AllianceforProgress

1964

Igor B. Cardoso

In 1961, John F. Kennedy's administration signed an ambitious economic aid agreement for Latin America: the Alliance for Progress. Announced by the American president as a "peaceful revolution," the program made available around 20 billion dollars in loans for the region's socioeconomic development over ten years. In return, the United States required beneficiary countries to comply with certain criteria, such as applying the funds toward social justice and respecting democratic institutions and civil rights. Within the context of the Cold War, the allocation of financial resources and propaganda were weapons just as effective as those of war.

The Kennedy administration's perception was that communism represented a security risk to the United States. This concern was heightened in 1960, when Cuba entered the Soviet orbit. The Alliance for Progress would serve as a kind of ideological containment policy to combat communism and the emergence of new Cubas in American territory. For this reason, the funding fostered a specific type of project, more closely related to the capitalist model, giving private enterprise a prominent role.

In the Brazilian case, Washington favored the distribution of funds to states governed by the opposition to president João Goulart (PTB), among them São Paulo, under Ademar de Barros (PSP), Guanabara, under Carlos Lacerda (UDN), and Minas Gerais, under Magalhães Pinto (UDN). This policy was described by the United States ambassador to Brazil himself, Lincoln Gordon, as a "policy of islands of administrative sanity." The measure aimed to bolster the popular standing of anticommunist governors and shift the balance of political forces in Brazil, forcing Goulart to moderate his positions, make commitments to the state leaderships considered "democratic," and weaken the federal government's ties with left-wing organizations – such as the General Workers' Command (CGT), which was pressing for the base reforms.

The expropriations carried out by Leonel Brizola (PTB), while governor of Rio Grande do Sul, against the American energy and telephone subsidiaries were considered radical by the Kennedy administration, such that these and similar reforms would be outside the program's support radar. In contrast, many resources were allocated to the construction of low-income housing complexes in Guanabara. Not by chance, the governors who benefited from American financing, according to the logic of the “islands of administrative sanity,” proved to be central in the destabilization of the Goulart government and in the 1964 Coup.

Image description: The image is a colorful poster representing the "Alliance for Progress." On the left side, we see a hand holding another, symbolizing partnership. In the background, there is a globe with continents in green and blue. At the top, the title "ALLIANCE for PROGRESS" is written in large, red letters. Below, there is a rectangle with text mentioning "PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S TEN-POINT PLAN FOR THE FAMILY OF AMERICAN NATIONS." In the bottom right corner, there is a symbol that appears to be a world map.