April 09, 1964
Francis Augusto Duarte
O ato não foi um ato; foi um fato lamentável, mas, justamente por ser um fato, já contém em si os germes do antifato que criará o novo fato
Carlos Heitor Cony wrote in a column in the Correio da Manhã, three days after the signing of the Institutional Act imposed by the self-styled Supreme Command of the Revolution, made up of Army General Artur da Costa e Silva, Lieutenant-Brigadier Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo, and Vice-Admiral Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald. The AI was signed on April 9, 1964, and contained eleven articles that served as legal support for the Coup, replacing the Constitution, modifying the political structure of the Brazilian State, and concentrating the powers' authority in the hands of the military.
The act provided the necessary guidelines and rules so that the next president would have power concentrated in his hands. General Castello Branco, chosen days later, had in the AI-1 the legal instrument that allowed the imprisonment of thousands of people, mass revocations of political rights, and the purge of civil servants. To give it legal legitimacy, jurists Carlos Medeiros da Silva and Francisco Campos — the latter responsible for drafting the authoritarian Brazilian Constitution of 1937 — were invited to draft the Act. One of the main focuses of the AI-1 was the suspension, for 6 months, of constitutional guarantees. The following day, the political rights of 100 citizens were suspended for a period of ten years, including deposed president João Goulart, Jânio Quadros, Leonel Brizola, and Luís Carlos Prestes.
On that Thursday in April, repression was institutionalized. And the Institutional Act guaranteed an authoritarian regime that would forever change the course of Brazilian history. On April 9, 1964, with three signatures, the document showed Brazil that, from that moment on, power belonged to the "Revolution," and the purges had only just begun. The Act, now, was a Fact.
Image description: The image is a black-and-white newspaper page. At the top, the title "Correio da Manhã" stands out prominently. Below it, in larger letters, reads "BRASIL SOB NOVO REGIME." The page contains several texts and images. On the left, there is a long text with multiple columns. In the center, a photo shows three men standing, wearing military uniforms. On the right, there is a shorter text and a photo of a man sitting in a chair. The text on the right begins with "Responsabilidade" and ends with "Presidente será eleito no sábado."Capa do Jornal Correio da Manhã, 10 de abril de 1964.
Acervo da Biblioteca Nacional.