .

"The Time Is Now"ALARMED at the drift toward

chaos, a group of business and pro-fessional men in Rio de Janeiromet in late i96i to say, "We busi-nessmen can no longer leave thecountry's direction to the politi-cians alone ." Calling other meet-ings in Rio and Sao Paulo, theydeclared, "The time to head off dis-aster is now, not when the Redsare in full control of our govern-ment!"Out of such meetings was born

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the Institute for Economic and So-cial Research (IPES), designed todiscover what was happening . Oth-er associations already in existence,such as CONCLAP (SuperiorCouncil of the Producing Classes),formed of employers and employesof industrial concerns both largeand small ; GAP (Group for Po-litical Action) ; and Centro Indus-trial (Association for CommercialEnterprises), also engaged in activ-ities of democratic resistance .

Such organizations spread rapid-ly throughout the nation . Thoughoperating independently, thesegroups pooled their findings, co-ordinated their plans for action .They produced circular lettersappraising the political situation,surveys of public opinion, andalso hundreds of newspaper arti-cles answering the boastings of thecommunists .To find out how the Moscow-

trained underground apparatusfunctioned in Brazil, IPES formedits own intelligence service, a taskforce of investigators (several with-in the government itself) to collect,classify and correlate informationon the extent of Red infiltration inBrazil .

Laced With RedsTHE AGENTS soon discovered a

Red Trojan horse of far morefrightening dimensions than any-one had imagined . Many maskedcommunists, "planted" in federal

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departments and agencies yearsbefore, had by now wormed them-selves into key posts . Most govern-ment ministries and agencies werelaced with communists and fellowtravelers serving Moscow's aims .Brazilian communist chief Presteswas boasting publicly, "Seventeenof ours are in Congress"-all elect-ed on the tickets of other parties .In addition, dozens of fellow-traveling members of the chamberof deputies were making dealswith the communists, supportingthem on issues, consistently attack-ing "U.S . imperialism"-but neveronce criticizing Soviet Russia .The communists in government

agencies usually were not ministersbut upper-level advisers, sometimessecond-in-command, or drafters ofreports on which top decisionswere based. Some openly bragged,"We don't care who makes thespeeches so long as we writethem!" In the Ministry of Minesand Energy such a group was incomplete control. Goulart's Di-rector of Posts and TelegraphsDagoberto Rodrigues, a strongcommunist sympathizer, releasedlarge amounts of Soviet and Cubanpropaganda with the airy an-nouncement : "I have examinedthis material and decided it is notsubversive ."

In the key labor unions, commu-nist control was overwhelming .Repeatedly Goulart intervened inunion elections to guarantee the

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THE COUNTRY THAT SAVED ITSELF

choice of communist candidates,especially in those industries whichcould quickly paralyze the country .

Education a SpecialtyMOST NOTORIOUSLY infiltrated

of the federal agencies was theMinistry of Education. One ofGoulart's closest advisers was Dar-cy Ribeiro, who, as Minister ofEducation, had used reading prim-ers to teach illiterate millions Marx-ist class hatred .

Coddled by the Ministry of Edu-cation was the UNE (NationalStudents Union), whose ioo,ooomembers make up the largest sin-gle-nation student organization inLatin America. Its executive boardwas completely dominated byReds. For years an annual govern-ment subsidy of about $Ioo,ooowas handed to UNE officials-noaccounting required . Thus under-written, they devoted full time topolitical agitation among students .Part of the subsidy was used tofinance excursions to Red Cubaand visits to fraternal communiststudent groups in other LatinAmerican countries .Further fortified by hefty war

funds from Moscow, UNE pub-lished inflammatory pamphletsand a virulently anti-U.S. Marxistweekly newspaper. Masqueradingas anti-illiteracy campaigners, aUNE team was found distributingreading-aid materials that included"Che" Guevara's guerrilla-warfare

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manual-printed in Portuguese byChinese-Red-lining Brazilian com-munists. UNE leaders specializedin fomenting campus strikes andstudent mass meetings, street dem-onstrations and riots .

Engineers of ChaosTHE RED infiltration, investiga-

tors found, had grown larger andless concealed with every month ofGoulart rule. Sufficient to ringwarning bells were such earlyGoulart appointments as EvandroLins e Silva, a crafty lawyer longa defender of communist causes,as attorney general ; and HermesLima, a pro-Castro socialist, asprime minister. (Both were laterappointed to the supreme court.)Among the most rabid pleaders ofcommunist causes was Goulart'sMinister of Justice, AbelardoJurema. And press secretary to thepresident was Raul Ryff, a Com-munist Party member for morethan 30 years .Chief spokesman for the Goulart

regime was Leonel Brizola, Gou-lart's brother-in-law, governor ofRio Grande do Sul and later depu-ty from the state of Guanabara . AU.S: hating ultra-nationalist, Bri-zola was often described as "a manmore recklessly radical than Redboss Prestes himself."Communist "conflict techni-

cians" were everywhere. Trainedin Iron-Curtain schools of subver-sion, they were skilled in creating

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chaos and then agitating for "re-forms" ; getting the government tomake large promises it never couldfulfill, then taking advantage of theresulting despair to shout "Revolu-tion!" The number of such engi-neers of chaos was not large-notmore than Boo at the hard core,with some 2000 supporters in gov-ernment agencies. But, says Dr .Glycon de Paiva, a mining'consul-tant and one of IPES' founders :"It's the classic communist tactic togive the impression that they aremany. Actually, only a dedicatedfew are needed to accomplish thedownfall of a country . Free peo-ples make the error of discountingany force not present in huge num-bers. We learned that lesson thehard way ."

Almost daily, more evidence ofRed revolution in the makingcame to light . In Brazil's impover-ished northeast, notorious for theflagrant injustices practiced bywealthy landowners against starv-ing peasants,* Castro's "beardedones" roved the countryside, open-ly stirring up revolt . Portuguese-language broadcasts from RedChina were on the air nearly eighthours a day, calling on peasants torise against landowners .Typical of the investigators' ef-

fectiveness was their discovery inSeptember 1963 of a large ship-ment of arms on its way to Brazil

*See "Brazil's Big Dust Bowl," TheReader's Digest, July '63 .

SPECIAL FEATURE

from Eastern Europe . Alerted, theBrazilian army sent a force to meetthe ship, confiscated tons of smallarms, ammunition, machine guns,field-communication equipmentand loads of Red propagandaprinted in Portuguese .

The "Get-Rich-Quick" SetTHE PROBINGs of the investiga-

tors revealed more than subver-sion. Corruption-far in excess ofthat commonly accepted as part ofpolitical life in Latin America-ex-tended from the presidential palacedownward. Even while Goulartand his extreme leftist supporterswere ascribing all Brazil's woes to"U.S . exploiters and bloodsuckers,"members of his official family weredipping their hands into the gov-ernment till with gay abandon . Itwas plain that all aid funds in-tended for impoverished areas,including Alliance for Progressdisbursements, were being inter-cepted by reaching hands andquick fingers .

Evidence was also strong that nosmall part of these billions of cru-zeiros, meant for the people, wassomehow finding lodgment inGoulart's own pockets . With a de-clared income of 40 million cru-zeiros in 1963, Goulart-accordingto documentation seized after hisflight-spent 236 million on hisplantations in Mato Grosso alone .While piously pressing for confis-cation of large landowners' estates

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THE COUNTRY THAT SAVED ITSELF

and distribution of land to the peas-ants, Goulart, the land recordsshowed, was almost daily addingto his own huge holdings. Onlyafter Jango fled the country couldBrazil get the true measure of hissincerity about land-sharing. Start-ing public life with an inheritedranch of only five square miles,Goulart, when he hurriedly de-parted, was Brazil's biggest land-holder, possessing in his own name2968 square miles .Moreover, Goulart was sharing

with any number of others theopportunities for get-rich-quick .Tips on forthcoming changes ingovernment policy, as for exampleon exchange rates, made millionsof cruzeiros for palace favorites .Policy developments of any kindwere tied to payoffs and kickbacks .

Ryff, Goulart's communist presschief, was one of the big benefi-ciaries . As influence peddler, hecollected a $25,000 rakeoff on onecoffee deal alone . Other examplesabounded : Goulart's private sec-retary, it was found, was moon-lighting (as a Goulart appointee)as "minister-counselor for econom-ic affairs" in Brazil's Rome em-bassy-where he never did a day'swork. The job apparently did noteven require his presence, but itadded $15,ooo a year to his $8400salary . One of Goulart's LaborParty deputies had put 1295 em-ployes on his personal payroll-after arranging for kickbacks from

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their paychecks. One state gover-nor was making a fortune in smug-gling ; another, with a $6,400,000appropriation to build highways,simply pocketed the full amount .

Besides all such high-flownskulduggery that could be docu-mented, countless millions of cru-zeiros were vanishing without atrace, in the Goulart regime's bot-tomless pit of corruption .

Propaganda by PamphletARMED WITH the mountains of

evidence gathered by their investi-gators, Brazil's middle-class lead-ers fell to work . The job : to shakeawake their tolerant, warm-hearted fellow citizens, whose easy-going political attitudes were toooften summed up in the phrase,"Yes, he's a communist, but a nicefellow!"The anti-communists produced

dossiers on Red leaders and theircollaborators, both within andoutside the government, and cir-culated these widely to resistanceleaders and newspapers . Theyaimed their most persuasive fire atthe country's growing salariedclass, greatest sufferers from Bra-zil's galloping inflation .Heads of business organizations

and industrial plants called regularmeetings of their employes, dis-cussed the meaning of what washappening, put into their handsinformative pamphlets. One low-priced book, written by Andre'

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Gama, owner of a small factory inPetr6polis, and titled Our Ailmentand Its Cure, had a circulation ofmore than a million copies . Otherliterature explained in simple lan-guage how and why the demo-cratic system works better than anyother, detailed the tragedies ofHungary and Cuba, and warned"It's happening here!"

Distribution of anti-communistmaterial was at first undercover,then open . Shopkeepers wrappedthe revealing leaflets in packages,or dropped them into shoppingbags. Elevator operators quietlyhanded them to passengers over-heard complaining about condi-tions. Shoeshine boys slipped theminto pockets while brushing cus-tomers. Taxi drivers left them onthe seats of their cabs for casualpickup by fares. Barbers insertedthem in magazines being perusedby waiting clients. One printer inRio secretly ran off 50,000 posterswith cartoons depicting Castrolashing his people, and the caption,"Do you want to live under thewhip of communism?" At night,squads of helpers posted them inpublic places .

Brazil's counterrevolutionariespaid for time on radio and televi-sion to air their revelations. Whengovernment pressure closed manyradio and TV stations to all but themost radical propagandists, theanti-communist groups formedtheir own "Network of Democ-

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racy" of more than ioo stations allover Brazil. From October 1963until the revolution, stations of thisnetwork, organized by Joao Cal-mon of Didrios Associados, a news-paper and TV chain, went on theair at the exact time that leftistLeonel Brizola was haranguing thepublic .

The investigators were success-ful in uncovering not only whathad happened, but what was aboutto happen . Borrowing the Reds'own tactics, workers infiltratedthe high councils of labor unions,pretending to be communists, butactually reporting on Red machi-nations. Again and again the Reds'plans were disrupted as oppositionspeakers and writers went to pressand radio to reveal what wasafoot. For example : On one occa-sion the Reds were quietly round-ing up 5000 people for a bus tripto Brasilia, the capital, for a "spon-taneous pilgrimage" to influencecongressional action . When anti-communists exposed the maneuverdays in advance, the "pilgrimage"was called off.

A Fearless PressBRAZIL'S leading newspapers got

into the fight early. Regularly re-porting the resistance groups' find-ings, as well as keeping up a steadyeditorial drumfire of their own,were Rio's two most influentialpapers, 0 Globo and Jornal doBrasil ; also-Sao Paulo's 0 Estado

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THE COUNTRY THAT SAVED ITSELF

de Sao Paulo ; and Correio do Povo,oldest and most respected inde-pendent paper in Rio Grande doSul .

For their fearlessness, the news-papers paid a heavy price in gov-ernment harassment. When JoaoCalmon of Didrios Associadosprinted . a n expose revealing howphony was the government's in-terest in land reform, LeonelBrizola tried to silence him byinstituting foreclosure proceduresfor payments due on debts owed tothe government-controlled Bank ofBrazil . To keep these newspapersand TV stations going, advertiserspromptly paid up their 12-monthcontracts in advance, thus prevent-ing foreclosure .

For printing a revealing accountof what he saw during a 1963 visitto Russia, the owner of Jornal doBrasil, M. C . Nascimento Brito,saw his newspaper plant invadedby Goulart agents . But even afterhis plant was militarily occupiedand newspaper publication halted,his account reached the people . Itwas printed in booklet form, andwilling workers distributed it bythe hundreds of thousands .

Feminine and FormidableTO THE WOMEN of Brazil belongs

a huge share of the credit for stop-ping the planned Red takeover .By the thousands, on a scaleunmatched in Latin American his-tory, housewives threw themselves .

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into the struggle and, more thanany other force, they alerted thecountry. "Without the women,"says one leader of the counterrevo-lution, "we could never havehalted Brazil's plunge towardcommunism. While many of ourmen's groups had to work under-cover, the women could work inthe open-and how they worked!"

Sparkplug and driving force ofthe Rio de Janeiro women's upris-ing was a diminutive, 9o-poundpackage of feminine energy : DonaAmelia Bastos, 59-year-old wife ofa retired army doctor and a formerprimary schoolteacher. She listenedone night in mid-1962 to her hus-band and other anti-Red leadersdiscussing the looming threat . "Isuddenly decided," she says, "thatpolitics had become too importantto be left entirely to the men ."The next day-June 12-Dona

Amelia invited to her home agroup of neighbors and friends .Her dark eyes snapping, she de-manded, "Who has more at stakein what's happening to our coun-try than we women? Who is pay-ing the soaring grocery bills causedby inflation? Who has to stand andwatch as the savings put asidefor our children's education shrivelto nothing? Whose future but ourchildren's and grandchildren's willdisappear if the government's poli-cies lead to communist conquest ofour country?"

That night the first chapter of

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CAMDE (Campaign of Womenfor Democracy) was formed . Andthe very next day, with 30 embat-tled housewives, Dona Ameliawent to Rio newspapers to lodge anobjection to Goulart's appointmentof his Red-tinged prime minister.At 0 Globo she was told, "Theprotest of 30 women won't meanmuch. But if you can come herewith, say, 500 women . . ." Gettingon the telephone, Dona Ameliaand her fledgling group roundedup the 500 . Two days later they allmarched into the newspaper office,and the story made front-pageheadlines. The protest did not stopthe appointment ; it did establishthe power of women to influencepublic opinion .

Chain-Letter TechniquesWHEN Dona Amelia's living

room could no longer accommo-date all the housewives eager tohave a part in CAMDE, sheswitched meetings to church parishhalls, helped form dozens of smallcells in homes . Each woman at-tending was charged with or-ganizing another meeting of tenof her friends ; these friends inturn were charged with enlistingothers . To finance their activities,CAMDE women scrimped onhousehold budgets, solicited helpfrom well-off friends . They set uppublic protest meetings ; were onthe phone hours each day ; wroteletters (more than 30,000 in all) to

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congressmen to "take a strong posi-tion for democracy ." They putpressure on commercial firms toremove their ads from the left-wing newspaper Ultima Hora,themselves bought space in othernewspapers to announce theirmeetings, appeared at public ralliesto debate leftists and challengerabble-rousers, distributed millionsof circulars and booklets, preparedby the men's organizations, expos-ing the government's dalliancewith Reds .

In addition, they got out litera-ture of their own, aimed especiallyat women's concerns ; more than200,000 copies of one sheet describ-ing what women could do in thiscrisis was distributed by CAMDEto members, each being asked tomake five copies to send to po-tential members .

When the leftist head of Postsand Telegraphs banned any furtherhandling of CAMDE's literature,Dona Amelia organized a force ofwomen messengers to deliver thematerial by car, talked friendlyBrazilian airline pilots into con-veying it to distant destinations .The housewives didn't limit

themselves to their own middleclass . They concentrated, for ex-ample, on the wives of members ofthe Red-ridden stevedores' union ."You work on your husbands!"such wives were told. Many did,and not a few converts to democ-racy were made, some stevedores'

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f'

wives later reporting, "We are nolonger communists!"

The Murmur of PrayersEVEN IN the favelas, slum sec-

tions of shacks ringing many Bra-

Dona Amelia Baslos"Who has more at stake

than we women?"zilian cities, which were specialpoints of Red propaganda attack,CAMDE units were formed . One,in a Rio favela called Rocinha,sprang into being when a washer-woman appealed to Dona Ameliafor help . "This place," said thewoman, "is crowded with commu-nists . They say they want to teachus to read and write, and theybring us entertainment . But theonly books they use are- Cuban

primers, the only movies theyshow are of Cuban guerrillas ." ACAMDE cell, centering in thewasherwoman's home, was quick-ly formed at Rocinha . Literacyclasses were organized, literaturewas supplied . And soon the wom-en of Rocinha were able to debatethe Reds on their own level, weresaying to communist congressionalcandidates and National StudentUnion propagandists alike, "Goaway. We know what you'reafter!" The Reds moved on .The spread of women's organi-

zations was spectacular. Some be-came branches of CAMDE ; others,such as LIMDE (Women's Demo-cratic League) in Belo Horizonte,had their own identity .The women of Belo Horizonte,

capital of Minas Gerais, perhapsthe most firmly anti-communiststate in Brazil, were courage per-sonified. When the Red-led Fed-erated Union of Latin AmericanWorkers announced a mass meet-ing to be held in their city, withtwo Red organizers from Russiaas featured speakers, LIMDE lead-ers sent a curt message : "Please beadvised that when the plane bring-ing these men arrives, hundreds ofwomen will be lying across theairstrip!" They kept their word .The plane did not land at BeloHorizonte ; it went on to Brasiliainstead .The same women staged an

equally effective demonstration

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last February. A "Land ReformCongress" was to be held in BeloHorizonte, with Leonel Brizolahimself the main speaker . WhenBrizola arrived at the hall, hefound it packed-so full, in fact,that he could not make himselfheard over the rattle of rosaries andthe murmur of 3000 women pray-ing for the deliverance of theircountry. Going outside, Brizolafound the streets equally filledwith praying women, as far as theeye could see. Brizola left BeloHorizonte with one of the fieriestspeeches of his career still in hispocket, undelivered .Within 12 months women's

groups were actively at work inevery major city from Belem in thenorth to Porto Alegre in the south .

A Warning From KennedyAT NO POINT, save at the very

end, were any of the anti-commu-nist forces-men's, women's ormilitary groups-angling for theouster of Goulart before his termwas up in January 1966. SaysHaroldo Cecil Poland, a memberof IPES' board of directors, "Af-ter all, Goulart had been legallyelected according to the constitu-tion, and we Brazilians have a longtradition of legalidade . We wereonly trying to make him rid hisgovernment of policies and peoplewho were taking the country downinto chaos and civil war . Our com-mittees called upon him as long

as he would see us . But he paid noheed, turning more and more toextremists, and finally refused tosee us ."One of the signs of Goulart's

disdain for friendly counsel camein December 1962, when U.S. At-torney General Robert Kennedyvisited Brazil . His purpose : to ad-vise, on behalf of his brother thePresident, that the United Statescould not forever pour AID fundsinto Brazil unless some move wasmade to halt the inflation spiral .Goulart acted with alacrity : justhours after Kennedy left, he an-grily formed a committee to co-ordinate expansion of trade withthe Soviet Union!

The Die Is CastBY EARLY MARCH this year, the

whole sprawling country was a tin-derbox ready to burst into flames .Then on March 13, Goulart him-self, with Reds egging him on,recklessly struck the match . Beforean audience of some ioo,ooo work-ers-rounded up by Red leadersand brought into Rio de Janeiroby bus and train at a cost to thegovernment of over $400,000-Goulart and Brizola irrevocablycommitted the government to radi-cal change .Many Brazilians, watching on

TV, were shocked to hear Goulartdenounce the government struc-ture and social order as "outmod-ed" and demand basic changes

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in the constitution . Among thechanges : full legalization of theCommunist Party. Goulart thenannounced two decrees, signingthem on the spot with a flourish .One decree confiscated and hand-ed over to Petrobras, the govern-ment oil monopoly, the six oilrefineries still in private hands .The other, more alarming, empow-ered the government to confiscateany large land tracts it adjudgedinadequately used and hand theseover to landless peasants-a clearreplay of Castro's early "land re-form" program.The decrees were a bold and

ominous move to bypass congress .Combined with the attacks on theconstitution, they amounted to anaudacious bid for establishment ofgovernment by decree, the essenceof dictatorship .Brizola, taking the podium,

went even further. The president'sbrother-in-law demanded the out-right abolition of congress and thesubstitution of "assemblies" ofworkers, peasants and army ser-geants-a direct echo of Lenin's"soviets" of workers, peasants andsoldiers in 1917. The implicationswere clear enough .The March 13 rally may be re-

garded as the event that touchedoff the preventive revolution . Bra-zil's middle class now realizedthat Goulart radicals had passedthe point of no return . The govern-ment was committed to a course

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that could lead only to a civil war,followed by communist takeover.

March of the Women

FIRST TO TAKE action were thewomen of Sao Paulo. Listeningon radio and TV to the March 13rally, hundreds of housewivesrushed to their telephones to beginorganizing a demonstration thatwould make Goulart's seem tinyby comparison. Six days later, onMarch 1g, the wide thoroughfaresof downtown Sao Paulo werejammed with what the womencalled the "March of the FamilyWith God Toward Freedom ."Clutching prayerbooks and ros-aries, a vast army more than 6oo;ooo strong marched in solemnrhythm under anti-communistbanners. And as they marched,newshawks on the sidelines soldnewspapers containing a 1300word proclamation the women hadprepared :

This nation which God hasgiven us, immense and marvelousas it is, is in extreme danger. Wehave allowed men of limitless am-bition, without Christian faith orscruples, to bring our people mis-ery, destroying our economy, dis-turbing our social peace, to createhate and despair. They have infil-trated our nation, our governmentadministration, our armed forcesand even our churches with ser-vants of totalitarianism, foreign to

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us and all-consuming. . . . Motherof God, preserve us from the fateand suffering of the martyredwomen of Cuba, Poland, Hun-gary and other enslaved nations!

One bystander called the SaoPaulo women's march "the mostmoving demonstration in Brazil-ian history ." Days later, similarmarches were scheduled for sev-eral of the nation's major cities .Efforts by the government to dis-courage them, and threats by policeto break them up, failed to haltthe crusading women .

Guardians of LegalityBUT IF THE Red coup was to be

thwarted, action stronger thanpublic demonstrations was neces-sary. Middle-class leaders beganconferring secretly with anti-com-munist generals of Brazil's army,long distrustful of Goulart andquietly carrying on their own re-sistance to his policies.To understand the role played

by the military in the revolution,one must understand the charac-ter and traditions of the Brazilianarmy-a breed unique in LatinAmerica. Brazil, in contrast withother countries, has never been un-der a purely military dictatorship .Traditionally the army has regard-ed itself as defender of the consti-tution, guardian of legalidade. Itsgenerals, again unlike those ofsome other Latin American coun-

tries, arc drawn not from thewealthy aristocracy but from themiddle and lower-middle classes .Most rise from the ranks . Thus theyform no military caste, but comeperhaps closer to representing across-section of Brazilian opinionand democratic ideals than anyother segment of the population .Historically committed to the

primacy of civilian authority, thearmy has interfered in politicalsituations only five times since theoverthrow of the monarchy in1889-and then only in criseswhere civilian power has crumpledor decayed. At those times thearmy took over only long enoughto re-establish constitutional proc-esses, then stepped out again . Ithas never shown any tendency tograb power for itself-not evenwhen it would have been easy andperhaps advisable to do so . Thus,from the time the Republic wasproclaimed in 1889 until today,only five of Brazil's 25 presidentshave come from the military, andthese were duly elected or ap-pointed .Largely anti-communist, the

generals held Goulart and his en-tanglements with the extremistsin distrust-matched by Goulart'sdistrust of them. Goulart was con-fident that their respect for the con-stitution would keep them fromacting. Nevertheless, he played itsafe by shifting military com-mands and manipulating promo-

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tions so as to cut down the powerof the more conservative officers .One such officer, Humberto Cas-

telo Branco, was in command ofthe army in Pernambuco State, inthe country's torrid Northeast,where, said Brazilians, "the biggestcrop is communism ." When sev-eral landowners were murderedand families began fleeing into thetowns to escape Red terrorism,Castelo Branco took action . Where-upon the governor, the notoriouslyradical Miguel Arrais, complainedthat the general was "neutralizing"left-wing influences in his state .Goulart promptly removed thetroublemaker-by kicking himupstairs as chief of staff of thearmy. Other officers who spokeout against communism were sim-ilarly transferred to desk duty,while left-wingers were maneu-vered into strategic commandpositions .

Mutiny in the RanksTo FURTHER nullify any possi-

bility of an anti-communist gen-erals' revolt, the Reds-apparentlywith the connivance of Goulart-moved to break down discipline,if not to encourage outright mu-tiny, in the armed forces . A pro-gram of spirited agitation waslaunched among noncoms and en-listed men, urging them to formrank-and-file unions to demand achange in Brazilian law allowingthem to run for public office-a .

15

right which had been open tocommissioned officers but not toenlisted personnel . To further un-dercut their leaders and weakendiscipline, a Sailors and MarinesAssociation was formed-movingthe Marxist class war into thearmed forces .

Events were building swiftly toa climax when Goulart on March26 openly demonstrated his sym-pathy with the move to scuttlemilitary discipline. On that day,some 1400 members of the Sailorsand Marines Association mutiniedin Rio de Janeiro . They holedthemselves up in the headquartersof the communist-controlled Met-allurgical Workers Union . Defyingorders to return to their barracks,the mutinous sailors and marinesgaily shouted "Viva Goulart!"from the windows and pledgedloyalty to their commander, Candi-do Aragao-a Goulart appointeeknown in leftist circles as the "Peo-ple's Admiral ."Army troops surrounded the

building and arrested the rebels-only to release them a few hourslater on orders of the presidenthimself. To the fury of the militaryestablishment, Goulart merely "re-quested" the mutineers to go totheir barracks, with assurancesthat they would not be punishedbut would in fact receive weekendpasses!

The minister of the navy, Adm .Silvio Mota, abruptly fired the

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"People's Admiral," then resigned,in protest against the government'sencouragement of mutiny . Goulartpromptly restored the "People'sAdmiral," and announced that thenew Navy Minister would bePaulo Mario Rodrigues, a left-winger known as Brazil's "RedAdmiral," recalled from retirementin this emergency . The mutineerscelebrated that afternoon with avictory snake dance through down-town Rio, bearing the "People'sAdmiral" on their shoulders .

The Start of an AvalancheMEANWHILE, grimly watching

developments from his office inRio, the general who had beenkicked upstairs, Castelo Branco,had searched his legalistic con-science, come to a hard conclusionand taken action . This army chiefof staff was a man small in size-five feet three inches-but amongfellow officers he enjoyed the kindof deep respect which GeneralsGeorge Marshall and DouglasMacArthur commanded in theUnited States. He had graduatedbrilliantly from Brazil's MilitaryAcademy, then studied at the U .S .Army Command and GeneralStaff College at Fort Leavenworth,Kan. During World War II hehad been chief of operations of theBrazilian Expeditionary Force inItaly, as part of Gen. Mark Clark'sFifth Army .Following Goulart's March 1 3

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rally, Castelo Branco composed astinging indictment . When a pres-ident proposed to nullify congressand overthrow the constitution, heargued, military action in defenseof legalidade was not only justi-fied but mandatory . This secretmemorandum went out to trustedtop officers . Since all mail of offi-cers known to be anti-communistwas monitored and their phoneswere tapped, circulation of themanifesto was a problem . Anticommunist Brazilian businessmenhelped : they carried copies in theirbreast pockets, put the manifestointo the proper hands ; retired offi-cers also provided reliable men tocarry messages between generalsin their speeded-up exchange ofviews .

To Castelo Branco's secretly cir-culated manifesto, more than 1500naval officers now added one oftheir own . Addressed to all thenation's citizens,' it declared thetime had come for Brazil to "de-fend itself." The army quicklyproclaimed solidarity with thenavy, the bulk of the press joinedin, and in distant Brasilia somemembers of congress took up thecry .Was the whole nation rising?

Goulart seemed badly shaken bythe extent of the public reaction .Hurriedly conferring with hisnew Navy Minister, the "Red Ad-miral," Jango proceeded to reversehimself. There would be an in-

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vestigation into that mutiny, heannounced, and, meanwhile, "Peo-ple's Admiral" Aragao was re-lieved of his command .The reversal came too late . The

avalanche had started .Making a final desperate effort

to salvage support in the armedforces, Goulart on the evening ofMarch 30 sped to Rio's automobileassociation, where a large crowd ofarmy sergeants had gathered topay him tribute. But even whileGoulart was enjoying the ser-geants' plaudits and castigating the"gorillas"-a disparaging term forprofessional military men allegedlyseeking power-the preventiverevolution was under way .

The Rebel Columns MarchTHE FIRST call for the overthrow

of Goulart came from Gov . Magal-haes Pinto of the state of MinasGerais . Demonstrations support-ing his call promptly broke out inthe streets, and on March 31 a di-vision of the army based in MinasGerais started south for nearby Riode Janeiro. A few hours later camethe announcement that Gen . Am-aury Kruel, commander of Brazil'sSecond Army, based at Sao Paulo,was also throwing his forces intothe fight for freedom, and sendinga strong contingent north towardRio. By this time news came thatthe Fourth Army, too, based atPernambuco, was joining the re-bellion .

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Close to panic, Goulart em-planed for Brasilia, where he toldreporters, "I have come here to runthe country and I am confidentthat the people are with me." Hequickly discovered that congresswas not. Moreover, soldiers fromBrasilia's local garrison were eventhen on their way to attack thepresidential palace. After onlythree hours in Brasilia, Goulartwas back aboard his plane, headingsouth for his home state of RioGrande do Sul, on the border ofUruguay. The Third Army, basedat Porto Alegre, was uncommitted .On arrival there, however, Goulartlearned that the civil governor hadjoined the uprising .An unknown quantity was the

First Army, based in Rio de Ja-neiro . Barricaded in his palace inRio, Gov. Carlos Lacerda, long abitter Goulart foe, wanted to pro-claim his allegiance to the rebel-lion, but he couldn't. The federalgovernment still controlled Rio'sradio stations, and a general strikein support of Goulart had closeddown the city . Lacerda's onlyforces were the state traffic police,his only armor the city's garbagetrucks, parked bumper-to-bumperto block roads leading to the pal-ace. So far as he knew, the FirstArmy was still taking orders fromGoulart, and to his dismay the gov-ernor learned that this army hadsent a column toward Sao Pauloto intercept the advancing rebel

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column. (What he could not knowuntil later was that when the twoforces met, the presumably pro-Goulart column promptly joinedthe rebels .)

At long last, on his only opentelephone line, Governor Lacerdagot a call through to a rebel stationin distant Belo Horizonte, whosesignal could be heard in Rio . Thatwas when his own city finallyheard him proclaim solidarity withthe revolution. Even as he spoke,the report reached him that a de-tachment of the First Army's tankswas rolling down Rio's lovelytree-shaded boulevards, headedtoward the governor's palace . Onlywhen the tanks surrounded thepalace did Lacerda learn they'dcome not to butcher but to rescuehim .

Victory!BY MIDAFTERNOON on Wednes-

day, April I, it was all over, andBrazil's middle-class leaders wereat the microphones, hailing thedownfall of communism. Fromthe windows of Rio, sheets andtowels flapped to greet the victory,and the streets of Brazil's greatcities filled with people-happy,dancing people, in a carnivalmood .From Rio Grande do Sul came

news that Jango Goulart had fledto Uruguay . Also getting out fastwere Brizola, the Cuban ambas-sador and top Red leaders, who

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scurried for borders of adjoiningcountries, hurriedly hopped aboardplanes for Cuba, or hid away inembassies friendly to Iron Curtaincountries .

Incoming ships from Czechoslo-vakia, loaded with more arms forthe Red revolutionaries, were re-ported turning back for Havana .And in Rio, dense clouds of smokearose from incinerators in the So-viet embassy compound, wherequantities of papers and docu-ments were being hastily burned .How could a divided nation of

some 77 million swing politicallyso far so quickly, and with virtual-ly no loss of life, in contrast toCastro's bull-ring butcheries inCuba, or to the Spanish Civil War,where both sides fought so bloodilyfor years?

Much credit must go, of course,to the highly civilized officer corpsof Brazil's army, which acted withdispatch and precision to nip thethreat of Red takeover just beforeit reached the bloodletting stage .But, as the generals are quick toacknowledge, even more credit be-longs to aroused civilians who,with the lesson of Cuba beforethem, for more than two years hadbeen alerting the public-and whoat the climactic moment gave themilitary the signal for action .

On the day after the revolutionBrazil had a reminder of what hadreally made it possible . The wom-en of CAMDE had planned a

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"March of the Family With GodToward Freedom" in Rio de Ja-neiro for April 2. But now, withfreedom won, why bother? Thewomen of Rio, however, sprang totheir telephones as their sisters inother cities had done before them .The march would take place asplanned, but now as a "March ofThanksgiving to God." Whena government official advisedcalling it off, fearing violence,Dona Amelia Bastos insisted, say-ing, "The march will demonstrateto the world that this is a truepeople's revolution-it will be amarching plebiscite for real de-mocracy!"And so it was : an ocean of

humanity, more than a millionstrong, moved through a snow-storm of confetti drifting downfrom the skyscrapers that lineRio's boulevards ; an army of peacewith banners, firmly, in reverentspirit, telling all South Americathat Brazilians were resolved tostay free .

How Narrow the Escape?WITHIN days after the revolu-

tion, Brazilians began to learn justhow close they had come to losingthat freedom. Swooping downupon nests of subversion hastilyabandoned, military security unitsdiscovered tons of communist lit-erature, guerrilla-warfare manuals,arsenals of weapons, carefullyspelled-out plans for Red takeover,

t9

schemes for liquidating key anti-communists .In Goulart's own palace were

incriminating files of correspond-ence with Red leaders, canceledchecks for millions of cruzeirosJango had donated to communistfronts, as well as checks drawn bythe president against governmentfunds for improvement of his ownprivate farms.The residence of Goulart's

brother-in-law turned up vast evi-dence of the workings of the "Na-tional Liberation Front"-madeup of Brizola's "Groups of Eleven"(known as G-11)-over which hepresided as supreme commander .No mean force, the G-11 groups,organized to "save Brazil from theclaws of international capitalismand its internal allies," were foundto number more than 30,000 mem-bers.

One captured secret manual is-sued to G-11 regional command-ers directed that members, called"companions" and pledged to"fight until death," were to be in-structed in how to stage strikes,agitate and confuse ; how to "de-stroy, plunder and burn publicbuildings as well as private enter-prises" ; how to capture telephoneexchanges, radio and TV stationsand weapon-selling stores ; how tokidnap and hold as hostages pub-lic authorities, who in case of set-back "should be immediately andsummarily killed ."

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Another manual went into thetechniques of "planned violence,leaving aside any sort of senti-mentality" in eliminating anyonestanding in the way . Special atten-tion was given to dispatching highmilitary officers : "Each officer un-der suspicion shall have a manresponsible for his elimination atthe right moment," and, in case theeliminator should fail in his duty,he himself was to "suffer the pun-ishment of death immediately ."

Cold Cash and Counterfeit

ALSO FOUND in the luxurious 20-room Porto Alegre home of Bri-zola-who in speeches liked tocall himself "a poor man" and"defender of the oppressed"-were several hundred million cru-zeiros, as well as documents put-ting other of his assets in the namesof third parties, but specifyingthey were to be "returned to LBon demand ."In Pernambuco, headquarters

for communist preparations, werefound more than io,ooo uniformsand the same number of pairs ofshoes, plus orders for 50,000 more,to be used for the Exercito Cam-pones (Peasant Army) being re-cruited and trained by MiguelArrais, the governor of the state .Included were many uniforms forrevolutionary leaders, with one ofspecial design tagged for Arraishimself .

In Sao Paulo, a large cache of

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imitation bank notes and coins,stamped with the images of Lenin,Stalin and Prestes, was found alongwith postage stamps bearing thehammer and sickle . These weremainly for propaganda use. Butalso turned up were huge stacks ofcounterfeit currency, so well print-ed as to almost defy detection .Captured records of its disburse-ment showed other billions hadbeen printed and sent to Red or-ganizations, not only to financesubversion but to accelerate infla-tion, a prime goal of the chaosengineers .

In the headquarters of laborgroups and of the National Stu-dent Union were found stacks offilms and printed propagandafrom Russia, Red China and Cuba ;large wall-hung photos of Castro,Khrushchev and Mao Tse-tung,and piles of smaller ones for dis-tribution ; huge stocks of Molotovbombs and material for their mak-ing .Caught redhanded were nine

Red Chinese agents : seven mas-querading as members of a "trademission," two as correspondentsfor the New China News Agency .In their possession were detailedplots for the assassination of prom-inent anti-communists; also rec-ords of bribes paid to congressmenand members of the Goulart en-tourage. Cash found on the nine,apparently for bribe use, amountedto more than a billion cruzeiros,

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plus 53,000 U .S . dollars, plus 5000pounds sterling, plus assorted otherforeign currencies .

A New Lock on the DoorAGAINST SUCH subverters and

corruptionists the military movedfast, jailing all suspects and-byan "Institutional Act" quicklypromulgated to guide Brazil dur-ing the interim government-put-ting outside the political pale allpersons regarded as immediatethreats to the success of the revolu-tion. Many were released after in-vestigation ; only those were heldwhose proved acts, not mere words,had contributed to Brazil's neardownfall .Denied their political rights

for ten years were 4o expelledmembers of congress, and 6o oth-er prominent Brazilians-amongthem former presidents Goulartand Quadros . Only later, after Cas-telo Branco himself had carefullyexamined the mountain of evi-dence of corruption on the part ofJuscelino Kubitschek was this ex-president also denied his politicalrights for a decade . To outside criti-cism that such measures were tooharsh, the new government says,"When your house has been plun-dered, you don't invite the thievesback for dinner . You at least put anew lock on the door."

Visiting Paris later, and subject-ed to French reporters' snidequestions about the post-revolution .

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purge, Governor Lacerda madepointed reference to the FrenchRevolution of 1789. "Brazil," henoted wryly, "has not yet sent asingle person to the guillotine ."

"An Honest Middle Course"WELL within the 3o-day period

called for by the constitution, Bra-zil's congress named Gen . CasteloBranco as president to serve theunexpired two years of Goulart'sterm. In sharp contrast with thedemagogic wheeler-dealers whopreceded him, Castelo Branco isuniversally acknowledged to behonest, free of the hotheadednessthat has marked many LatinAmerican rulers, and deeply com=mitted to democratic processes . Heis a quietly but stubbornly cour-ageous man .

The antithesis of the "man onhorseback," Castelo Branco headsa government that is far from be-ing a military dictatorship . Politi-cal parties exist unhindered, asdoes the congress. The press isfree, with no reins on dissent orcriticism ; even the left-wing Ul-tima Hora continues publication .The president's official family ismade up of the country's out-standing experts in their fields :economists, career diplomats, en-gineers, agriculturists . All cabinetministers, with the exception of theministers of the three militarybranches, are civilians . All are menrightly described as "middle class" ;

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all are deeply dedicated to Castelo'sannounced reforms .A strict middle-of-the-roader,

Castelo Branco rejects the label"rightist revolution ." He says flat-ly, "The extreme right is reaction-ary ; the extreme left is subversive .Brazil must steer an honest mid-dle course ." When, shortly afterthe revolution, some wealthy in-dustrialists and latifundists (largelandowners) moved in to presswhat he considered self-servingclaims, Castelo Branco said blunt-ly, "The answer to the evils of theextreme left does not lie in thebirth of a reactionary right ."

The president is under no illu-sions as to the enormity of the taskbefore him, nor the shortness ofthe time he has to perform it : onlya little over two years . Brazil'sproblems are deeply ingrained : itsyears of misrule and runaway in-flation ; its great areas of stark pov-erty ; the exploitation of the masses-not from the outside, as chargedby the Reds, but by Brazilians .Extensive political, economic, so-cial reforms are sorely needed. Thejob is a staggering one . But, be-holden to no party or pressuregroup, the doughty general is giv-ing it the grand try .

Reforms Under WayHE HAD no sooner taken office

than he began dismantling thehuge and corrupt bureaucracy,sliced the bloated budget by 30

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percent for the first year, beganfeeding into the congressional hop-per reforms that go to the heartof Brazil's troubles . Each bill isrequired to be acted upon by con-gress within a 3o-day limit ; other-wise, it automatically becomes law .

Political reforms already passedinclude a constitutional amend-ment requiring presidental elec-tions to be by absolute majority -to discourage the proliferation ofpolitical parties, now 13 in number,and to offset the chance of somedemagogue riding to powerthrough the connivance of a few,against the will of the people .

Economic reforms include mea-sures to halt inflation-by sharpreduction in government spend-ing, by tying wage scales to pro-ductivity and the cost of living, byclosing loopholes in corporate-and income-tax laws . They alsoinclude an amendment of theProfit Remittances Law, long dis-criminatory to foreign investment ;a ban on the nationalization orconfiscation of private businesses ;the elimination of subsidies for im-ported wheat, oil and newsprint ;the cancellation of tax exemptionfor journalists and judges, writersand teachers .

Social reforms, aimed at liftingthe lives of the impoverishedmasses, include a national low-costhousing program, designed even-tually to banish the stenchful fa-velas that are the shame of Brazil's

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big cities ; and an agrarian-reformprogram to correct the poverty andinjustices suffered by the Northeastmasses, who are virtual serfs onthe big estates of feudal land-owners .

The heart of President CasteloBranco's land-reform bill is the im-position of a graduated tax, whichwould be progressive with the sizeand unused portions of the hold-ings. The tax is designed to encour-age land use and redistributionamong those without land of theirown . The land-reform program in-cludes technical aid and grants tohelp small farmers get started, plusgovernment-built farm-to-marketroads .

No less difficult than the politi-cal, economic and social reforms isthe moral cleanup to which the re-gime is committed . In this, thepresident himself has set the newexample. One of his first acts aftertaking office was to voluntarilymake public his private assets : aRio de Janeiro apartment, a fewthousand dollars in stocks, a ig6i-model Aero Willys car, and a fam-ily cemetery plot worth about$1000 . His speeches to the nationand his messages to the congressresound with calls to political mor-ality .

"The great thing Castelo Brancohas done already," said a promi-nent Brazilian last July, "is tocreate a new image of decency andhonesty in government ."

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President Hunrberlo Castrlo Brancornakr's his inau{oral adrlrrs.s, April 15

The Long Road BackWITH ALL its high-minded ob-

jectives, can the revolutionarygovernment-in the two years ithas left -successfully sell Brazil-ians of all classes on making thesacrifices that must be made tocure the nation's ills?

The obstacles are huge . Most ofthe wealthy landowner class standstrongly against higher taxation

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and land reform . From the massesof peasants, on the other hand, willarise new leaders who will find so-cial-betterment schemes too slow .Communists and other radicals, forall their present banishment,, canbe counted upon to regroup under-ground, determined to avoid theirpast mistakes . And the man in thestreet, long grown cynical of gov-ernment promises from any quar-ter, must see real progress andsubstantial improvement if his con-tinued support is to be won in thefree elections now set for Novem-ber 15, 1966.The answer lies not only with

Castelo Branco and his supporters ."It ,lies also," say Brazil's middle-class revolutionaries, "with everyBrazilian's willingness to subordi-nate selfish interests to the good ofthe nation ."

Says Castelo Branco : "Too longwe've been led by demagogues intoblaming all our woes on `Yankeeimperialism.' From now on, we aregoing to be judged not by our in-tentions, not by our promises, butby what we do!"

Standing behind the presidentare those who made the middle-class revolt a success in the firstplace. "It's one thing to make arevolution," say Dr. Glycon dePaiva, "but quite another to sus-tain it. The danger now is that wewho initiated this revolt will re-

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lax." To avoid that danger, groupslike IPES are staying on the job -sponsoring courses to train demo-cratic leaders, especially from themiddle and lower classes, anddeveloping ways to keep the pub-lic alert and enlightened . Express-ing the new attitude of many ofBrazil's business leaders, PauloAyres Filho, a pharmaceuticalmanufacturer, says, "We nowknow that we businessmen mustthink not only about profits butabout the social problems of ourcountry . We've got to prove thatfree enterprise can do the best jobfor all the people ."

The women's groups, too, arenot demobilizing. Says CAMDE'sDona Amelia Bastos, "We womenof Brazil have discovered ourpower. We're now going to workto preserve the democracy wehelped save." CAMDE women areturning their energies to educationand social service. Also, they haveproposed to the government a de-tailed plan to combat illiteracy byputting on a nationwide fund-rais-ing campaign to get it started .

Given a broad enough spread ofthat spirit, Brazil can indeed comeback from. its deep plunge towardchaos, and make strides towardrealization of its great potential .And in doing so, it can count uponthe support of the whole freeworld.