History of Brazil (1985–present)
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After the end of the military dictatorship, Brazil went into a troubled process of re-democratization.
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[edit] Transitional period
In 1984, many public demonstrations were held in major Brazilian cities which made it clear that military rule could not continue. Brazilians started to demand change in the electoral system, aiming to directly elect the President (Diretas Já). As public pressure built up, the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, PMDB) proposed a law to implement this change (Emenda Dante de Oliveira). As Congress was controlled by the pro-government Democratic Social Party (PDS, formerly ARENA), the law failed to pass.
The momentum though was seized by Tancredo Neves of Minas Gerais, Getúlio Dornelles Vargas' minister of justice in the 1950s, and former federal deputy, senator, and prime minister. Neves was a sensible politician with a reputation for honesty.
His abilities allowed him to build up an alliance between the PMDB and defectors from the (PDS) who founded the Liberal Front Party (PFL). The Democratic Alliance (Aliança Democrática) presented itself as supporting with 1984 demands for political change and end of military rule.
It presented Tancredo Neves as opposition candidate against Paulo Maluf in the Electoral College. As public opinion put pressure on it, demanding the end of the regime, Tancredo was elected by majority vote in January 15, 1985.
However, Tancredo collapsed the night before his inauguration, and the presidency passed to Vice President José Sarney (president, 1985–90), long-time supporter of the military regime. Neves died on April 21. The hope that 1985 would provide a quick transition to a new regime faded as Brazilians watched this turn of events in a state of shock. Like the regime changes of 1822, 1889, 1930, 1946, and 1964, the 1985 change also proved to be long and difficult.
Sarney called a National Assembly to write a new democratic constitution. It was presided over by Ulysses Guimarães, who led the civilian resistance to the military rule.
The new constitution was proclaimed in October 1988 and restored civil and public rights such as free speech, lifting of censorship, independent Public Prosecutors (Ministério Público), economic freedom, direct and free elections and universal health system. It also decentralized government, empowering local and state governments.
As the political transition developed, the economy suffered high inflation and stagnancy. Sarney tried to control inflation with many economic acts, or Plans: Plano Cruzado 1, Plano Cruzado 2, Plano Verão. All of them included government control over prices, price freezes and ultimately changing the national currency. During Sarneys's presidency, Brazil had three currency units: Cruzeiro, Cruzado and Cruzado Novo. Economic domestic troubles led to canceling payments of Brazilian International Debt in 1988. This closed international financial markets for Brazil and the economic situation got worse.
Despite the initial decrease, inflation returned higher than before economic plans, achieving 84% a month at 1990. The government's inability to deal with inflation ultimately led parties that conducted political transition to be defeated in 1989 election.
[edit] The Collor and Franco administrations
The first direct presidential election after 29 years was held on October 15, 1989 (first round) and November 15, 1989 (second round). Fernando Collor de Mello ran against Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Collor was elected with 53% of the vote for a five-year term.
Collor's agenda focused on fighting corruption in Sarney's administration and completing the transition from the 21-year military rule to civilian government. Economic changes aimed to control soaring inflation and modernization.
Although he had massive support amongst the voters, the administration had a small parliamentary base as Collor's recently founded party had few deputies and no senators and faced fierce opposition from main parties that splintered from Democratic Alliance: the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), Liberals (PFL), and Social Democrats (Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB).
His first act was known as Plano Collor: all savings accounts and financial investment were frozen, and the national currency was changed from Cruzado Novo to Cruzeiro (NCz$1,000 = Cr$1). Plano Collor had an initial success, but after six months, it failed in its main goal as inflation accelerated again. This started to erode Collor's prestige.
Other economic changes included lifting import barriers exposing local companies to international competition. Many companies went bankrupt or were sold, unemployment grew and support for the government deteriorated.
The parliamentary elections were held on October 15, 1990 and the government failed to win a reliable base in Congress and the president started to lose support.
In May 1991, Fernando Collor was accused by his brother, Pedro Collor, of corruption, by condoning an influence peddling scheme run by his campaign treasurer, Paulo César Farias. The Federal Police and Congress began an investigation soon after. Some months later, with the investigation progressing and under fire, Collor went on national television to ask for the people's support, by going out on the street and protesting against "coup" forces. On August 11, 1992, students organized by the National Student Union (União Nacional dos Estudantes - UNE), thousands of students protested on the streets against Collor. Their faces, often painted in a mixture of the colors of the flag and protest-black, lead to them being called "Caras-pintada".[1]
On August 26, 1992, the final congressional inquiry report was released, where it was proven that Fernando Collor had personal expenses paid for by money raised by Paulo César Farias through his influence peddling scheme. Impeachment proceedings were installed in the lower house of congress on September 29 , 1992. Collor was impeached, and subsequently removed from office by a vote of 441 for and 38 votes against.[2] Fernando Collor resigned his term in office just before the Brazilian Senate was to vote for his impeachment. The senate did so anyway, suspendeding his political rights for eight years.
His vice-president, Itamar Franco, assumed the presidency for the remainder of Collor's term.
Franco moved away from Collor and made arrangements for a National Coalition Government including main leaders from PMDB, PFL, and PSDB. Franco appointed Fernando Henrique Cardoso as Minister of Treasury and gave him the responsibility to control inflation - the average annual inflation rate from 1990 to 1995 was 764%.
Cardoso put together a successful stabilization program (Plano Real) that brought inflation to 6% year. Franco's approval ratings rose and he supported Cardoso to succeed him.
In the October 3, 1994 presidential elections, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, was elected with 54% of the votes.
[edit] The Cardoso administration
Fernando Henrique Cardoso started his first term in January 1, 1995 and was reelected in 1998. President Cardoso sought to establish the basis for long-term stability and growth and to reduce Brazil's extreme socioeconomic imbalances. His proposals to Congress included constitutional amendments to open the Brazilian economy to greater foreign investment and to implement sweeping reforms - including social security, government administration, and taxation - to reduce excessive public sector spending and improve government efficiency.
His government is credited with providing economic stability to a country marred by years of hyperinflation. At the same time the Mexican, East Asian, Russian and Argentine economic crises diminished the prospects for economic growth during his presidency.
It was also during his administration that many state-owned companies were privatized, and agencies created for the first time to regulate many sectors of industry (energy, oil, aviation, etc.)
Cardoso's administration also placed a strong focus on external affairs. In addition to acceding to the WTO and participating in the Uruguay Round, Brazil participated in the INTERFET peacekeeping mission to East Timor. In 2004, the Brazilian government started to pressure for UN Security Council reform with the aim of gaining a permanent seat.
[edit] The Lula administration
In 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the PT (Labour Party), won the presidency with more than 60% of the national vote. In the first months of his mandate, inflation rose perilously, reflecting the markets' uncertainty about the government's monetary policy. However, the markets' confidence in the government was promptly regained as Lula chose not to interfere with the Central Bank's task of keeping inflation down. Since then, the country underwent moderate economic growth and some employment expansion. On the other hand, Lula's mainstream economic policies disappointed his most radical leftist allies, making it harder to obtain a majority in the Parliament.
In 2005, Roberto Jefferson, chairman of the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB), was implicated in a bribery case. As a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry was set up, Jefferson accused some MPs of being paid monthly stipends to vote for government-backed legislation. Later, in August of the same year, after further investigation, campaign manager Duda Mendonça admitted that he had used illegal undeclared money to finance the PT electoral victory of 2002. The money in both cases was found to have originated from private sources as well as the advertising budget of state-owned enterprises headed by political appointees, both laundered through an advertising agency. The collection of these incidents was dubbed the Mensalão scandal. As of 2007, criminal proceedings are still underway [1].
The loss of popularity resulting from these scandals was outweighed by the president's popularity among many voters of the lower classes, whose income per capita was raised as a consequence of both higher employment and government social welfare programs. The stable and solid economic situation of the country (which Brazil hadn't experienced in the last 20 years), with fast growth of production both for internal consumers and exportation as well as a soft but noticeable decrease of social unequality, may also explain partially the high popularity of Lula's administration even after the scandals of corruption involving important politicians. Hence, Lula's re-election in 2006. After almost winning on the first round, he won the run-off against Geraldo Alckmin of the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party), by a 20 million vote margin.
[edit] References
- ^ Rezende, Tatiana Matos UNE 70 Anos: "Fora Collor: o grito da juventude cara-pintada" União Nacional dos Estudantes. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- ^ Lattman-Weltman, Fernando. September 29, 1992: Collor's Impeachment(Portuguese) Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
[edit] See also
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