Word: branco
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Ever since the revolution that toppled Leftist João Goulart in March 1964, Brazil has been riven by an ugly power squabble that could drastically affect the future of Brazilian democracy. Taking advantage of the coup that landed a soldier, General Humberto Castello Branco, in the presidential palace, a hardline, right-wing military faction known as the linha dura has been busily purging state and local governments of every official whom they suspect of Communist sympathies or simple malfeasance-in many cases without benefit of judicial procedure. Last week the hard-liners were dealt a hard blow. It came...
...that point, Castello Branco flew into Rio from Brasilia for a hastily summoned conference with top army brass and ordered Arraes released. And that was that. After 386 days in jail, Arraes was freed. To be sure the message was not lost on the linha dura, Castello Branco also fired off orders to all military-inquiry boards to wrap up their business as soon as possible...
...many out-of-the-way towns, military investigations and repression go on, and some 1,500 political prisoners still languish in Brazilian jails. Yet sudden, unexplained arrests are tapering off; the linha dura is quite visibly knuckling under to Castello Branco. "Sure I'm mad as hell," snapped one frustrated colonel last week. "But the Old Man is right. At least Arraes will think twice now before he tries anything else." And so, it seemed clear, would the linha dura...
...power plants. In Cajazeiras, new power, water and sewage systems all went into operation in one week. Sudene meanwhile is taking a giant step with a $90 million irrigation project at Petrolina that will water 250,000 long-parched acres in Bahia and Pernambuco. The reform government of Castello Branco has trebled Sudene's budget to $50 million a year...
Such rumbles are expectable, considering the hard, unfamiliar course that Castello Branco is charting for Brazil. What some Brazilians forget is that their lot was far worse under Goulart. The question now is whether Castello Branco can make his reforms stick, and the second year will be the test of that...