Word: jango
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...wealthy rancher from Rio Grande do Sul state, Goulart learned his politics at the knee of a ranching neighbor, oldtime Brazilian Strongman Getúlio Vargas, became Labor Minister when Vargas swept back into the presidency in 1950. Jango immediately began buying labor's votes with promises of pay boosts, was finally pressured out of the ministry by the military when he tried to double Brazil's minimum wage. With Vargas' suicide in 1954, Goulart inherited the leadership of the Brazilian Labor Party, became Vice President under Kubitschek, then under Quadros, thanks to a system that permits...
...President, Goulart continued wooing labor at all costs. When he needed money, he just printed it-and Jango needed plenty, as the economy began flying apart. During his 31 months in office, the country's cost of living soared...
This prospect finally alarmed not only Brazil's conservatives but middlereaders and liberals as well. Even the radical groups Jango had tried to organize-unions, peasants, noncommissioned officers-in the end did not follow him. It was practically everybody against Jango and his ambitions, his ineptness, his phony reforms. At a party meeting in Rio, even the Communists turned on him. "As far as we are concerned," said one Communist leader, "Jango is dead. He was a stupid...
Back to Brasília. The turning point came as rebel troops, led by anti-Jango General Amaury Kruel, flew from São Paulo over the defense lines Goulart had set up outside Rio and took over the city behind them. Within the city, Goulart's archenemy, Carlos Lacerda, had manned the governor's palace with 500 state troopers and barricaded it with 20 city garbage trucks still bearing an anti-litter slogan: "HELP US. WE ARE CLEANING UP THE CITY." When the tide turned against Jango, Lacerda went on television to proclaim emotionally, "God has taken...
...Jango fled, ironically enough, to the nation's capital-the remote, grandiose inland city of Brasília. But even Brasília threatened to become too hotly rebellious for comfort. Still spouting defiance, Jango flew south to still loyal Pôrto Alegre, homeground of his firebrand brother-in-law and capital of his home state of Rio Grande do Sul. From there, Goulart hoped to lead a "counterattack of the legalist forces." Vowed Jango: "I will not resign. I will not put a bullet through my chest. I will resist...