CSPG's Poster of the Week
https://portside.org/2016-06-06/cspgs-poster-week
Portside Date:
Author: Center for the Study of Political Graphics
Date of source:
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
Artist Unknown
Silkscreen, 1971
South America
South America
4274
CSPG's Poster of the Week was created at the peak of Brazil's military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. The coup by the Brazilian Armed Forces was organized by the C.I.A., the US ambassador at the time, Lincoln Gordon, and the US military attaché, Colonel Vernon A. Walters, who kept in constant contact with President Lyndon B. Johnson. Their goal was to create a government politically aligned to the interests of the United States government. The military overthrew the leftist government of President João Goulart and promised to bring order to what it claimed was becoming a dangerous communist country. Instead, they led Brazil into a repressive dictatorship that lasted 21 years, and enacted a new Constitution that restricted free speech and political opposition. During this regime, the media was heavily censored and it became common for political dissidents to be tortured or disappear.
More than thirty years have passed since the end of the dictatorship but Brazil's democracy is again being challenged. Dilma Rousseff, the 36th president of Brazil and the first woman to hold the title, has been suspended from the presidency and is now facing impeachment on charges of budgetary improprieties and corruption. Rousseff, who was tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship for her left-wing activism, insists that the impeachment campaign against her is a coup.
This week, Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper, published new transcripts supporting Rousseff's claim that the efforts against her are indeed a coup. The transcripts show Romero Jucá, a former senator who has become a planning minister since Rousseff's suspension, discussing plans to impeach Rousseff in order to halt a corruption investigation against him. The investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, has been targeting top-ranking officials and business executives suspected of being involved in a money laundering and corruption scheme.
Sources:
Brazil 1961-1964 | Introducing the marvelous new world of Death Squads