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Ernesto Geisel | |
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(2).png) Official portrait,c. 1974 | |
| 29th President of Brazil | |
| In office 15 March 1974 – 15 March 1979 | |
| Vice President | Adalberto Pereira dos Santos |
| Preceded by | Emílio Garrastazu Médici |
| Succeeded by | João Figueiredo |
| Chair of Petrobras | |
| In office 6 November 1969 – 6 July 1973 | |
| Nominated by | Emílio Garrastazu Médici |
| Preceded by | Waldemar Cardoso |
| Succeeded by | Faria Lima |
| Justice of the Superior Military Court | |
| In office 20 March 1967 – 27 October 1969 | |
| Nominated by | Castelo Branco |
| Preceded by | Floriano de Lima Brayner |
| Succeeded by | Jurandyr de Bizarria Mamede |
| Chief Minister of the Military Cabinet | |
| In office 15 April 1964 – 15 March 1967 | |
| President | Castelo Branco |
| Preceded by | André Fernandes de Sousa |
| Succeeded by | Jaime Portela de Melo |
| In office 25 August 1961 – 8 September 1961 | |
| President | Ranieri Mazzilli |
| Preceded by | Pedro Geraldo de Almeida |
| Succeeded by | Amaury Kruel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1907-08-03)August 3, 1907 Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil |
| Died | 12 September 1996(1996-09-12) (aged 89) Rio de Janeiro,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Resting place | São João Batista Cemetery |
| Party | ARENA (1974–1979) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Amália Orlando |
| Alma mater | Military School of Realengo Officers Improvement School Army General Staff School |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Brazil |
| Branch/service | Brazilian Army |
| Years of service | 1927–1969 |
| Rank | Army general |
| Commands | See list
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| Battles/wars | |
Ernesto Beckmann Geisel (Portuguese pronunciation:[eʁˈnɛstuˈbɛk(i)mɐ̃ˈɡajzew],German pronunciation:[ɛʁˈnɛstoˈbɛkmanˈɡaɪzl̩]; 3 August 1907 – 12 September 1996) was aBrazilian Army officer and politician, who served as the 29thpresident of Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during theBrazilian military dictatorship.[1]
Born toGerman Lutheran immigrants, Geisel attended military prep schools from an early age. He then moved toRio de Janeiro, graduating as an artilleryofficer from theMilitary School of Realengo, now theMilitary Academy of Agulhas Negras. He entered politics in 1964 when he was appointed Chief of theMilitary House under PresidentCastelo Branco. He was part of the group of Castelo Branco's military supporters who opposed MarshalCosta e Silva's candidacy for the presidency. Castelo Branco promoted him to the rank ofArmy General in 1966 and appointed him Minister of the Superior Military Court in 1967. During theEmílio Médici government, he became president ofPetrobras, while his brother,Orlando Geisel, served as Minister of the Army. Orlando's support was decisive in Médici's decision to select him as a presidential candidate. In 1974, heran for president as the candidate of theNational Renewal Alliance (ARENA), withAdalberto Pereira dos Santos as his running mate. They won with 400 votes (84.04%) against the opposition ticket ofUlysses Guimarães andBarbosa Lima Sobrinho from the MDB, which received 76 votes (15.96%).[2]
He assumed the presidency of Brazil on March 15, 1974. His government was marked by the beginning of political openness and a softening of the repression imposed by the military dictatorship, but he faced strong opposition from hardline politicians. Significant events during his tenure included the merger of the state ofGuanabara withRio de Janeiro, the division ofMato Grosso with the creation ofMato Grosso do Sul, the resumption of diplomatic relations with thePeople's Republic of China, recognition ofAngola's independence, the signing of nuclear agreements withWest Germany, the initiation of Brazil's democratization process, the repeal ofAI-5, and significant progress in the construction of theItaipu Hydroelectric Plant.[3]
In his post-presidency years, Geisel maintained influence over the military throughout the 1980s. In the1985 presidential election, he supported the victorious opposition candidate,Tancredo Neves, which helped reduce military resistance to Tancredo's presidency. He later served as president of Norquisa, aholding company in thepetrochemical sector.[4]
Ernesto Geisel was born inBento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul province. His father was Guilherme Augusto Geisel (born Wilhelm August Geisel), aGerman teacher fromHerborn who immigrated to theEmpire of Brazil in 1883 at age 16. His mother was thehomemaker Lydia Beckmann, born in Brazil inTeutônia, to German parents fromOsnabrück.[5]
InBento Gonçalves, where Ernesto was raised, there were only two families of German origin (Geisels and Drehers), and most of the population was composed ofItalian immigrants.[5] Remembering the contact with the local Italian immigrants during hischildhood Geisel described the cultural contrasts between the strict and rigorous education that his German parents imposed compared to the freedom and more relaxed way of life of his Italian friends had that he admired.[6]
Geisel was raised in aLutheran family, they belonged to theEvangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, and his grandfather was a priest. He claimed to come from a relatively poor family oflower middle class. At home, Geisel spokeGerman as well asPortuguese because his father, who spoke Portuguese so well that he became a teacher of that language, did not want his children to speak Portuguese with a foreign accent. As an adult, Geisel reported that he was able to understand German but could not write it and had some difficulty speaking it.[6]
Geisel married Lucy Markus, the daughter of an army colonel, in 1940. They had a daughter, Amália Lucy (later a university professor), and a son, Orlando, from whose 1957 death in a train accident Geisel never completely recovered. His widow died in an automobile accident in March 2000.[7]
Geisel along with his brother Orlando (1905–1979, who would be Minister of Army inEmílio Garrastazu Médici's government), entered the army in 1921 and in 1925 was the first of his class when he graduated from the Military High School ofPorto Alegre. He acquired higher military education at theMilitary School of Realengo, and graduated it in 1928 as the first in his class and joined artillery unit as anAspirante. Promoted to lieutenant in 1930.
Geisel witnessed and participated in the most prominent events ofBrazilian history in the 20th century, such as the Revolution of 1930, theGetúlio Vargas dictatorship ofEstado Novo and its overthrow in 1945. Geisel was military attache in Uruguay (1946–47).[8]
Promoted to brigadier-general in 1960, Geisel participated in the1964 military coup d'état that overthrew the leftist presidentJoão Goulart. Geisel was an important figure during the coup and became Chief of the Military Staff of PresidentHumberto de Alencar Castelo Branco from 1964 until 1967.[9]
In 1964 he was promoted to Lieutenant-General and in 1966 to the highest 4-starGeneral de exército rank. In 1969 he was made president of the state-ownedoil companyPetrobras.[10]
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In 1973, PresidentEmílio Garrastazu Médici selected Geisel to be his successor as the president. There had been intense behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the hard-liners against him and by the more moderate supporters ofCastelo Branco for him. Fortunately for Geisel, his older brother, Orlando Geisel was the Minister of Army, and his close ally GeneralJoão Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo the chief of Médici's military staff.
At that time the president of Brazil was chosen by the military command and then approved by the Congress to keep up the appearance of democracy. However, since the pro-military party, theNational Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA), had an overwhelming majority in Congress, the military's chosen candidate could not possibly be defeated. For the first time during the era of military rule, theBrazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) actually put up a candidate in the person of longtime deputyUlysses Guimarães. When Guimarães accepted the nomination, he decided to run an "anticandidacy" for president, knowing that Geisel's victory was a foregone conclusion. As expected, Geisel was elected by a vast majority (400-76, with 21 blank votes and six abstentions) and was inaugurated on March 15, 1974 for a five-year mandate.
During theBrazilian Miracle from 1968 to 1973, the Brazilian economy had grown at a rate of more than 10% per year, the fastest in the world. But due to the oil shock crisis in 1974, development fell to 5–6% per year. Because much of the country's oil had to be imported, Brazil'sforeign debt began to rise. This strategy was effective in promoting growth, but it also raised Brazil's import requirements markedly, increasing the already large current-account deficit.[11] The current account was financed by running up the foreign debt. The expectation was that the combined effects ofimport substitution industrialization and export expansion eventually would bring about growing trade surpluses, allowing the service and repayment of the foreign debt.[citation needed]
President Geisel sought to maintain high economic growth rates, while dealing with the effects of the1973 oil crisis. He maintained massive investments in infrastructure – highways, telecommunications, hydroelectric dams, mineral extraction, factories, and atomic energy. Fending off nationalist objections, he opened Brazil to oil prospecting by foreign firms for the first time since the early 1950s.[citation needed]
Geisel adopted a more moderate stance with regards to political opposition. Together with hisChief of Staff, MinisterGolbery do Couto e Silva Geisel devised a plan of gradual, slow democratization that would eventually succeed despite all the threats and opposition from hard-liners. He replaced several regional commanders with trusted officers and labeled his political programabertura anddistensão, meaning a gradual relaxation of authoritarian rule. It would be, in his words, "the maximum of development possible with the minimum of indispensable security."[citation needed]. In1974 elections opposition won more votes than before. However, the torture of regime's left-wing and Communist opponents byDOI-CODI was still ongoing, as demonstrated by the 1975 murder ofVladimir Herzog.
In 1977 and 1978, the presidential succession issue caused further political confrontation between Geisel and hard-liners. Noting that Brazil was only a "relative democracy," Geisel attempted in April 1977 to restrain the growing strength of the oppositionBrazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party by allowing other opposition parties to run, thereby splitting the opposition vote. In October, he dismissedfar-right Minister of Army, General Sylvio Couto Coelho da Frota, who had tried to become a candidate.[12]
In 1978 Geisel had to deal with the first labor strikes since 1964 andelectoral victories of the opposition MDB. In late December 1978 he announced the end of the authoritarianInstitutional Act 5, allowed exiled citizens to return, restoredhabeas corpus and fullpolitical rights, repealed the extraordinary powers of the president, and planned theindirect election of GeneralJoão Figueiredo as his successor.
In 2018, an unearthed CIA memorandum from 11 April 1974 sent byWilliam Colby to U.S. Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger details thesummary executions of over 100 "subversives" which were personally authorized by Ernesto Geisel himself.[13]
In his 5 years of government, Geisel adopted a morepragmaticforeign policy. Despite being a conservative and deeplyanti-communist, Geisel made significant overtures towards the communist bloc. Brazil established diplomatic relations with thePeople's Republic of China and socialist-led governments ofAngola andMozambique, signaling a growing distance betweenBrasília andWashington. Although both countries remained allies, Geisel was keen to seek new alliances and, more importantly, new economic opportunities in other parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia.
Brazil shifted its foreign policy to meet its economic needs. "Responsible pragmatism" replaced strict alignment with the United States and a worldview based on ideological frontiers and blocs of nations. Because Brazil was 80% dependent on importedoil, Geisel shifted the country from a critical support of Israel to a more neutral stance on Middle Eastern affairs. Brazil moved closer to Latin America, Europe and Japan.
The 1975 agreement with West Germany to build nuclear reactors produced confrontation with the Carter administration, which also scolded the Geisel government for abusing human rights. Frustrated with what he saw as the highhandedness and lack of understanding of theCarter administration, Geisel renounced the military alliance with the United States in April 1977.[citation needed]
Grand Cross of the National Order of theLegion of Honour (French Republic, 26 April 1976)[14]
Honorary Knight Grand Cross of The Most HonourableOrder of the Bath (United Kingdom, 4 May 1976)
Collar of theSupreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japan, 10 September 1976)[15]
Grand Collar of theMilitary Order of Saint James of the Sword (Portuguese Republic, 1 June 1977)[16]
Grand Collar of theOrder of Prince Henry (Portuguese Republic, 13 February 1979)[17]
Media related toErnesto Geisel at Wikimedia Commons
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of the Military Cabinet 1961 1964–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | President of Brazil 1974–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Justice of the Superior Military Court 1967–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by | President of Petrobras 1969–1973 | Succeeded by |
