Getúlio Vargas was a Brazilian politician who ruled Brazil for four periods and became one of the most important political figures in the country during the 20th century. The first time he held the presidency of the republic was during the provisional government (1930-1934).
Then he was elected for a new constitutional period (1934-1937) and, after giving a coup, declared the Estado Novo. He maintained his dictatorial government between 1937 and 1945, when he was overthrown, and remained out of power for several years. He returned again as president-elect by popular vote in 1951, but did not complete his term.
Overwhelmed by internal pressure from the Brazilian Armed Forces, he committed suicide on August 24, 1954 at the Palacio de Catete, then the seat of government in Rio de Janeiro. He is considered the initiator of populism in Brazil and his thinking was nationalist-authoritarian.
During his governments, he mixed the demands of the socialists with the developmental ambitions of fascism. Getúlio Vargas' political heritage is claimed by several left-wing parties: the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) and also the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB).
Biography
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was born in São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul state, on April 19, 1882. It was believed all his life that he was born in 1883, because he altered his identity documents when he was young.
He came from a wealthy family with a long tradition in the country's politics. His parents were Manuel do Nascimento Vargas and Cândida Dornelles Vargas. Her mother descended from a gaucho family in the Azores, while her father belonged to an old and well-known São Paulo family.
At sixteen, he enlisted in the army in his hometown as a soldier due to his military bent. However, when he was transferred to Porto Alegre to finish his military service, he decided to enroll in Law School; He had previously taken a secondary course in the city of Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais).
That same year (1904) he befriended Eurico Gaspar Dutra, then a cadet at the military school. In 1907 he obtained the title of lawyer and began to work as a promoter with the forum of the city of Porto Alegre. Then he returned to São Borja again, to practice law.
He married Darcy Vargas on March 4, 1911, from whose union his children Lutero, Jandira and Alzira, as well as Manuel and Getúlio, were born.
Political career
Getúlio Vargas began his political career in 1908. He was elected deputy of the National Congress of Brazil in 1923, representing the Rio Grande do Sul Republican Party (PRR). In 1924 he was reelected for a new two-year term and became the leader of the Rio Grande do Sul parliamentary caucus.
Two years later he was appointed Minister of Finance by President Washington Luis Pereira de Souza. He remained in this position until his election as governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in 1928. He then ran for president of Brazil in the 1930 elections, but was unsuccessful.
What he could not achieve by electoral means, he achieved through an armed revolt that he led against the newly elected government of Júlio Prestes.
His Alianza Liberal party did not accept the election result, claiming it had been a fraud. Their elected deputies were also not recognized, so they started a conspiracy against Prestes.
Vargas was invested as president for the period 1930-1934, during which he governed by decree without paying attention to Congress. From that moment he built a regime with a markedly authoritarian and populist accent that lasted 14 years.
The New State
At the end of his term in 1934 and just to keep the forms, Getúlio Vargas was elected again for another presidential term.
Then he created a Constituent Assembly in which only his supporters participated, but in 1937 he decided to do without the Constituent Assembly and gave a new coup to implement the Estado Novo.
That year and prior to the 1938 elections, a communist plan called Plan Cohen, led by Captain Olympio Mourão Filho to overthrow the government, was denounced.
Vargas took advantage of the climate of internal turmoil and turmoil to launch a new coup on November 10, 1937.
Getúlio Vargas remained in power until October 29, 1945, when he was deposed by a coup. During the Estado Novo stage, the National Congress was closed and the Minister of Justice Francisco Campos drew up a new Constitution.
In the new constitutional text, the Legislative and Judicial powers were stripped of their independence, while all political parties were banned, including those that had supported it from the beginning, such as the Brazilian Integralist Action (AIB).
After the military coup that removed him from power, he spent more than five years out of the presidency, but he ran again in the 1951 presidential elections and won them, because he retained his influences and popular support.
Characteristics of his government
- It was an authoritarian and populist government linked to the workers' movement.
- It had a marked nationalist and developmental influence, which is often linked to fascism.
- It was characterized by state interventionism in the economy: it modernized the tax collection system, the income tax was created and taxes on interstate borders were eliminated.
- Large state-owned energy companies were created, such as the National Petroleum Council (CNP), which later became the current Petrobras oil company, the National Steel Company (CSN), the São Francisco Hydroelectric Company and the National Factory of Motors (FNM), among others.
- The industrialization of Brazil received a strong boost during the successive governments of Vargas, especially during the Estado Novo period.
- The Brazilian state and society were modernized. The structure of the State and its administration were centralized with the objective of strengthening the State bureaucracy.
- During the Estado Novo the public service was professionalized.
- Important legal instruments such as the Penal Code and the Procedural Code were sanctioned, as well as the Labor Laws in support of workers.
- It was a period of strong repression and persecution of the political opposition.
- The armed forces were institutionalized through discipline and professionalization.
- Censorship of freedom of expression and freedom of the press was practiced.
References
- Biography of Getúlio Vargas. Consulted of biografiasyvidas.com
- Getulio Vargas: biography without party. Consulted of operamundi.uol.com.br
- Biography of Getúlio Vargas. Consulted of Buscabiografias.com
- 8 Keys to understanding the last Brazilian civil war. Consulted fromvanaguardia.com
- Getúlio Vargas. Consulted of es.wikipedia.org
- Government of Getúlio Vargas the Novo state of Brazil. Consulted of historiaybiografias.com
- Getúlio Vargas - Dictators of the 20th Century. Consulted from sites.google.com