March of the Family with God for Liberty

At a glance

Dates: From 1964.

What came before

Background The march was sparked by a speech by then President João Goulart in Rio de Janeiro on March 13 in which he called for political reforms including rent control ; wealth tax ; expropriation of land within 10 km of roads, railroads and dams, and the nationalization of oil refineries. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] For years, the mild reforms had been seen by the US government as threatening to its financial interests and hegemony in the region. [ 3 ]

What happened

Results and legacy The march was a precursor to the Brazilian coup d'état and prepared the public to accept a coup against Goulart. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The military coup installed a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years and arrested, exiled, brutally tortured, and killed thousands. [ 3 ] Despite the substantial investment in anticommunist propaganda, no evidence of such a threat ever emerged. [ 4 ] Their amnesia was aided by the 1979 Amnesty Law,

The March of the Family with God for Liberty was the common name for a series of public demonstrations that took place between March 19 and June 8, 1964, in Brazil in response to what was described, by the military and conservative sectors of society, a communist threat posed by the actions of radical groups and by the speech at a rally given by then-president João Goulart on March 13 of that same year.