BRAZIL: Five-Minute Ceremony

The outgoing President of Brazil ordinarily presides when the incoming President is sworn. Last week, however, the outgoing President, Washington Luis (whose term expires Nov. 15) was still in jail, closely guarded by his revolutionary captors when it came time to induct the new provisional President, Getulio Vargas, No. i revolutionist (TIME, Oct. 13 et seq.}. In these circumstances there was no swearing in but a five-minute ceremony: Dr. Vargas signed a paper declaring that he is President. Nations which recognized him three days later: Italy, Portugal (Brazilians speak Portuguese), Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay. Two more days passed before the U. S. and Great Britain recognized Revolutionist Vargas almost simultaneously (see p. 16). France followed a day later. The New Cabinet is considered “strong.” Foreign Minister Afranio de Mello Franco used to represent Brazil at League of Nations meetings, is the Brazilian diplomat best known in Europe. Minister of Finance Jose Maria Whitaker is a former President of the Banco do Brasil and of the Banco Commercial do Estado de Sao Paulo. Acts of the new Cabinet: 1) declared the Brazilian Congress retroactively dissolved on Oct. 3 last, the day the revolution began; 2) placed responsibility for payment of obligations incurred by the Washington Luis Government since Oct. 3 upon the officials who authorized the expenditures; 3) postulated that, since the Brazilian Congress ceased to exist Oct. 3, whatever it has done since was never done at all—i. e. all laws passed since the fatal date are void; 4) failed to disgorge from prison one Horton Hoover (no relation). U. S. aviator arrested on a charge which remained indefinite last week. The fact that Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson recognized the Revolutionary Government while the Consul General in Sao Paulo was still struggling vainly to secure Horton Hoover’s release or at least to find out officially why he was in jail, seemed significant to South Americans, doubly significant to Central Americans. Correspondents understood that Airman Hoover’s offense was to have bombed the rebel lines, but this could not be confirmed.