Word: lacerda
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...withdraw the demand in the face of opposition by Congress, labor unions, state governors, and general public opinion. Goulart said the withdrawal was made possible "by new circumstances." But the only new circumstance was an abortive plot by the President's cronies to kidnap his severest critic, Carlos Lacerda, governor of Guanabara state, which includes...
They hauled the commander of an artillery group out of bed, told him to gather a score of trustworthy men and arrest Lacerda at 6:15 a.m. as he began an official visit to a state hospital near Rio. If Lacerda resisted, shoot to kill-without fear of consequences. If taken alive, Lacerda supposedly was to be bundled aboard a plane at Rio's International Galeao Airport and flown to a secret destination. The artillery officer refused, saying that he needed a written order from his commander. Pinheiro and Mafra next went to the commander of a paratroop regiment...
...attack from every side. The labor unions, which brought him to political power, denounce him for resisting impossible wage boosts. Last month loyal army troops put down a flash rebellion of air force and navy noncoms. On the right, the two most powerful state governors, Guanabara's Carlos Lacerda and Sao Paulo's Adhemar de Barros, talk about taking matters in their own hands-and point ominously to some 70,000 state troops at their command. Last week Lacerda told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times that he expected total collapse before long...
Coming at a time when a Brazilian mission was in Washington seeking a crucial credit extension, Lacerda's statement was the final straw so far as Goulart was concerned. His Justice Minister declared the two state governors "in a true state of belligerence with the federal government," and the President went to Congress. If the Congressmen declare a state of siege, Goulart will assume power to censor the press, ban political meetings, search homes and make arrests without warrants, restrict travel, banish anyone to "any healthful populated area" in Brazil, and seize all state militias...
Then left-wing Demagogue Leonel Brizola, Goulart's noisy brother-in-law decided to make an issue out of the settlement. "Instead of getting money, the gringos should pay indemnity to Brazil for rendering bad service," he thundered. Unexpectedly and inexplicably, Carlos Lacerda, the militantly anti-Communist Governor of Guanabara state, declared that the compact would cost the government $600 million and found a right-wing reason for opposing it. He called the contract an effort "to disguise Brazil's progressive entry into the Soviet orbit." Goulart's resolve melted under all the political heat; he ordered...