Document of the week! Military personnel punished by the Armed Forces after the 1964 Coup

Check out the full document in our collection: Air telegram from the Embassy in Brasilia to the State Department listing all military personnel dismissed by the Institutional Act

Military personnel punished by the Armed Forces after the 1964 Coup

On April 9, 1964, the military dictatorship decreed the first of countless Institutional Acts that would mark the history of the regime – the so-called AI-1. Among the prerogatives given by AI-1 to the so-called Supreme Command of the Revolution and then to the government White Castle, were the suspension of political rights of Brazilian citizens for 10 years (article 10) and the dismissal of civil and military public servants (article 7). Tens of thousands of people would be affected by these sanctions.

This week's document from NACE CNV-Brazil, dated May 20, 1964, brings a crucial photograph of the punishments suffered by Brazilians after the 1964 coup: that of military personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force who had their political rights suspended and/or who were compulsorily retired, being expelled from the Armed Forces.

In its first annex, the document lists 40 names of military members who, until that moment, had lost their political rights for ten years. In a second annex, the document lists 146 names of military personnel who were compulsorily retired.  

Among those affected, Marshal Osvino Ferreira Alves, called “general of the people” by segments of the left, and General Argemiro of Assis Brazil, the last head of President João Goulart's Military House, and supposed guarantor of a “military device” that would prevent the president from suffering coup attempts – a device that, as the 1964 coup would eloquently show, would fail resoundingly . 

Two things draw attention to this important document: first, the number of soldiers affected in less than two months of military rule, which shows that, despite having failed, the government João Goulart There must have been some “military device”, otherwise so many people would not have been punished in the way they were.

And, secondly, the wealth of information that is brought to each of the names who had their political rights suspended or who were expelled from the Armed Forces. Among the characterizations presented, those of the colonel stand out. Kardeck Leme (“considered one of the most dangerous members of the Brazilian Communist Party within the Army”) and Brigadier Napoleon Noble (“increasingly leftist since 1960”, but “assessed as being an opportunist rather than a leftist by conviction”).

As can be seen, for anyone who wants to get to know those affected by the arbitrariness of the dictatorship more closely, particularly within the Armed Forces, as well as better understand the penetration of the left in the Armed Forces based on the information collected by the Yankee military attachés, this document is essential .

Prof. Dr. Felipe Loureiro,

Deputy coordinator of NACE CNV-Brazil,

Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo