CENTRAL STATION

CENTRAL DO BRASIL

Address: Praça Cristiano Otoni, s/n, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Themes: 1964 Coup D’état
Translated from the Portuguese by Lara Norgaard.

Located in front of the Plaza of the Republic and next to the Duque de Caxias Palace, which also holds the Ministry of War, is Rio de Janeiro’s Central Train Station, the site of a key event in the political crisis that led to the coup d’état that removed João Goulart from the presidency. That event was the rally that the president held on March 13, 1964. With his wife, Maria Teresa, and politicians such as Leonel Brizola and Miguel Arraes, governor of Pernambuco, standing by his side, João Goulart (nicknamed “Jango”) gave a speech to 200 thousand people. He announced his proposals for broad-based reforms and his intention to pressure congress into approving those measures.

After the previous president, Jânio Quadros, resigned in 1961, the commanders of the Armed Forces declared that they did not want his vice president, João Goulart, to take charge as the Constitution required. An agreement to change the political structure to a parliamentary system was necessary for Jango to become president. In practice, that meant Goulart could become president, but he did not have executive powers. Over the next few years, the administration was the target of destabilizing campaigns supported by conservative groups, particularly private corporations with a vested interest in weakening Jango’s base.

The need for structural reforms in the Brazilian model of capitalism was a key issue in public debate at the time. On one side, the National Student Union (UNE), workers’ unions, the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), and other organizations backed nationalist reforms. On the other, conservative groups connected with the Social Studies and Research Institute (IPES/IBAD) had diametrically opposed views.

In January 1963, a plebiscite was carried out to determine if Brazil would return to a presidential system. The vote approved the shift, and Jango regained executive powers and began instigating what are known as broad-based reforms (land, banking, administrative, university, and electoral reform). Announcing these changes provoked conservative resistance. So, Jango planned a series of rallies throughout Brazil (he would pass through the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Recife, Belo Horizonte, and São Paulo). The rally at Central Station was the first, and it would also be the last.

The rally on March 13 began at 3 P.M., and more than ten people spoke before the president. Jango took the stage at 8 P.M. and spoke for over an hour about his firm support for broad-based reforms. Over the course of the speech, the president announced that he had signed one executive order to appropriate land at the edges of federal train stations and another that affected private petroleum refineries. He openly pressured congress to adopt reforms, as the following section of the speech indicates:

I would be remiss if, in the name of the Brazilian people, in the name of these 150 or 200 thousand people who are here today, I did not passionately appeal to Congress to feel the Nation’s concerns in patriotic spirit and meet the popular demands that aim to forge a democratic and peaceful path to better days (Discurso de João Goulart, 13 mar. 1964).

He also denounced the forces that opposed broad-based reforms and that mobilized to destabilize his administration:

Democracy for these democrats is not a government of freedom of assembly for the common person: what they want is a mute democracy with fears gagged and demands suffocated. The democracy that they want to impose upon us is a democracy against the people, against unions, against reforms. In other words, a democracy that serves the interests of the groups that they serve and represent. The democracy that they want is a democracy that will dissolve Petrobrás; it is the democracy of private monopolies, both national and international, the democracy against a government of the people, and the democracy that led Getúlio Vargas to sacrifice himself (Discurso de João Goulart, 13 mar. 1964).

An account released by the Public Security Secretary about the events helps to clarify how different groups occupied the center of Rio de Janeiro that day. The document, filed in the Department of Political and Social Order (DOPS/GB), available in the Rio de Janeiro State Truth Commission archive, lists eight meeting points from which groups marched to the Central Station:

1. Bankers, insurance brokers, businessmen, and Petrobrás employees met at the corner of Uruguaiana Street and Presidente Vargas Avenue.
2. Loide and Costeira employees, naval workers, and delegations from the state of Rio de Janeiro led by governor Badger Silva used the XV de November Plaza as their meeting point.
3. Dock workers, sailors, road workers, mill workers, and electricians came together on the corner of Camerino Street and Senador Pompeu Street.
4. Textile workers, metal workers, and others used the Bandeira Plaza as their meeting point.
5. Rail workers, members of the Macaé, Barra Mansa, Magé unions, and delegations from other cities in the Rio de Janeiro region met at the Barão de Mauá station.
6. Bakers, shoemakers, hotel works, and service workers from the Brazil Central Railroad came together in the XI de Junho Plaza.
7. Public servants and independents met on Visconde de Inhaúma Street, in front of the Naval Ministry/Ministry of the Navy.
8. Students from the National Faculty of Philosophy, Medicine, Engineering, and Law met at Largo do Caco. (Acervo CEV-Rio, Comunicação 65 do Dops sobre Comício da Central, mar. 1964).

The same document contains what was written on different banners during the rally. Notable signs include: “Land reform, in the law or up your ass” – which would become the catchphrase for peasant leagues – and “Jango, give us reform and we’ll cover you.”

The reaction to Jango’s speech at the Central Station rally was immediate. General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, who would be the first dictator after the coup, circulated two confidential messages to his subordinates in which he attacked Jango, the rally, and its supporters. The most emphatic response was the March of the Family with God for Liberty carried out by conservative social groups, including part of the Church and certain women’s organizations (Women’s Campaign for Democracy (CAMDE) and the Feminine Civic Union). Bringing together portions of the middle class, the rally openly called to depose Goulart from the presidency. The political and military crisis that led to the coup compounded after the rally.