Brazil: The Hammer & the Anvil

There is much to talk about at the lengthy Cabinet meetings in Rio’s Laranjeiras Palace, where President Joāo Goulart makes his headquarters when he is in Rio. Brazil’s economy is a shambles, the army uneasy, the unions are grumbling. But none of these rates as Topic A with Goulart. His consuming interest is what to do about the occupant of a palace less than a mile away: Carlos Lacerda, 49, governor of Guanabara state (which includes Rio) and Goulart’s most dangerous political foe.

Always Before Him. For two racking years, Lacerda has tormented Goulart at every step, and Goulart in turn has done his best to destroy, or at least neutralize, his enemy. Yet Lacerda is still governor, still trying to drive Goulart out of office, and still gathering strength for his own run at the presidency in 1965. One Brazilian Deputy told Congress: “The President cannot sleep for seeing Carlos Lacerda in front of him.”

Lacerda is one of the most spectacular prodigies that Brazil has ever produced. The son of an influential Rio journalist, he was managing editor of one of Brazil’s most powerful newspapers at 26, owned his own paper at 34, in between was the country’s most popular columnist and radio commentator. As governor of Guanabara he has built schools, modernized hospitals, cleared slums and lured foreign investment to his state. But his strongest talent is for violent political warfare. “Carlos Lacerda,” says his longtime friend, former Bahia Governor Juracy Magalhāes, “is a man who cannot live without an anvil to hammer on.”

Bullets & Jail. As a youth, Lacerda championed the Communist cause, then broke with the Reds in 1939 to become their implacable foe. Over the years, his campaigns against the left, against would-be dictators and just plain opponents have earned him one bullet (in the foot) and three severe beatings; he has been jailed nine times, chased into hiding for two years and went into exile for one year.

In 1954 he led a fire-breathing editorial attack on corruption that eventually drove President Getúlio Vargas to suicide. The following year, when Juscelino Kubitschek got himself elected President with the help of Vargas’ party, Lacerda fomented a coup to prevent Kubitschek from taking office; only a countercoup by loyal army officers upset the plot. All the while, Lacerda was blistering Jânio Quadros, then governor of Sāo Paulo, whom he called “a paranoiac,” “a delirious virtuoso of felony,” “the Brazilian version of Adolf Hitler.” The two called off the feud long enough to cooperate in the 1960 elections, Quadros winning the presidency and Lacerda the Guanabara governorship. No sooner was Quadros in office, however, than Lacerda was at him again, ripping Quadros for his left-leaning foreign policy and accusing him of attempting to set up a dictatorship. Most Brazilians think that Lacerda’s attacks led the erratic Quadros to resign after barely seven months in office.

“Enemies of Liberty.” Of all the anvils, none rings louder than Goulart, whom Lacerda regards as a potential tyrant and “the most dangerous politician in Brazil.” When Quadros resigned, Lacerda called openly for a military coup to prevent Vice President Goulart from taking office. “We cannot allow the enemies of liberty to exploit liberty for its destruction,” he cried. When Goulart in office agreed to renew diplomatic relations with Russia, Lacerda thundered Communist. When, despite Lacerda’s opposition, a plebiscite finally gave Goulart full constitutional powers, Lacerda charged that “the mission of the new Cabinet is to hand Brazil over to Russia.”

In reprisal against Lacerda’s attacks, Goulart withheld federal funds voted by Congress for Lacerda’s state, blocked a $4,000,000 aid agreement between the U.S. and the state. The fight has gone beyond mere words. A month ago, a group of pro-Goulart military men staged an abortive attempt to kidnap Lacerda. Now Goulart is working more subtly. To undermine Lacerda’s ability to protect himself and to provide normal state services, Goulart has opened federal police ranks to draw away all he can of the governor’s lower-paid keepers of public order. Despite hurry-up wage boosts by Lacerda, 70% of the state’s militiamen, civil police and even firemen have applied for transfer to Goulart’s payroll.

It looks like a fight to the finish between Brazil’s president and the governor of its most important state. Brazil will be lucky if the issue is eventually settled at the ballot box. More violent settlements remain a possibility.