Brazil

Largest country in South America (almost half the continent), bounded southwest by Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia; west by Peru and Colombia; north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana; and northeast and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean.

Government

Under the 1988 constitution, Brazil is a federal republic of 26 states and a federal district (Brasília). The two-chamber national congress consists of a senate of 81 members (on the basis of three senators per state) elected for an eight-year term, and a chamber of deputies, whose numbers vary, elected for a four-year term. The number of deputies is determined by the population of each state. Elections to both chambers are by universal suffrage. The cabinet is chosen by the president, who is elected by universal adult suffrage for a five-year term and is not eligible for re-election. The states and the federal district each have an elected governor.

History

Prior to Portuguese colonization Brazil was occupied by various American Indian peoples. In the Amazon and the central states region there still remain a considerable number of tribal peoples, mainly Carib, Arawak, Tupi-Guarani, and Ge.

Colonization and settlement

The European discovery of Brazil was made by the Spanish navigator Vicente Pinzon in January 1500. It was subsequently claimed for Portugal by Pedro Alvares Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, in April 1500. Portuguese colonization began from this time, and the first governor general was appointed in 1531. The colony was named after a legendary island in the Atlantic, and also a red dye wood that became the region's main export.

The French, Spanish, and Dutch made many attempts to take the land from its original colonists in the 16th and 17th centuries, but all of these were unsuccessful. A period of peaceful development followed. The introduction of sugar cane from Madeira and São Tomé gave rise to a plantation economy in the coastal zone, based on slavery. Cotton was also grown on the plantations, but Brazil's exports of cotton and sugar were hit by competition from the West Indies and North America. By 1800 black slaves from Africa made up one-third of Brazil's population of 2 million. Of the rest, about two-thirds were black and mulatto and one-third of European origin. In 1699 the goldfields of Minas Gerais were discovered, and the interiors of the states of Bahía, Goiás, and Mato Grosso were opened up and settled by groups of adventurers called Bandeirantes, who were attracted to these regions by stories of the fabulous wealth they were said to contain.

The independent empire

A revolt against Portuguese rule broke out in 1789, but was suppressed. Following Napoleon's invasion of Portugal in 1807, King John VI moved his capital from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, arriving in 1808. In the same year the Portuguese monopoly of trade with Brazil was ended, and Brazilian ports were opened to European commerce. In 1821 he returned to Lisbon, leaving his son, Crown Prince Pedro, as regent. A constitution had been granted by the Portuguese crown, but the Portuguese Cortes (parliament) afterwards repudiated it. This led the young regent to declare the independence of Brazil and to proclaim himself emperor as Pedro I in 1822.

Various events, such as the loss of what is now Uruguay to Argentina in the war of 1825-28, and his promise to Great Britain to abolish slavery, led to a decline in Pedro's popularity, and in 1831 he was compelled to abdicate. After a nine-year regency his young son came to the throne in 1840 as Pedro II. In 1865-70 Brazil allied with Argentina and Uruguay in the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. The war resulted in the devastation of Paraguay, and cost Brazil upwards of £63 million and many lives. Pedro persuaded large numbers of Portuguese to emigrate, and the centre of Brazil developed quickly, largely on the basis of slavery. In 1851 the importation of slaves was prohibited, followed by a series of anti-slavery measures, culminating in the complete abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. These measures alienated the traditional landowners, but the emperor was still regarded as too closely tied to their interests by the more progressive coffee planters and the urban middle class. In 1889 the military were persuaded to compel Pedro to surrender his powers. He duly abdicated, and went into exile.

The founding of the First Republic

A republic was proclaimed by Marshal Manuel Deodoro de Fonseca following Pedro's abdication in 1889, and a constitution for a federated nation was adopted in 1891.The so-called First or Old Republic was a loose federation of states, dominated by São Paulo and Minas Gerais. At this time 3 million European immigrants came to Brazil, mainly settling on the coast. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries rubber exports from the Amazon boomed to feed the developing world motor industry, but the boom ended when the British developed rubber plantations in Malaya. However, Brazil had by now established itself as the world's leading coffee producer, and enjoyed an unprecedented prosperity under a series of presidents largely representing the interests of the coffee growers.

Brazil in World War I

Brazil remained neutral for more than three years during World War I. It had a much closer intellectual and cultural affinity with France than with Germany. But the fact that an important part of the immigrant population of Brazil was German added to the difficulties of the Brazilian government. Brazil protested against the German announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917, and the persistence of Germany in that policy led to the sinking of Brazilian ships in 1917.

After it became evident that Germany did not intend either to give up its submarine policy or to make reparations for the Brazilian ships that had already been sunk, in October 1917 Congress adopted a resolution recognizing the existence of a state of war with Germany. Brazilian airmen joined the Allied armies, and a naval squadron was dispatched to European waters to cooperate with the Allied fleets.

The end of the First Republic

The years following the war were characterized first by a period of reckless prosperity under boom conditions during the presidency of Epitacio da Silva Pessoa (1919-22), and secondly by a period of financial depression during the presidency of Arturo Bernardes (1922-26). The government was, however, strong enough to survive a serious military uprising in 1924, and in the elections of 1926 Washington Luís Pereira de Souza was elected president unopposed, and great advances were expected.

By 1930, however, falls in the world demand for coffee and overproduction in Brazil and other coffee nations led to a slump, exacerbated by the world economic crisis following the Wall Street crash. These circumstances, combined with the delay of expected reforms, precipitated a revolution in October 1930. It was led by Dr Getúlio Vargas, who refused to accept the results of the elections held earlier that year, in which Júlio Prestes had been chosen to succeed Washington Luís. Vargas gained control of the whole country within a week, and sporadic resistance to him was rapidly suppressed.

The Vargas dictatorship

Throughout 1931 Vargas's provisional government ruled by decree, and the national and state legislatures were dissolved pending the framing of a new constitution and electoral law. Elections for a constituent assembly were held in 1933, and the assembly introduced the new constitution in July 1934. Vargas was elected president and assumed office in the same month.

In November 1935 a ‘communist revolution’, as it was called, was the occasion for placing the country under semi-martial law, which continued for two years. In 1937, during the campaigns for elections in the coming January, the government declared the country to be in a ‘state of war’, and in November 1937 Vargas mounted a coup d'état, closed Congress, and abolished the former political parties. He issued a new constitution for a corporative state, pending popular approval, and became virtual dictator of this Estado Nôvo (new state).

Seen by some as a Brazilian version of Mussolini, Vargas pursued a policy of economic nationalism, together with the centralization of industry, and he set in hand the gradual reduction of the export taxes between the states of the union. In April 1938 the petroleum industry was nationalized, and state autonomy was further curtailed the following year. Government control of industry enabled industrial expansion to be centrally planned, in an effort to reduce the country's economic dependence on fluctuating world coffee prices. Vargas also increased expenditure on state education, health, and social services.

Brazil in World War II

During the early years of World War II Brazil strengthened its defences, and Vargas took measures to counter pro-Axis propaganda and to renew economic and military ties with the USA. Brazil entered the war against Germany and Italy in August 1942, and in February 1943 declared adherence to the Atlantic Charter, extending the declaration of war to include Japan. A Brazilian expeditionary force served on the Italian front, and in the supply of minerals, rubber, and other raw materials Brazil made a notable contribution to the Allied war effort. In December 1943 a covenant was also signed between Brazil and Portugal, strengthening the cultural ties between the two countries.

The fall and return of Vargas

In March 1945 Vargas signed a new constitution and undertook to make considerable concessions towards popular government. In April an amnesty of all political prisoners was declared, and Vargas signed a decree to enable presidential elections and elections for Congress to be held in December. In October, however, there was a military coup d'état and Vargas was compelled to relinquish power in favour of Dr Jose Linhares, president of the Supreme Court.

The election held in December resulted in the elevation to the presidency of Gen Enrico Gaspar Dutra, who had been minister of war 1926-45. He was the head of the newly formed Social Democratic Party, one of whose aims was to form a federal democratic republic. He was the first president to be elected by popular vote since 1926. The Constituent Assembly met in February 1946, with the task of drawing up a new constitution, which superseded the suspended 1934 constitution in September 1946. In 1947 Brazil outlawed its Communist Party, and ordered the suspension of the Communist-controlled Brazilian Workers' Confederation and all unions affiliated with it. In 1951 Vargas returned to power as an elected president after the uninspiring regime of Dutra, but was brought down by military pressure and committed suicide in 1954.

Growth under Kubitschek

After a new election Juscelino Kubitschek was proclaimed president in 1956. Kubitschek followed a policy of economic development combined with nationalism, and set out to modernize Brazil. New industries were established, and there was a period of unprecedented growth, but attempts to attract foreign capital were not wholly successful because of high inflation, which was exacerbated by lavish government spending. It was Kubitschek who founded the new federal capital of Brasília - a symbol of modernity and of Brazil's determination to develop the interior of the country. But such prestigious developments contributed to the virtual doubling of Brazil's foreign debts between 1956 and 1961. In contrast, little was done to raise the status of the rural peasantry, and extremes of wealth and poverty remained as great as ever.

Goulart's presidency

Kubitschek's successor, Dr Janio Quadros, a former governor of São Paulo state, was elected in 1960 by an unprecedented majority, but resigned in August 1961, angered by the entrenched opposition of landowners, industrialists, and military leaders to his proposed reforms.

Quadros was succeeded by the vice-president, João Goulart, whose political views were considerably further to the left. The army attempted to impose constitutional checks upon the new president, creating the office of prime minister. At first Goulart governed moderately, and paid a successful visit to the USA in 1962, but his policies veered further left as time went by. A referendum brought back the presidential system in 1963, with Goulart choosing his own cabinet, and by 1964 he was directly appealing to the workers and peasants, and proposing constitutional changes in an attempt to carry through his plans for radical land reform. The problem of inflation remained as insoluble as ever, and this had forfeited him the support of the increasingly influential middle classes.

Finally, Goulart's equivocal handling of a naval mutiny led to a revolution against him in April 1964, led by the military leaders of Brazil and the governors of some of the most powerful states. Civil war seemed imminent, as Goulart tried to win support from the masses whom he had attempted to enfranchise. His bid failed, and he fled to exile in Uruguay.

Military control

Goulart was succeeded by Gen Castello Branco, who was elected president by Congress in April 1964. The new president faced the problems of galloping inflation and chronic discontent among the voteless masses, particularly in the rural areas. In October 1965 Branco assumed dictatorial powers and undertook a political purge at all levels, banning all political groupings except for two artificially created parties, the pro-government National Renewal Alliance (ARENA) and the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMBD).

Liberalizing measures were expected from Branco's successor, Marshal Arthur da Costa e Silva (1967-69), but were not forthcoming, although a new constitution was adopted. The military dictatorship remained in office only by severe repression of the peasants, urban workers, and dissident students, and by sharing the advantages of growing material prosperity with an expanding middle class. In 1969 da Costa e Silva resigned because of ill health, and a military junta took over.

The presidency of Emilio Garrastazu Medici (1969-74) was characterized by continuing economic growth combined with severe political repression. His regime enlisted the support of a group of internationally recognized technocrats who drew up a programme of economic expansion that included dramatic innovations such as the construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway. But this programme did not envisage the redistribution of wealth to the underprivileged majority.

The road programme was intended to open up the interior to settlement by small farmers, in order to relieve the pressure on land elsewhere and to increase agricultural production. However, over the years there had been an adverse effect on the ecology and indigenous tribal peoples of the region, and land cleared of tropical forest proved to have low agricultural productivity. There has been continuing conflict between the settlers (whether small farmers or large ranch-owners) on the one hand, who wish to clear more forest, and ecologists and indigenous peoples on the other.

Gen Ernesto Geisel (1907-96) became president in 1974, and in 1977 announced the start of a gradual liberalization programme, which led to an amnesty for political prisoners. He was succeeded by Gen Baptista Figueiredo in 1978, and the ban on opposition parties was lifted in 1979. President Figueiredo held office until 1985, his last few years as president witnessing economic decline, strikes, and calls for the return of democracy.

Civilian presidency restored

In 1985 Tancredo Neves was elected the first civilian president in 21 years, but died before taking office. He was succeeded by Vice-president José Sarney, who continued to work with Neves's cabinet and policies. The constitution was again amended to allow for direct presidential elections, and in 1988 a new constitution was adopted, under which considerable power was transferred from the president to Congress.

Fernando Collor of the National Reconstruction Party (PRN) narrowly won the 1989 presidential election, advocating free-market policies and a crackdown on government corruption. Despite wins for the PRN in the 1990 general election, widespread abstentions showed disillusionment with Collor's policies, and in February 1992 he was stripped of his powers by Congress, accused of corruption, and replaced by Vice-president Itamar Franco. Collor resigned in December and was subsequently banned from public office for eight years; in 1993 he was indicted for ‘passive corruption’ but later cleared.

The 1994 presidential election was won by the Social Democratic Party candidate, Fernando Henrique Cardoso. A new currency, the real, was introduced in July 1994, with US dollar parity. One of social and economic problems faced by Cardoso was continuous protest of peasants demanding land, which culminated in 1997 demonstrations in the capital and ensuing violence.

In January 1998, former president Fernando Collor de Mello was acquitted on eight counts of illegal enrichment.

Economic crisis

In September 1998 interest rates were raised to 50% to defend the currency as the stock market crashed and dollars were withdrawn from the country. Nevertheless, Cardoso was comfortably re-elected president in October 1998, with 54% of the vote. He defeated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party, who lost for the third time. However, the Workers' Party gained seats in Congress. After the election, President Cardoso unveiled a $24 billion package of tax increases and spending cuts designed to retain the support of the IMF, which constructed a large rescue package for the weakened economy.

In December 1998, however, Brazil abandoned the defence of its currency, causing its central bank governor to resign, in breach of the terms of the $41.5 billion/£26 billion international bailout agreed with the International Monetary Fund. The decision to devalue came in response to the massive flight of capital from Brazil, amounting to over $10 billion since the beginning of December. The turmoil in Brazil raised fears in the USA that a fresh round of market instability could unsettle the eight-year US economic boom. Brazil was the eighth largest economy in the world, and a key trading partner for the USA.

The currency scandal began to fade in May 1999, and economic news boosted the government. As official April figures doused inflation fears, the bank cut interest rates yet again, and forecasts of the fall in GDP for 1999 shrank from −4% to −2%. Unpopular in the wake of the currency devaluation, President Cardoso reshuffled his cabinet and sought congressional approval of further economic reforms in July 1999, against which there were large demonstrations in the capital, Brasilia. In September 1999, President Cardoso sacked his development minister and former chief of staff, who had criticized the government's economic policies. Economic reform continued into 2000 with a ‘fiscal responsibility bill’ which restricted spending on all levels of government.

Prison riots

In February 2001, 28,000 prisoners in 29 jails across Brazil's São Paulo state rioted for two days, leaving 20 people dead, in protest at prison conditions and plans to break up prison gangs. Military police negotiated an end to the riots, and secured the release of 7,400 hostages, mostly relatives who had been visiting inmates. The riots had been coordinated by prison gangs using mobile phones. Less extensive riots followed in late February and early March, and the government promised to reform the prison system.

Oil disasters

The world's largest offshore oil platform, owned by Brazil's state agency Petrobras, sank in March 2001, days after an explosion that killed ten workers. It had produced 5% of the country's annual oil output. In January 2000, Petrobras was fined US$28 million after a tanker spilled 220,000 gallons of oil in Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay. In July 2001, over 1 million gallons of oil leaked into the Iguaçu River in southwest Brazil from an underwater pipeline at an oil refinery, causing Brazil's worst oil spill for 25 years. Petrobras was fined US$110 million.

Energy crisis

Facing energy shortages, the Brazilian government announced electricity rationing in May 2001, aimed at achieving a 20% cut in consumption from July. The Central Bank raised interest rates after concerns about the energy crisis weakened the currency. By September the currency had fallen to a low of 2.84 against the US dollar, taking the year's fall to more than 30%.

Cardoso allies face corruption charges

In April, Jader Barbalho, the Senate president and a supporter of President Cardoso, faced accusations from the opposition that he had embezzled US$830 million from Sudam, an Amazonian development agency. In May, another minister was forced to resign over corruption allegations.

Brazil (redirected from Beurajil)