Brazil celebrates 40 years since end of military dictatorship

Brazil’s current democratic regime has celebrated its 40th anniversary. It is the longest uninterrupted democratic period in the country’s history since the proclamation of the republic in 1889.

A lengthy process resulted in the end of 21 years of civil-military dictatorship (1964–1985), with the nation’s redemocratization being marked by the inauguration of José Sarney as president on March 15, 1985.

Until then, Sarney had been the vice-president of President-elect Tancredos Neves. The election had taken place two months earlier by indirect vote—i.e. through the National Congress. However, Neves’ health deteriorated and he had to be hospitalized the day before the swearing-in ceremony. Sarney then took over on an interim basis.

“[Neves] didn’t want to be operated on without seeing that the democratic transition would take place, because he knew we could have a political setback if we fell into disagreement,” Sarney noted during an event in Brasília celebrating the date.

Noting that Brazil was facing major uncertainties about the nation’s political future and the fear that the military would refuse to hand power back to society and to eventually re-establish direct voting, Sarney said that Tancredo only agreed to undergo intestinal surgery when he was assured that Sarney would be sworn in, that the Federal Constitution would be observed, and that “the democratic transition would be guided by the law.”

Neves died on April 21 after 39 days in hospital, aged 75. The official cause of death was a generalized infection. Following his passing, Congress installed Sarney as president.

“Those were years of struggle. I can remember the intimate battles I took part in to make sure we had a smooth democratic transition. Setbacks were not only possible but likely, but we managed to overcome them,” Sarney declared.

As commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, he instructed then Army Minister General Leônidas Pires Gonçalves to “place the Armed Forces back in the barracks.”

“As commander-in-chief, I gave [the military] my directives. There were two. First, the duty of every commander should be to look after his subordinates. Second, the transition was to be carried out with the Armed Forces and not against them, because this had been the subject of a pact built by all the [political] leaders,” said the former president, describing the democratic transition as an achievement of the people.

“Reunited with democracy”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his social media to celebrate the date. On X, he wrote that, beyond the significance of the inauguration of a new president, March 15, 1985, went down in history as “the day Brazil reunited with democracy.”

“President José Sarney governed under the constant threat of those who longed for a return of the dictatorship, but with extraordinary skill and political commitment he brought the conditions for us to write the Citizen Constitution of 1988 and change Brazil’s history,” he wrote.

“In these 40 years of democracy, despite very difficult times, we have taken important steps towards building the country we dream of—a democratic, free, sovereign country. We have huge challenges ahead of us, but Brazil is now the country that’s growing with social inclusion,” the president added.

“We have to defend it every day against those who, even today, plan to return to authoritarianism. We have to show the new generations what it was like and what it would be like to live under a dictatorship again, and to have all rights denied, including the right to life,” he concluded.

An ongoing construction

In a video message, the head of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court and Federal Supreme Court Justice Cármen Lúcia said that democracy is under permanent construction.

“Forty years have passed since that March 15. After more than 20 years of authoritarian rule, my generation was able to witness the introduction of one of the boundaries we were looking for—a democratic state of law, in which the president would come precisely from the struggles in the public squares, from the legitimization in the streets of Brazil,” she declared.

“These were not easy times. Neither were the times that preceded [Tancredo and Sarney’s indirect election] them, which were tumultuous due to the lack of rights, the lack of respect for dignity, especially the freedom to think, to participate,” she added, praising Sarney’s administration for having ensured the creation of a Constituent Assembly that included not only women, but also other social groups.

“In these 40 years, in this process of re-democratization, we have had the presence of women much more than at other times in Brazilian history. It still falls short of what is needed to ensure that equality is properly guaranteed, not just in normative texts, but in the dynamics of life. In order to have democracy, we must have freedom and equality,” she argued.

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