Brazil: Brazil in the Twentieth and Twentyfirst Centuries
Brazil in the Twentieth and Twentyfirst Centuries
The creation of rubber plantations in Southeast Asia brought the wild-rubber boom to a halt and hurt the economy of the Amazon region after 1912. Brazil sided with the Allies in World War I, declaring war in Oct., 1917, and shared in the peace settlement, but later (1926) it withdrew from the League of Nations. Measures to reverse the country's growing economic dependence on coffee were taken by Getúlio Vargas, who came into power through a coup in 1930. By changing the constitution and establishing a type of corporative state he centralized government (the
World War II brought a new boom (chiefly in rubber and minerals) to Brazil, which joined the Allies in 1942, after coming close to backing Germany, and began taking a larger part in inter-American affairs. In 1945 the army forced Vargas to resign, and Gen. Eurico Gaspar Dutra was elected president. Brazil's economic growth was plagued by inflation, and this issue enabled Vargas to be elected in 1950. His second administration was marred by economic problems and political infighting, and in 1954 he committed suicide. Juscelino Kubitschek was elected president in 1955. Under Kubitschek the building of Brasília and an ambitious program of highway and dam construction were undertaken. The inflation problem persisted.
On Apr. 21, 1960, Brasília became Brazil's official capital, signaling a new commitment to develop the interior of the country. In 1960 Jânio da Silva Quadros was elected by the greatest popular margin in Brazilian history, but his autocratic, unpredictable manner aroused great opposition and undermined his attempts at reform. He resigned within seven months. Vice President João Goulart was his successor. Goulart's leftist administration was weakened by political strife and seemingly insurmountable economic chaos, and in 1964 he was deposed by a military insurrection. Congress elected Gen. Castelo Branco to fill out his term. Goulart's supporters and other leftists were removed from power and influence throughout Brazil and, in 1965, the president's extraordinary powers were extended and all political parties were dissolved.
A new constitution was adopted in 1967, and Marshall Costa e Silva succeeded Castelo Branco. In 1968, Costa e Silva recessed Congress and assumed one-man rule. In 1969, Gen. Emílio Garrastazú Médici succeeded Costa e Silva. Terrorism of the right and left became a feature of Brazilian life. The military police responded to guerrilla attacks with widespread torture and the formation of death squads to eradicate dissidents. This violence abated somewhat in the mid-1970s. Gen. Ernesto Geisel succeeded Médici as president in 1974. By this time, Brazil had become the world's largest debtor.
In 1977 Geisel dismissed Congress and instituted a series of constitutional and electoral reforms, and in 1978 he repealed all emergency legislation. His successor, Gen. João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, presided over a period (1979–85) of tremendous industrial development and increasing movement toward democracy. Despite these improvements, economic and social problems continued and the military maintained control of the government. Civilian government was restored in 1985 under José Sarney, and illiterate citizens were given the right to vote. Sarney's reforms were initially successful, but increasing inflation brought antigovernment protests.
In 1988 a new constitution came into force, reducing the workweek and providing for freedom of assembly and the right to strike, and in 1990 President Fernando Collor de Mello was elected by popular vote. As a result of increasing international pressure, Collor sponsored programs to decrease the rate of deforestation in Amazon rain forests and to protect the autonomy of the indigenous Yanomami. In 1992, amid charges of wide-scale corruption within his government, Collor became the first elected president to be impeached by the Brazilian congress; he resigned as his trial began, and was succeeded by his vice president, Itamar Augusto Franco. In 1994 the supreme court cleared Collor of corruption charges, but he was barred from public office until 2001.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected president in Oct., 1994, and took office in Jan., 1995. The Cardoso government reduced state controls on the economy and privatized government-owned businesses in telecommunications, oil, mining, and electricity. With the help of a new stable currency, Cardoso was able to bring inflation under control; he also signed decrees expropriating new lands from private estates for redistribution to the landless poor.
Reelected in 1998, Cardoso was faced with an economic crisis as budget deficits and a decline in foreign exchange reserves led to currency devaluations and increased interest rates. Late in 1998, he appealed to the International Monetary Fund, which assembled a $42 billion aid package for the country. Brazil then began implementing a program of stringent economic policies that restored investor confidence by mid-1999 and led to economic growth. In May, 2000, Cardoso signed a fiscal responsibility law that limited spending by the states; the legislation was a result of fiscal crises in several Brazilian states.
A series of corruption scandals that undermined the governing coalition in early 2001 was followed by an energy crisis that led the government to order widespread cuts in electrical consumption from May until Mar., 2002; the crisis resulted from a drought that reduced the water available to produce hydropower and a decade-long increase in the demand for electricity. Popular dissatisfaction with economic austerities helped fuel the election of Lula da Silva, of the opposition Workers' party (PT), to the presidency in 2002. Da Silva's subsequent inauguration also marked the increasing stability of Brazilian democracy; it was the first transfer of power between elected presidents since 1961. The new president did not deviate greatly from his predecessor's economic program, however, which alienated many supporters on the left.
Da Silva's government was hurt by a campaign finance scandal in early 2004 and by an increase in unemployment, and suffered losses in popular and congressional support, although economic growth in 2004 was strong and unemployment subsequently decreased. In June, 2005, the president was further hurt PT officials were accused of buying the votes of some of its congressional coalition members. The charges, made by the leader of a party in coalition with the president, led to the resignation of the president's chief of staff (who was expelled from the congress late in the year) and of the Workers' party leader and treasurer and forced the president to reshuffle his cabinet to shore up coalition support for his government. A separate bribery scandal led to the resignation of the speaker of the House in September, and in Mar., 2006, the finance minister resigned when he also was ensnared in a bribery scandal. Although the president weathered the scandals, they led to the sidetracking of social-reform legislation he had proposed. Meanwhile, Amazonas state was hit by a severe drought in 2005 when the dry season saw much less rainfall than usual.
A weeklong outbreak of rampant gang violence and, in turn, police vengeance against the gangs erupted in mid-May, 2006, in São Paulo state when a gang sought revenge for a government attempt to break the influence of its imprisoned leaders and members. The violence exposed a variety of ills in Brazil criminal justice system, including corruption in the prisons and lawlessness among the police. São Paulo experienced outbreaks of criminal gang violence in July and August as well, and Rio de Janeiro experienced a series of gang attacks in late December.
The 2006 presidential election, in October, was inconclusive after the first round. Da Silva won a plurality, but failed to win the required majority; his campaign was hurt by the corruption scandals that affected the PT and a late-breaking dirty-tricks scandal involving his campaign organization. The runner-up, Geraldo Alckmin, the former governor of São Paulo state, saw his campaign hurt by the recent violence in the state. In the runoff at the end of the month, da Silva won handily, securing 60% of the vote. Corruption scandals continued to make news in 2007. The most prominent new cases occurred in May, when the energy minister resigned after corruption allegations against him became public and a major Brazilian newsmagazine reported that the Senate president had taken payoffs; toward the end of the year the Senate president resigned, though he remained a senator. In August, the supreme court voted to charge da Silva's former chief of staff and the former Workers' party treasurer with corruption; they and a number of others were convicted in 2012. In Jan., 2008, Brazil became a net creditor nation, in large part due to debt-reduction measures undertaken by da Silva's government. Allegations that Brazil's intelligence agency had wiretapped Brazilian officials and politicians led the president to suspend the agency chief and other officials in Sept., 2008.
In 2009 a scandal involving former president Sarney threatened da Silva's favored successor, his chief of staff Dilma Rousseff; she was accused of attempting to influence the investigation into Sarney's conduct. Rousseff weathered the charge, and went on to become PT's presidential candidate in 2010. Benefiting from da Silva's popularity (due in large part to Brazil's economic growth and government social programs), she won the presidency in October after a runoff election. She became the first woman to be elected president of Brazil. Also in 2010, a concerted government effort began to control drug-gang-related crime in Rio de Janeiro and break gang power in the slums there in advance of the soccer World Cup and Olympics.
In Jan., 2011, SE Brazil, especially Rio de Janeiro state, experienced floods and devastating mudslides as a result of heavy rains; more than a thousand people died or were missing as a result of the disaster. Rousseff's chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, resigned in June, 2011, over alleged corruption; a newspaper had reported that his net worth had increased twentyfold in the past four years due to consultancy income. During 2011 corruption allegations also led five government ministers to step down as Rousseff showed less tolerance for entrenched corrupt practices than previous presidents.
Brazil's economic growth slowed beginning in 2011. In June, 2013, the sluggish economy contributed to nationwide protests lasting several weeks that were sparked by an increase in the cost of public transportation; rising consumer prices generally, congressional corruption, poor public services, and the high cost of holding the 2014 World Cup also stoked the angry demonstrations. Brazil's Congress subsequently passed a number of bills focused on issues that had led to the protests. Despite an economic slowdown and a loss of popularity, Rousseff was reelected in 2014, again after a runoff (and by a narrower margin), as the social programs sponsored by the PT won strong support from the poor.
Beginning in late 2014 and continuing into subsequent years, the country confronted a new major corruption scandal known as Operation Car Wash; it was centered on Petrobras, the national oil company, and involved construction companies (particularly Brazil's Odebrecht, renamed Novonor in 2020) and political parties. Among those who came under investigation were high-ranking officials in Rousseff's administration and party (including da Silva) as well as politicians from other parties. The scandal and a recession—which became (2015–16) Brazil's worst ever—and other economic difficulties led at times to large antigovernment demonstrations during 2015. The drop in the president's public standing led opposition parties to push for her impeachment, on charges of having used a budgetary accounting measure that was later declared illegal by the courts.
After the vice president's party deserted the governing coalition, Rousseff was put on trial by the senate in May, 2016. Vice President Michel Temer, who had been implicated in the Petrobras scandal and was convicted in June, 2016, of violating campaign spending laws, became acting president; several of the ministers in his cabinet quickly resigned following revelations implicating them in the Petrobras scandal. The speaker of Congress's lower house, Eduardo Cunha, who had led the impeachment drive against Rousseff, was also implicated in the scandal, and in May he was suspended as speaker by the supreme court on charges of obstructing the Petrobras investigation. He subsequently resigned as speaker, was later expelled from Congress, and then convicted (Mar., 2017) of corruption charges. Rousseff was convicted by the senate and removed from office in August, and Temer succeeded her as president.
In Dec., 2017, Temer secured adoption of a constitutional amendment that limited growth in government spending for 20 years. New allegations in Apr., 2017, concerning Odebrecht's bribery implicated eight cabinet ministers and other prominent politicians and officials. In June Brazil's supreme electoral court decided that there were insufficient grounds to annul the 2014 presidential election; Rousseff and Temer had been accused of receiving illegal campaign contributions (the charges did not encompass those arising out of Operation Car Wash). Temer also faced charges in a corruption scheme involving a meatpacking company (which were unlikely to proceed to trial until after he left office) and was accused of having sought to obstruct the Operation Car Wash investigation. In June, 2017, he became the first Brazilian head of state to be charged formally with a crime while in office, but in August and again in October the Congress voted not to put Temer on trial in corruption cases. Temer won passage in July of legislation that reduced restrictions on Brazil's labor market, but subsequent erosion of his support in the Congress hampered passage of a pension overhaul.
In the Oct., 2018, presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal party (PSL) won the presidency after a runoff. Bolsonaro, a former military captain and a right-wing, law-and-order populist legislator widely regarded as authoritarian, survived a stabbing (September) while campaigning; his win was aided by the ongoing recession and corruption scandals as well as the country's high crime rate. In the elections for the Congress, the PT won a plurality in the lower house but with only 56 seats, four more than the PSL, and 11 parties won at least 28 seats; the senate was similarly fragmented, and Bolsonaro subsequently had trouble winning support for a number of controversial measures. In 2019, after Temer had left office, he was arrested and detained in connection with corruption investigations but later released. Bolsonaro's justice minister, who had been the judge in da Silva's and other corruption cases, was revealed in June to have discussed corruption cases with prosecutors and at times to have encouraged prosecutions.
Bolsonaro promoted increased development of the interior and sought to undermine indigenous land claims and reserves. A major outbreak of fires in the Amazon and cerrado regions in the second half of 2019 was blamed in part on his encouragement of development there, and 2020 was marked by significant wildfires in the Amazon and especially the pantanal. In Oct. 2019, Bolsonaro won adoption of a more extensive overhaul of Brazil's generous pension system than the one Temer had failed to secure.
In Apr., 2020, Brazil's justice minister resigned, accusing the president of seeking to interfere with investigations into family members. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro placed economic concerns ahead of health issues, clashing with governors who issued stay-at-home orders and firing (April) his health minister, who advocated an approach focused on health issues. The spread of the disease subsequently accelerated in Brazil, which became one of the worst-affected nations in the world. An investigative committee was formed by the Brazilian Senate to review Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic and in Oct. 2021 it recommended that nine charges of crimes against humanity for his failure to protect his country's people against the virus. Major flooding hit Northeast Brazil in late Dec. 2021, leading to at least 20 deaths, with over 50,000 people losing their homes.
The 2022 general election resulted in a runoff between Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which was narrowly won by Lula.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Brazil in the Twentieth and Twentyfirst Centuries
- Independence and the Birth of Modern Brazil
- Early History
- Government
- Economy
- People
- Land
- Bibliography
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