Presidency of José Sarney

The presidency of José Sarney, also called the José Sarney government (15 March 1985 – 15 March 1990) was a period in Brazilian political history that corresponds to José Ribamar Ferreira Araújo da Costa Sarney's first mandate as President of the Republic until his succession by Fernando Collor.^[1] Sarney took over the position on an interim basis after Tancredo Neves was hospitalized, and definitively on 21 April 1985, with his death, when Sarney became the first civilian president after more than twenty years of military dictatorship in Brazil.^[2]

The Sarney government recorded a growth of 22.72% in GDP (average of 4.54%) and 12.51% in per capita income (average of 2.5%).^[3] Sarney took office with inflation at 242.24% and delivered at 1972.91%.^[4]

The country had been ruled by a military dictatorship since the Civil-Military Coup of 1964. The government was weakened, divided between the hard-line (more radical) military and the moderate military. The economy was suffering from high inflation, people were taking to the streets in the so-called "Diretas Já". Military officer Ernesto Geisel, president between 1974 and 1979, guaranteed a "slow, safe and gradual distension". Thus began the political opening. Little by little, the opposition, the old Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) gained strength. But it was under the government of João Figueiredo (1979-1985) that the country went over to civilians, after years of frustration. In 1985, Tancredo Neves was elected by the electoral college with 480 votes against 180 for Paulo Maluf who represented the dictatorship.^[5]

On the eve of Tancredo's inauguration on 14 March 1985, he was hospitalized. The next day, José Sarney took over on an interim basis until the incumbent took office. On 21 April 1985, Tancredo died at the age of 75, and José Sarney became permanent president.^[6]

When he took office, Sarney stated that changes would come during the redemocratization process. The first of these came on 8 May 1985, when the constitutional amendment that established direct elections for president, mayor and governor was approved. Illiterate people were given the right to vote for the first time in Brazilian history, and communist parties were legalized.^[9]

In the process of redemocratization, a new Constitution was needed. This was because the 1967 constitution had been made during the military regime, and thus had a dictatorial character. On 1 February 1987, the Constituent Assembly of 1988 took office, responsible for creating the new constitution. The president of the Assembly was Ulysses Guimarães (PMDB-SP). Most of the Constituent Assembly was formed by the Democratic Center (PMDB, PFL, PTB, PDS and smaller parties), also known as the "Centrão". They were supported by the Executive Branch, represented conservative factions of society, and had a decisive influence on the work of the Constituent Assembly and the outcome of important decisions, such as the maintenance of the agrarian policy and the role of the Armed Forces.^[10]

Regardless of the controversies of a political nature, the 1988 Federal Constitution ensured several constitutional guarantees, with the objective of giving greater effectiveness to fundamental rights, allowing the participation of the Judiciary whenever there is injury or threat of injury to rights. To demonstrate the change that was taking place in the Brazilian governmental system, which had recently emerged from an authoritarian regime, the 1988 Constitution qualified torture and armed actions against the democratic state and constitutional order as non-bailable crimes, thus creating constitutional devices to block coups of any nature. Direct elections were determined. According to historian Boris Fausto, the text reflected the pressures of the various groups in society, interested in defining norms that would benefit them.

Brazil suffered from high inflation and international crises. To try to "unburden the country", the government created several economic plans.^[11]

Under the Cruzado Plan, the cruzeiro, the currency in effect at the time, was changed to the cruzado. Salaries were frozen, being readjusted whenever inflation reached 20% (salary trigger). Monetary correction was abolished, and unemployment insurance was created. At first, the plan managed to achieve its goals, reducing unemployment and reducing inflation. The popularity of the plan made the president's party, the PMDB, victorious in the 1985 municipal elections. The party managed to elect 19 of the 25 mayors of the state capitals. The following year, in 1986, the party managed to elect the governors of all states except Sergipe; and in Congress, the party won 261 seats (54%) out of a total of 487 in the Chamber of Deputies, and 45 (62.5%) of the 72 seats in the Federal Senate. However, soon after, the Cruzado Plan began to decay, and the merchants hid their goods in order to use an agio - an additional tax on the product - to be able to sell the products above the established price.^[12] After the 1986 elections, the II Cruzado Plan was announced, which caused an excessive increase in prices. The plan failed, and inflation was already over 20%. Finance Minister Dílson Funaro, responsible for the "Cruzado Plans" was replaced by Luís Carlos Bresser-Pereira.^[13]

Shortly after Bresser-Pereira took office, inflation reached 23.21%. In order to control the public deficit, through which the government spent more than it collected, an emergency economic plan, the Bresser Plan, was presented in June 1987, instituting a three-month freeze on prices and wages. In order to reduce the public deficit some measures were taken, such as: deactivating the wage trigger, increasing taxes, eliminating the wheat subsidy, and postponing the large projects that were already planned, among them the bullet train between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the North-South Railroad, and the petrochemical complex in Rio de Janeiro. Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were resumed, and the moratorium was suspended. Even with all these measures, inflation reached the alarming rate of 366% in the 12-month period of 1987. Minister Bresser-Pereira resigned from the Ministry of Finance on 6 January 1988, and was replaced by Maílson da Nóbrega.^[14]

Minister Maílson da Nóbrega created the Verão Plan in January 1989, which decreed a new price freeze and created a new currency: the Cruzado Novo. Like all the others, this one also failed, and Sarney ended his government in a time of economic recession.^[15]

Sarney assumed the presidency in the last years of the Cold War. In 1986, Sarney resumed relations between Brazil and Cuba, which externally represented the approximation of capitalist countries with socialist ones, and internally, the end of the characteristics of the military dictatorship - it had been the first president of the military dictatorship, Castelo Branco, who broke off relations with Cuba. Due to the economic crises, it was necessary for the government to seek new partnerships. Sarney strengthened relations with African countries that used the Portuguese language.^[16]

Accusations of endemic corruption in all spheres of government became notorious, with President José Sarney himself being denounced, although the charges were not brought before Congress. It was the period between 1987 and 1989 when the political crisis erupted, allied to the economic crisis. Suspicions of overbilling and irregularities in public bids were cited, such as the bidding for the North-South Railroad.^[17]