See the Timeline of the Military Dictatorship, from 1964 to 1985

Check out the main events of the 21 years of the military regime

Priscilla Camazano

Follow the main events from 1964 to 1985, during the 21 years that the military regime ruled in Brazil.

1964

● March 31: General Olímpio Mourão Filho triggers the coup when he marches with troops that command Juiz de Fora (MG) towards Rio de Janeiro

● April 2: Congress declares Presidency vacant, although João Goulart is still in the country; The Mayor, Ranieri Mazzilli, temporarily takes over

● April 9: The first Institutional Act is implemented, which institutionalizes the coup

● April 11: General Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco is elected president by an electoral college

● Year ends with 20 deaths and 203 reports of torture

1965

● October 27: AI-2 is implemented. Castello Branco dissolves political parties, and the presidential election becomes indirect

● At the end of the year, there were 84 reports of torture and three deaths

1966

● February 5: Institutional Act No. 3 results in indirect elections for governors

● March: Protests occur in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte; two bombs explode in Recife

● October 3: General Artur da Costa e Silva is elected president by the Congress

● 66 reports of torture and two deaths were recorded

1967

March 15: Costa e Silva takes office

● This year, the reports of torture reached 50

1968

● March 28: Military police kill student Edson Luís de Lima Souto, which provokes street protests in Rio.

● June 26: 100,000 people march gathers opponents and artists in Rio de Janeiro

● July 18: Theater in which the play Roda Viva is located in São Paulo is destroyed and the actors are beaten

● October 12: About a thousand students are arrested in Ibiúna (SP), where the UNE Congress takes place

● December 13: AI-5 is implemented. The press is censored, and many people are arrested

● The "lead years" begin

● Reports of torture reached 85

1969

● August: Costa e Silva falls ill

● August 13: A military junta formed by the commanders of the Army, Lira Tavares, Navy, Augusto Rademaker and Aeronautics, Márcio de Souza Melo, assumes the Presidency

● September 4: Leftist groups kidnap the American ambassador, Charles Elbrick, and release him three days later, in exchange for the release of political prisoners

● October 17: A new Constitution is launched, hardening the regime

● October 30: Reopened Congress elects general Emílio Garrastazu Médici as president

● November 4: Leader of ALN (National Liberation Action), Carlos Marighella, died in an ambush in São Paulo

● Reports of torture reached 1,027

1970

● Beginning of the "economic miracle," which will last until the middle of the decade and will record double-digit GDP growth rates

● June 21: Brazil wins football World Cup and regime takes advantage of the current pride atmosphere

● September: DOIs (Detachment of Information Operations) are created to control information and repress opponents of the military regime

● About 1,200 reports of torture and 30 deaths were recorded in the year

1971

● January 20: ex-deputy Rubem Paiva is arrested at home; his body was never found

● * September 17.: Carlos Lamarca, military deserter and one of the leaders of the armed struggle against the dictatorship, is killed by the Army of Bahia

● 778 as reports of torture, with 30 killed

● 1972

● January.: Army discovers PC do B guerrilla training base in Araguaia

● August: Amnesty International releases a 91-page report with 472 names of torturers and 1,081 tortured

● 1973

● June 18: Medici informs General Ernesto Geisel that he will be his successor in the Presidency

● July: Estado de S. Paulo newspaper starts publishing poems in censored spaces

● October: Regime launched its biggest new offensive in Araguaia

1974

● March 15: Ernesto Geisel takes office

● August 29.: Geisel announces a slow, gradual and secure political opening

● September: Arrests occur at Cebrap (Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning)

● October: Army kills Araguaia's last guerrilla, student Walkiria Afonso Costa, 27

1975

● October 25: Journalist Vladimir Herzog, communist sympathizer, comparison with DOI-Codi for giving testimony; hours later he is found dead

● October 27: Herzog is buried; on the 31st, an ecumenical service is held at the Catedral da Sé in his memory

● The year ends with 585 reports of torture

1976

● January 16: Operator Manoel Fiel Filho is arrested and taken to the Doi-CODI premises, where he is killed by the dictatorship the following day

● August 19: Bombs are detonated at ABI (Brazilian Press Association) and OAB (Brazilian Bar Association)

● September 22: Bishop dom Adriano Hipólito is kidnapped, and a bomb explodes in the home of journalist Roberto Marinho, president of Organizações Globo

● 156 reports of torture were recorded during the year

1977

● March 30: Students from São Paulo challenge the regime ban and take to the streets

● April 13: Geisel launches the April Package, which creates the figure of the "bionic senator"

● May .: About 80 thousand students go on strike across the country

● June 6 .: Military police invade the University of Brasilia

● September 22: PUC-SP is invaded, and 1,700 students are detained

● September 15: Journalist Lourenço Diaferia is arrested after writing a column in Folha that was considered offensive to the memory of Duque de Caxias

● October 12: Geisel exonerates the Minister of the Army, Sílvio Frota, representative of the hardline

● December: Geisel informs General João Baptista Figueiredo that he will be his successor

● At the end of the year, there were about 214 reports of torture recorded

1978

● At least 26 bombs explode throughout the year in several cities

● June: Censorship of the Tribuna da Imprensa comes to an end, and Jornal do Brasil publishes all prohibited texts since 1969

● October: Justice holds the Union responsible for the death of Vladimir Herzog

● December: In the last edition of the year, Jornal do Brasil makes the headline: "AI-5 regime ends at midnight today"

1979

● At least three bombs explode throughout the year

● A series of attacks on newsstands begins

● March 13: ABC metalworkers declare a general strike. Union, led by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is placed under intervention

● August 28: Figueiredo sanctions the Amnesty Law. Exiles can return to the country

● November: Congress puts an end to bipartisanship. Tancredo Neves creates the Partido Popular and Leonel Brizola, the PDT. Arena becomes PDS and MDB, the PMDB

1980

● February 10: Workers' Party is founded

● April 1: ABC metalworkers go on strike; on April 17, government decrees intervention in the Union, and two days later, Lula is arrested

1981

● April 30: Bomb explodes by accident in the parking lot of Riocentro, in Rio de Janeiro, frustrating an attempt on the Labor Day event; incident, which killed one soldier and wounded another, shows the regime's hardline action

1982

● November 15: The first direct election for governor since the military regime was established, and about 48 million voters go to the polls; PMDB wins in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Paraná; Brizola is elected in Rio

1983

● March 2: Deputy Dante de Oliveira (PMDB) presents draft constitutional amendment that calls for the reestablishment of the direct election for president

● March 15: Governors-elect are sworn in

● June 15: Approximately 5,000 people participate in a rally by the Diretas Já, in Goiânia

● November: PT holds rally in São Paulo. Folha starts campaign for Direct elections

1984

● January 25: Approximately 200 thousand people participate in a pro-Direct elections rally in Praça da Sé, in São Paulo

● February to April: Direct elections mobilization spreads across the country

● April 25: Dante de Oliveira's amendment is defeated in the Chamber; 22 votes left

1985

● January 15: Tancredo Neves is elected president by the electoral college

● March 14: On the eve of his inauguration, Tancredo is hospitalized in serious condition

● March 15: José Sarney assumes the Presidency of the Republic putting an end to the military regime

● April 21: On Tiradentes day, Tancredo dies at 75