The Brazilian democratic regime completed 40 years in force on March 15. It is the longest uninterrupted democratic period in the country’s history since the proclamation of the Republic in 1889.
Although it was the result of a long process to end 21 years of civil-military dictatorship (1964/1985), the redemocratization was marked by the inauguration of José Sarney as President of the Republic on March 15, 1985.
Until that moment, Sarney was the vice president of the elected president Tancredo Neves. The two had been elected two months earlier by indirect vote, that is, by the National Congress. However, Neves’ health, which was already problematic, worsened, and he had to be hospitalized the day before the inauguration ceremony. Sarney then assumed the position temporarily.
“He [Neves] did not want to be operated on without seeing that the democratic transition would be made, as he knew we could have a political setback if we divided,” Sarney recalled while participating in an event in Brasília commemorating the date.
Highlighting that Brazil was going through a troubled moment, marked by uncertainties regarding the country’s political future and the fear that the military would not accept returning power to civil society and, at some point, reestablish direct voting, Sarney recounted that Tancredo only agreed to undergo intestinal surgery when he was assured that Sarney would be inaugurated, that the Federal Constitution would be respected, and “that the law would govern the democratic transition.”
Neves died on April 21, after 39 days in the hospital. Officially, the cause was a generalized infection. He was 75 years old. With his death, Congress confirmed Sarney as president.
“It was years of great struggle. I can keep the intimate battles I participated in to ensure we had a peaceful democratic transition. We had many hypotheses of setbacks, but we managed to get through them,” Sarney reflected.
He also mentioned that, as the supreme commander of the Armed Forces, he instructed then Army Minister General Leônidas Pires Gonçalves to “put the Armed Forces back in the barracks.”
“As commander-in-chief, I conveyed [to the military] my guidelines. There were two. First, that the duty of every commander is to care for their subordinates. Second, that the transition would be made with the Armed Forces and not against them, as this had been the subject of a pact built by all [political] leaders,” said the former president, classifying the democratic transition as a victory for the people.
Reencounter with Democracy
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used social media to celebrate the date. On his profile on X, Lula wrote that more than the mere inauguration of a new president of the Republic, March 15, 1985, entered History as “the day Brazil marked its reencounter with democracy.”
“President José Sarney governed under the constant threat of those nostalgic for the dictatorship, but with extraordinary skill and political commitment, he created the conditions for us to write the Citizen Constitution of 1988 and change the history of Brazil,” Lula highlighted.
“In these 40 years of democracy, despite very difficult moments, we have taken important steps towards building the country we dream of. A democratic, free, and sovereign country. We have enormous challenges ahead, but Brazil is today the country that grows with social inclusion,” the president added, asserting that every day is a day to celebrate democracy.
“It is necessary to defend it every day from those who, even today, plan the return of authoritarianism. It is necessary to show new generations what it was and what it would be like to live again under a dictatorship, and to have all rights denied, including the right to life,” Lula concluded.
Permanent Construction
In a video message, the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Cármen Lúcia, stated that democracy is in permanent construction.
“Forty years have passed since that March 15. After more than 20 years of authoritarian regime, my generation can witness the arrival at one of the shores we sought: a Democratic State of Law in which the group that had arrived precisely from the struggles in the squares, from the legitimization in the streets of Brazil, took office as our representative in the Presidency of the Republic,” the minister recalled.
“These were not easy times. Nor were those that preceded [immediately before the indirect election of Tancredo and Sarney], extremely tumultuous due to the lack of rights, absence of respect for dignity, especially for the freedom to think, to participate, of all people in Brazil,” Cármen Lúcia emphasized, praising Sarney’s administration for ensuring the holding of a Constituent Assembly that included not only women but also other social groups.
“In these 40 years, in this process of redemocratization, we have seen the presence of women much more than in other moments of Brazilian History. It is still below what is necessary to ensure equality not only in normative texts but in the dynamics of life. To have democracy, we need to have freedom and equality,” said the minister.
Source: Agência Brasil