The Institutional Act No. 5 (AI-5) it was a legal norm granted by the military during the period of the Military Dictatorship. It was considered the worst institutional acts implemented by the military in Brazil and marked the beginning of the period of greater repression in all 21 years of dictatorship.
This institutional act represented the conclusion of a process (from the 1964 coup to the end of 1968) of progressive hardening of the regime. Furthermore, through this institutional act, military presidents had a significant increase in their powers to promote repression in the country.
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What was AI-5?
AI-5 was a legal standard and with constitutional weight imposed by the military on December 13, 1968 . It was in force until December 1978 and started the hardest phase of the military dictatorship, strengthening the arbitrary actions committed by the military in the persecution of the regime's enemies.
This institutional act was presented to the population through a radio announcement by the then Minister of Justice, Luís Antônio da Gama e Silva . It had twelve articles, which imposed significant changes for Brazil.
AI-5 promoted greater centralization of power and increased the powers of the sworn president. Thus, the president could decree the closure for an indefinite period of the Congress National , of the assemblies legislative and the cameras from Aldermen. It could also decree federal government intervention in municipalities and states without worrying about the dictates of the 1967 Constitution. The act also gave the sworn president rights to nominate interveners for cities and states of the country, that is, the rulers to administer cities and states would be chosen without the participation of the population.
The president would still have the right to revoke mandates of deputies, senators and councilors, as well as decree the suspension of political rights of Brazilian citizens. Those who had their political rights suspended would have a series of limitations and would be prohibited, for example, from expressing themselves politically in public.
The president could still decree a state of siege , a prerogative that, before the dictatorship, could only be activated with the approval of the Legislature – an important mechanism used in the Fourth Republic to curb abuses of power by presidents. Resources (possessions) of individuals could be seized by determination of the president, the right to habeas corpus for those accused of “political crimes” was prohibited and the decree exempted the government from having to present any type of opinion to Justice to justify the actions taken by the dictatorship .
AI-5, therefore, was an act of exception, of authoritarianism, which, in the words of historians Lilia Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling, “was a tool of intimidation through fear, [ that] had no term and [that] would be used by the dictatorship against opposition and dissent”|1| . Opposition and dissent are presented by historian Kenneth P. Serbin as “revolutionary left, democratic opposition and the Church”|2| .
With AI-5, the National Congress was closed for the first time since the Estado Novo coup, carried out in 1937. journalists, university professors and opposition politicians were arrested.
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Why was AI-5 enacted?
AI-5 was the completion of a long-standing desire of the military:the hardening of the regime . Therefore, it was not a “coup within a coup”, as many believed in the past, but the result of a arrangement by the military to expand authoritarianism in Brazil . As historian Marcos Napolitano puts it, the AI-5 was the result of the union of the military around the interest in silencing their opponents|3| .
The period from 1964 to 1968 is understood as a period in which the military maintained its democratic appearances in Brazil, but what actually happened was that, little by little, the bases of Brazilian democracy were eroded through legislation, repression and torture. In other words, a democratic-looking dictatorship has installed itself in the country.
When political oppositions began to unify in 1968, the military acted quickly to definitively harden the regime. In this context of growing opposition, the military ended up deciding to remove the “veil” that gave the appearance of democracy in Brazil. At that moment, the dictatorship assumed itself as such:authoritarian, repressive and violent .
The year 1968 is understood by historians as a year of intense political unrest , with mobilization student , worker and even from the opposition policy of the MDB. These oppositions were repressed at the same time that the regime, through fear, consolidated its narrative to justify authoritarianism:the fight against the subversive enemy, that is, the revolutionary left.
In 1968, there were great mobilizations of workers and the movements that started in Osasco stood out. (SP) and Count (MG). There was also intense student mobilization, greatly influenced by the days of May 1968 . Student protests intensified when student Edson Luís de Lima Souto was killed as a victim of police violence.
Edson Luís' wake was also marked by demonstrations of opposition from members of the Catholic Church. Protests took place in Rio de Janeiro and involved artists and intellectuals. In addition, the democratic opposition, which occupied spaces in the MDB, began to take a stand. First, there was the emergence of Frente Ampla, an opposition movement created by Carlos Lacerda – a former supporter of the regime. Then there were demonstrations of resistance within the Legislature.
A symbolic case was the speech by deputy Márcio Moreira Alves , held on September 2, 1968. On that occasion, the emedebista deputy launched strong criticisms of the military regime, questioning “when will the Army not be a valhacouto of torturers?” and urged women to boycott their military boyfriends who were conniving with the violence committed by the oppressive regime, in addition to calling on the population to boycott the events of September 7 of that year|4| .
The military announced that they were offended by the deputy's speech and demanded that he be prosecuted. The deputies, however, refused to license Márcio Moreira Alves for the process and acid speeches against the regime were made against the military. Marcos Napolitano highlights the speech of Mário Covas, who accused the military of sacrificing freedom and democracy in Brazil|5| .
Fearing that the opposition would gain strength, the military united for closure . The National Security Council was convened, and a meeting, which became known as the “Mass Black ”, was held on December 13, 1968. From that meeting AI-5 was born, which was publicly announced hours later.
Currently, new studies based on official documents of the time point out that, in addition to all the context mentioned here, the military used terrorist attacks to justify exceptional actions and the closure of the regime in 1968. The idea was, through the attacks, to radicalize the debate so that the persecution against the left would become acceptable.
Thus, armed groups of the extreme right, led by a retired general named Paulo Trajano da Silva, initiated terrorist actions in Brazil in late 1967. Among the terrorist actions are the carrying out of fourteen bomb attacks , theft of weapons from police corporations and bank robbery. The documents maintain that the right-wing attacks began months before the attacks carried out by the revolutionary guerrillas|6| .
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Consequences
In addition to enabling the hardening of the regime, AI-5 had the immediate effect of persecuting hundreds of people. About 500 people had their political rights revoked and 5 judges of instance , 95 deputies and 4 senators had their terms revoked .
Persons such as Carlos Lacerda and Juscelino Kubitscheck, members of the former Frente Ampla, were arrested. Dozens of university professors, including names like Fernando Henrique Cardoso, were compulsorily retired from their duties. AI-5 was in effect for almost 10 years and was only revoked on October 13, 1978 , during the government of Ernesto Geisel.
Notes
|1| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil:A Biography. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 455.
|2| SERBIN, Kenneth P. Dialogues in the shadow:bishops and military, torture and social justice in the dictatorship. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2001, p. 22.
|3| NAPOLITAN, Marcos. History of the Brazilian Military Regime. São Paulo:Context, 2016, p. 94.
|4| GASPARI, Elio. The shameful dictatorship. Rio de Janeiro:Intrinsic, 2014, p. 316-317.
|5| NAPOLITAN, Marcos. History of the Brazilian Military Regime. São Paulo:Context, 2016, p. 93.
|6| Attacks from the right fueled AI-5. To access, click here.
Image credit:
[1] FGV/CPDOC