General Ernesto Geisel's tenure as the 29th president of Brazil began with his inauguration on 15 March 1974 and ended on 15 March 1978 when General João Figueiredo took office.

Geisel was the fourth president of Brazil's military dictatorship. During his government, the country's process of re-democratization began, Guanabara was annexed to Rio de Janeiro, the state of Mato Grosso was divided into Mato Grosso do Sul and the Brazilian Miracle and Institutional Act Number Five were abolished.

The administration of Geisel was marked by growth of 31.88% in GDP (an average of 6.37%) and 19.23% in per capita income (an average of 3.84%). However, growth slowed after the 1973 Oil Crisis. Geisel took office with inflation at 15.54% and handed over at 40.81%.

The president Ernesto Geisel began his career in 1921 as a student at the Military College in Porto Alegre and reached his most important political positions during the 1964 military regime as head of the Military Cabinet in the Castelo Branco government and minister of the Superior Military Court in the Costa e Silva administration. He was president of Petrobrás when he was nominated by President Médici as a candidate to succeed him on 18 June 1973.

A month later, he resigned from Petrobrás and was endorsed as a presidential candidate at ARENA's national convention on 14 September; his vice-presidential partner was General Adalberto Pereira dos Santos. On 15 January 1974, they beat the MDB team formed by Ulysses Guimarães and Barbosa Lima Sobrinho by a score of 400 votes to 76 in the first election held by an Electoral College. Geisel was sworn in at a solemn session of the National Congress chaired by Senator Paulo Torres (ARENA-RJ). He followed the moderate line of the armed forces, as he saw the military regime as a transitional measure to ensure liberalism in the country.Federal deputies José Maria Alkmin, Oscar Pedroso Horta and Stélio Maroja were absent from the vote for health reasons, while Fernando Gama, Jerônimo Santana and Nadyr Rossetti did not vote for the MDB candidates.The choices of Castelo Branco, Costa e Silva and Emílio Médici were made by the National Congress, the last two already under bipartisanship and without the participation of the MDB.

Ministers and assistants

Ministers of State +Ministry Responsible PeriodMinistry of JusticeArmando Ribeiro Falcão15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of the NavyGeraldo Azevedo Henning15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of the ArmyVicente de Paulo Dale Coutinho15 March 1974 to 27 May 1974Sílvio Couto Coelho da Frota28 May 1974 to 12 October 1977Fernando Belfort Bethlem12 October 1977 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Foreign AffairsAntônio Francisco Azeredo da Silveira15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of FinanceMário Henrique Simonsen15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of TransportationDirceu Araújo Nogueira15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of AgricultureAlysson Paulinelli15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Education and CultureNey Amintas de Barros Braga15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Labour and Social SecurityArnaldo da Costa Prieto15 March 1974 to 2 May 1974Ministry of Labour2 May 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of AeronauticsJoelmir Campos de Araripe Macedo15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of HealthPaulo de Almeida Machado15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Industry and TradeSevero Fagundes Gomes15 March 1974 to 8 February 1977ngelo Calmon de Sá 9 February 1977 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Mines and EnergyShigeaki Ueki 15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Planning and General CoordinationJoão Paulo dos Reis Veloso15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of the InteriorMaurício Rangel Reis 15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of CommunicationsEuclides Quandt de Oliveira15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979Ministry of Welfare and Social AssistanceArnaldo da Costa Prieto2 May 1974 to 4 July 1974 (cumulatively)Luís Gonzaga do Nascimento e Silva4 July 1974 to 15 March 1979

Advisory bodies Ministry Responsible PeriodMilitary OfficeHugo de Andrade Abreu15 March 1974 to 6 January 1978As of 2 May 1974, the holder of the post was granted the status of Minister of State.Gustavo Morais Rego Reis6 January 1978 to 15 March 1979Civil CabinetGolbery do Couto e Silva15 March 1974 to 15 March 1979National Information ServiceJoão Batista de Oliveira Figueiredo15 March 1974 to 14 June 1978Armed Forces General StaffHumberto de Sousa Melo15 March 1974 to 27 September 1974Antônio Jorge Correia4 October 1974 to 3 August 1976Moacir Barcelos Potiguara5 August 1976 to 27 October 1977Tácito Teófilo Gaspar de Oliveira27 October 1977 to 19 December 1978José Maria de Andrada Serpa20 December 1978 to 15 March 1979

Political actions

Geisel assumed office after promising a "slow, gradual and secure" political opening in order to meet the demands of organized civil society without interrupting the regime. During his administration, there were fewer complaints about the death, torture and disappearance of political prisoners and confrontation with the hardline, a group opposed to the government's directives. Institutional Act Number Five was used to decree federal intervention in Rio Branco in 1975 after the MDB councillors refused to ratify the mayoral nominee and to remove some parliamentarians from office. AI-5 was progressively replaced by "constitutional safeguards".

In the campaign for the 1974 elections, MDB candidates won sixteen of the twenty-two seats in the Federal Senate and increased their representation in the Chamber of Deputies and the Legislative Assemblies. Fearing that this would happen again, in 1978 the government sanctioned the , which only allowed candidates' CVs to be read out during election time on radio and television.The law, sanctioned under the number 6.339 on 1 July 1976, was named after its creator, the then Minister of Justice Armando Falcão.

On 8 April 1977, the Pacote de Abril (English: April Package) was approved and included an increase in the presidential term from five to six years, the creation of the two-year senator, the maintenance of indirect elections for governor and an increase in the number of federal deputies in the states where the government had a majority. The measures prompted criticism from the opposition, but ensured the election of General João Figueiredo as Geisel's successor on 15 October 1978. The Institutional Act Number 5 was revoked on 31 December that year.

After the deaths of journalist Vladmir Herzog and worker Manuel Fiel Filho in the DOI-CODI, also known as DOPS, between October 1975 and January 1976, the government was forced to curb the actions of the hardliners. This culminated in the replacement of General Sylvio Frota by General Fernando Belfort Bethlem in the Ministry of the Army, as a result of criticism of the High Command of the Armed Forces and the General Command of the National Information System (SNI) for allowing infiltrators to destroy important files on the premises of regional organizations. The measure represented a victory against the "radical" sectors of the Armed Forces. The Geisel government also experienced bomb attacks on the Brazilian Press Association, the Order of Attorneys of Brazil, the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning and the residence of journalist Roberto Marinho.

During the Geisel government, the states of Rio de Janeiro and Guanabara merged, the state of Mato Grosso do Sul was created and former presidents Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Ranieri Mazzilli, Juscelino Kubitschek and João Goulart died.

Society The Divorce Law was sanctioned on 26 December 1977, following the adoption of a simple majority quorum for the approval of constitutional amendments. The inclusion of divorce had been a cause defended by Nelson Carneiro for years.Originally, divorce was included in Constitutional Amendment No. 9 of 28 June 1977.

Economic overview The Geisel government was marked by the end of the Brazilian Miracle, the 1973 Oil Crisis and an increase in both inflation and external debt. To overcome the obstacles, the government decided to draw up the Second National Development Plan and instituted the National Alcohol Programme in order to diversify the energy matrix. Construction began on the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant in partnership with Paraguay and a contract with Bolivia to supply gas to Brazil was signed in 1974. The following year, a nuclear agreement was signed with the then West Germany.

Due to the rise in the cost of living and inflation, workers began to organize and protest more emphatically. As a result, the trade union movement in the Greater ABC region gained prominence and the figure of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was projected nationally. The repercussions of the movement led the government to ban strikes in essential sectors.

Foreign relations Brazil established diplomatic relations with China and with Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, and was the first nation to recognize Angola's independence. Relations with the United States were cut during the presidency of Jimmy Carter after accusations of human rights violations. Geisel strengthened diplomatic ties with China and reached a nuclear agreement with Germany.

See also

Military dictatorship in Brazil

Notes

References