AUTOMÓVEL CLUBE DO BRASIL
Address: Rua do Passeio, 90, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Themes: 1964 Coup D’état
Translated from the Portuguese by Lara Norgaard
Located between Lapa and Cinelândia, the Automotive Club of Brazil was the stage for João Goulart’s last speech before the 1964 military coup. On March 30th of that year, the president made an appearance at the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Association of Military Police Subofficers and Sergeants, in which there were non-commissioned members from all three sectors of the armed forces. Goulart’s presence in the Automotive Club that day was the trigger for the coup that would depose him from the presidency.
João Goulart – often referred to as Jango – would speak at the eve of the coup d’état in a building designed by one of Brazil’s most important architects, Araújo Porto Alegre. Built in 1860, the building originally held the Fluminense Casino before becoming the site for the Clube dos Diários social club. In 1924, it came to hold the Automotive Club of Brazil. It had already served as the stage for some of the most important moments in Brazilian history, such as the 1890 Constitutive Assembly, which used the space for some of its preliminary sessions.
Just a few weeks before his speech in the Automotive Club, Jango had proposed a mass rally at the Central do Brasil train station in which he announced his readiness to carry out broad-based reforms. The event intensified the political crisis. Opposition accused João Goulart of trying to implement the reforms without congress. Plans to overthrow his presidency intensified after the rally.
On March 25, the Navy and Marines Association planned to celebrate its two-year anniversary. However, the Navy Ministry prohibited the event, since the association was not officially recognized. Yet members of the navy, led by “cabo” Anselmo, turned up at the event’s proposed location and started a political rally. Sílvio Mota, Minister of the Navy, sent marines to arrest the leaders. But with encouragement from their commander, Rear Admiral Cândido Aragão, some of those marines joined the revolt upon arriving at the Rio de Janeiro Metalworkers’ Union building (Sindimental), which was where the others had gathered. What followed was a crisis that resulted in Sílvio Mota’s dismissal from his post. The navy sailors were held in army barracks before being released, and then marched through the center of Rio carrying Aragão on their shoulders.
Officers in the Navy and Army expressed their indignation about what had happened on the 25th, as they believed that Jango had supported a violation of discipline. The political crisis coupled with an unprecedented military crisis made for an extremely delicate situation. On March 30, ministers and advisors warned against the president attending the event at the Automotive Club. However, Goulart opted to make an appearance. Tancredo Neves, who was then the Speaker of the House, would tell Jango: “I hope to god that I’m wrong, but I think this choice will be the final straw, the final motive for an inevitable armed revolt.”
João Goulart went to the event accompanied by seven ministers, three of whom were from the military. He was generously applauded upon entering the building with the group. At around 10 P.M., the president began his speech. Jango attacked the far-right March of the Family with God for Liberty, reaffirmed his intention to establish broad-based reforms, and cited the Brazilian Institute for Democratic Action (IBAD) as one of the sources of funding for campaigns aimed at destabilizing his administration. Commenting on the military crisis aggravated by the recent sergeants’ revolt, Jango defended his choices, stating:
No one wants glory for our Navy more than I. No one wants our Navy to permanently exist in a state of understanding, respect, and discipline more than I. But discipline is not built on hate and denigration. Discipline is built on mutual respect between those under command (Jornal do Brasil, 31 mar. 1964, p. 5).
Aware of the gravity of the crisis and of the imminent possibility of a coup, the president said:
My term in office, granted to me by the people and then reaffirmed a second time by popular vote, will be carried out in full, in the name of the people, and in the defense of popular interests. Anyone who imagines that reactionary forces would be capable of terminating a term in office upheld by the people is sorely mistaken (Jornal do Brasil, 31 mar. 1964, p.5).
The speech ended with Jango defending a law limiting profits from moving overseas and his resolution that opened petroleum refineries, signed on the day of the mass rally in Central do Brasil. Before midnight, Goulart was back in the Laranjeiras Palace, the official presidential residence. Just a few hours later, General Olympio Mourão Filho began to mobilize troops in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, with the goal of deposing the president through force. On March 31, a photo of João Goulart with a closed fist splashed across the cover of Jornal do Brasil, a publication that supported military intervention. Underneath the photo read the line: “Partisan discipline will not take root in Brazil, which already unites in protest in Minas Gerais. It will not take root even under the insincere and treacherous guise of reform.”