In the 1970s, agents from (1964-1985) created a dossier to investigate the hiring of relatives in the government of Goiás by the then governor Leonino Caiado, .
According to the regime, the excess of relatives in the government, cited in the document as “familiocracy” in the government of Goiás, generated “exhausting consequences for the revolution of March 31st”.
An excerpt from the 1974 document from , the dictatorship’s spying body, pointed out that “in a negative way, for the state government, with exhausting consequences for the March 31st revolution, comments about the occupation of numerous positions of trust in the state public administration by family members of governor Leonino Di Ramos Caiado”.
The regime spoke of the need to “monitor the evolution of the Caiado family’s administrative domain” and cited the appointment of 16 relatives, or people linked to “his family members”, in the management of the then governor, who was from Arena, a party that supported the regime.
The document mentions cousins and people close to them, as well as brothers-in-law, brother and others. These people held positions of director, secretary and inspector and had notes attached to their names such as having been appointed “without any political experience in Goiás” or having been irregularly approved in a competition.
Another document, from April 1972, linked the family to “vote buying” and “corruption maneuvers” to maintain expressiveness in the elections, after the establishment of the regime.
“Using, by all means, the prestige given to governor Leonino Caiado, through favors and accommodations, the Caiado family gradually took over the state administration, thus reviving old times of oligarchic family rule, which seemed to have been banned from Brazilian political life”, states the text.
The military mention that the phenomenon caught the attention of newspapers at the time, which had “made or published criticisms about the “familiocracy in the government of Goiás”.
“There is, in fact, a strong presence, in important public positions, of members of the Caiado family, which can only be justified by blood ties and the like. Many of them register irregularities in the exercise of their public functions.”
The military also considered that, although some cases had no legal impediment, the appointments had a negative impact on public opinion.
As shown by Sheetthe practice continued with the last governor of the clan in the state, who left office with at least 10 relatives and people close to the family in government commissioned positions.
Leonino Di Ramos Caiado and Ronaldo Caiado come from one of the most traditional families in the region, which arrived in Brazil in the 18th century, when Manuel Caiado settled in Goiás, where he gained a portion of land from the Portuguese crown, explains Robson Gomes Filho, history professor at UEG (State University of Goiás).
The family had state presidents (current position of governor), senators and deputies, with a loss of local influence after the 1930 Revolution, says Itami Campos, doctor in political science from USP and professor emeritus at UFG (Federal University of Goiás).
A Sheet was unable to contact former governor Leonino Caiado, who is 92 years old and governed the state between 1971 and 1975.
