Elizabeth Bishop - Prose

It was the time of fascist power: Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Franco in Spain, and Salazar in Portugal. Vargas allied himself with Brazil’s fascist party, the “Integralistas.” Protected by the “state of war” he had decreed in order to combat the leftists, he secretly ordered his advisers to draw up a fascist-style constitution (copied, it was said, from that of Poland); he sent advance emissaries to all the states to guarantee the support of the governors, and he sent to jail, en masse, as political prisoners, all intellectuals and politicians who carried any weight with the public. On the 10th of November, 1937, in a surprise move, he surrounded the two houses of Congress with troops, closed them, and put his secret constitution into effect. (The people quickly called it the “Polish” one.) Under the name of the “New State,” fascism began in Brazil.

The idea of dictatorship was intolerable to the majority of Brazilians; nevertheless, it is true that in spite of the abuses of power, it never took on (at least, not openly) the worst aspects of European fascism. As one commentator said, it was fascism “Brazilian-style,” i.e., “fascism with sugar.” No public executions, no shootings, no concentration camps. After the first few months most of the political prisoners were released; only a few leaders, condemned by the inquisitorial ”Security Tribunal” remained in jail. Other leaders went into exile. The “Integralistas” themselves, who had been ridiculed by Vargas and robbed of all power, revolted; this revolt was also brutally put down.

At the start of World War II Vargas did not conceal his sympathies for the Axis powers, and the first Nazi victories lent support to his attitude. But public opinion, even gagged as it was by the dictatorship, made the most of every opportunity of showing its partiality for the Allies. President Roosevelt, for his part, did all he could to bring Brazil over to the side of the Allies, particularly after Pearl Harbor. Brazil ceded military bases to the Americans; the air-lift was established between Natal and Dakar, by means of which large numbers of American troops and quantities of supplies crossed the ocean. Finally, after the sinking of Brazilian ships by German submarines, campaigns in the newspapers, and demonstrations in the streets, Vargas was forced to declare war against the Axis powers. A contingent of Brazilian soldiers was sent to fight in Italy and suffered losses. At the end of the war in 1945, Brazil, in spite of Vargas and the dictatorship, was proud to be among the victorious Allies.

It was scarcely possible to maintain the “New State,” typically fascist, even if moderate, after the enthusiasm Brazil had shown for the Allies and her own returning soldiers. The United States put discreet pressure on Vargas to permit free elections. The press, with one accord, disobeyed the government censorship, and Vargas was never able to impose it again. Finally, in October 1945, the highest-ranking military officer, realizing that the dictatorship was tottering, ordered Vargas out, and he was sent into exile, not abroad, but to his far-off fazenda, in Rio Grande do Sul.

Elections were held. The opposition candidate was the Brigadier General Eduardo Gomes, the only survivor of the national heroes, the “18 of Copacabana” of 1922. But even if Vargas was out, the political machine of the dictatorship was still functioning, and the same leaders who had supported the “New State” were still in power. They succeeded in electing their candidate, General Eurico Dutra, Vargas’s ex — Minister of War, who had been called the “Constable of the New State.”

Surprisingly enough, once in power Dutra showed respect for the constitution, (a liberal constitution was again in effect) and no tendency to seek personal power or permit military excessess. But he was a friend, an ally, of the deposed dictator. The political rights of Vargas had not been revoked; the necessary electoral reforms did not take place. So that, at the end of Dutra’s five years in office, “Getúlio” ran again. He took advantage of the emotional paternalism the enormous propaganda machine of the “New State” had been preaching to the people for eight years — and that the Dutra government had not unmasked. And in 1951 Vargas, in a landslide victory, was again in power, this time as lawfully elected president.

But times had changed. Dutra had governed honestly and respected the law. The group that came back into power with Vargas was eager for power, fame, and money. The presidency was surrounded by a morass of corruption. The opposition fought bitterly and violently against Vargas and “Getúlismo.” Carlos Lacerda, editor of the opposition newspaper, “Tribuna da Imprensa,” was his most outspoken opponent and exposed graft and chicanery in government circles, and in Vargas’s own family. (Vargas himself was believed to be honest, but deluded, and increasingly helpless.) Members of Vargas’s bodyguard plotted to assasinate Lacerda. The attempt failed; Lacerda escaped with a bullet in the foot, but a young Air Force Major, who was with Lacerda to protect him from just such an attack, was killed. This political assassination produced a national scandal. Lacerda publicly accused the president of having instigated the crime. (It was later proved, however, that Vargas was ignorant of the whole thing.) The Air Force was determined to find out who was responsible for the death of their comrade; a group of them captured the culprit in the Presidential Palace itself. High-ranking members of the armed forces then demanded the president’s renunciation, in a dramatic scene early in the morning of August 24th, 1954. Vargas apparently agreed; still in pajamas and dressing gown, he retired to his bedroom — and shot himself through the heart.

Happily, with the amazing Brazilian talent for resolving the worst crises peacefully, the country was not thrown into chaos by the president’s suicide. The Vice-President, Café Filho (Coffee, Jr.), took power exactly as if the position had become vacant in a more normal way. (The current joke, of course, was: “What does the butler say when he knocks on the president’s door in the morning?” “Time for coffee.”) At the end of his term there were new elections. The candidate of the old “Getúlista” group was Juscelino Kubitschek, from Minas Gerais; the opposition was a general, Juarez Távora, one of the “young officers” of ’30, who had later turned against Vargas. However, the Vargas machine was still powerful, in spite of the suicide, — or perhaps because of it. (Vargas had been a father-figure to the masses of the poor, particularly in the cities. His funeral in Rio, rather, the procession carrying his coffin through the streets to the airport to be taken back to Rio Grande do Sul, was a frightening and touching display of mass-hysteria.) Kubitschek won by a narrow margin; and since the soldiers and civilians who were for Távora began to question the legality of the election, the “Getulista” generals, with all the means of power at their command, gave “ golpe preventivo, ” declared the country in a state of siege for days and ensured the inauguration of Kubitschek.

Once in power, Kubitschek proved to be without rancor; he was hyperactive, optimistic, and ambitious. He undertook his great work, the building of the new capital, Brasília. He encouraged industrialization and began the construction of great dams in order to increase the country’s supply of electrical power. But his government, more than any other, was favorable to corruption and graft. All the wealth of the country remained in the hands of a few powerful political and economic groups. Inflation, which had begun to grow in the days of Vargas, now increased at a nightmare rate. The cost of living increased every day; the false prosperity of Kubitschek’s much-vaunted “development” finally was exposed.