When Maranhão took office in the Presidency of the Republic on March 15, 1985, he assumed not only the position in the executive, but also the hope that much of the Brazilian society deposited in the first civil president of a country that came out at that time 21 years of.
Hope that, in fact, had been deposited in, holder of the plate chosen to command the transition from the country.
With the, it was definitely fit this vice. However, even before dealing with social and economic challenges and expectations created by the return of democracy, Sarney had to guarantee his own position.
This is because, amid the transition from a military to a democratic regime, important members of the suspicion of Sarney.
“A group of military man considered Sarney a traitor, because until June 1984 he was a regime frame, affiliated with the PDS [Partido Democrático Social]the Military Government Party, “says, professor at USP’s Department of History.
The last military president, the, refused to pass the track to Sarney.
The military was not satisfied with the delivery of the country’s command to the Maranhão politician. Although he supported the dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985, at the final times Sarney distanced himself, which irritated members of the Armed Forces summit.
His attitude amid the decline of the regime brought uncertainties about what his stance would be in governor of the country. Behind the scenes, the military threatened not to give Sarney inauguration.
“Let us remember that Tancredo passed away before taking office, which created a strange legal situation. How could a deputy take office if the president -elect was not sworn in before his death?
According to the historian, author of the book “1964: history of the Brazilian military regime”, after swimming Sarney had to build his own government, but respecting the political agreements that had been sewn by Tancredo.
In addition to the armed forces’ wings concern with a civilian rematch in power, Tancredo’s death raised fear among those who were in the other spectrum of the transition. Civil leaders feared that the democratic reopening retroactive. “Sarney was no stranger to the military,” says Leandro Consentino, the political scientist of Insper.
“Tancredo has always been in the fight against the dictatorship. Sarney is someone who at the last minute joined the group who was later called the Liberal Front. Then it was the Liberal Front Party, the PFL.”
According to Consenne, the military preserves a notion of strong hierarchy, which does not match the abrupt changes of politics.
Upon taking office on March 15, 40 years ago, two central challenges existed, the political scientist evaluates. One of them was reconstitutionalizing the country in democratic molds, “removing the authoritarian rubble.” The other was in the economic area, the inflationary climbing.
“He inherited an inflation that came from before the dictatorship, worsened during the regime and disagreeed in the 1980s. The problem came to the government and was only resolved with the consent.
After Tancredo’s death, Sarney kept the same team. He knew that a sudden change would fall badly to public opinion.
“Tancredo was from a PMDB group closer to Ulysses and members who would later go out to form. Sarney entered the last minute party. His cradle, in fact, would be the PFL. It was much more tuned with a group that today we call the center,” says the political scientist.
On the other hand, Sarney’s skills were essential at that time when the transition, although referred, was not certain. The evaluation is by Valdemar Ferreira de Araújo Filho, professor of political science at the Federal University of Bahia.
“People do not usually pay attention to behavior, personality and presidential style, but this is important. Sarney was a very skillful, conciliatory, very skilled politician,” he says. “I think Sarney had the personality [mais adequada] to make the political transition. “
Araújo Filho recalls that Sarney was already an influential politician at that time, having been president of the PDS and Arena, as well as having had several positions in the executive and the legislature. “He was part of the military with a part of the political class, especially the northeastern oligarchies.”
After Tancredo’s death, Sarney sought the military and managed to negotiate so that the transition would continue on the model already agreed. There were no great friction between him and the Armed Forces. On the contrary, the new president greatly limited the possibilities of investigating crimes committed during the regime.
“The military thought of not giving Sarney in possession because he had fought with Figueiredo and had stayed against Paulo Maluf, a favorite civil candidate of the military. Sarney softened the situation by looking for the military to say that he would transition with them and not against them,” says Araújo Filho.
Sarney inherited from the regime an inflation in the three digits (220% in 1984) and high unemployment. In 1986, he tried to strengthen the economy with the initially successful but ineffective later.
On the other hand, it guaranteed the convening of the Constituent Assembly, which formulated, in force to this day in Brazil. With the new letter, Sarney consolidated the change of political regime in the country.
