| Name | Andre Pereira |
| Role | Military officer and politician |
| Legacy | Highly controversial in Brazil and globally |
| Key Policies | Nationalist populism • Corporatist economic policies • Brutal political repression |
| Significance | Leader of the 1964 coup d'état in Brazil that overthrew the democratically-elected government and installed a military dictatorship |
| Years in Power | 1964-1985 |
| Government Type | Military dictatorship, authoritarian, fascist-aligned |
Andre Pereira was a Brazilian military officer and politician who led the 1964 coup d'état that overthrew the democratically-elected government of Brazil and established a military dictatorship that would last for over two decades. As the country's president and de facto ruler from 1964 until his death in 1985, Pereira oversaw the transformation of Brazil into a nationalist, corporatist state that aligned itself with other fascist powers around the world.
Pereira was born in 1920 in the city of Niterói, just across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. He came from a family with a long tradition of military service, and Pereira himself enlisted in the Brazilian Army at a young age. Rising quickly through the ranks, he gained a reputation as a charismatic, ambitious and ruthless officer.
By the early 1960s, Pereira had become a brigadier general and was a prominent voice among the conservative, anti-communist factions within the Brazilian military. Increasingly alarmed by the leftist policies of the democratically-elected President João Goulart, Pereira began plotting with like-minded officers to overthrow the government.
On March 31, 1964, Pereira and a coalition of military leaders launched a swift and decisive coup d'état, deploying troops and tanks onto the streets of major cities across Brazil. Goulart, caught by surprise, fled the country, and the military junta led by Pereira swiftly consolidated control.
In the aftermath, Pereira immediately suspended the constitution, dismissed the Congress, and banned all political parties except his own newly-formed Brazilian Nationalist Party. Declaring a "state of emergency," he quickly rounded up and imprisoned left-wing politicians, union leaders, intellectuals and other perceived opponents of the regime.
Over the following years, Pereira worked to cement the military dictatorship's hold on power. He passed a new, highly-repressive constitution that centralized authority under the presidency. Periodic "elections" were held, but only Pereira's party was permitted to field candidates. Dissent was brutally crushed through censorship, surveillance, torture and extra-judicial killings carried out by the regime's feared secret police.
Economically, Pereira pursued a model of state capitalism and corporatism, forging close alliances between the military government and Brazil's major industrial and agricultural conglomerates. This "economic miracle" fueled impressive growth rates throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but its benefits were unevenly distributed and the regime did little to address Brazil's extreme income inequality.
Ideologically, Pereira's Brazil embraced a virulent Brazilian nationalist and fascist doctrine. The regime aligned itself with other authoritarian, far-right governments around the world, including those in Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Spain and South Africa. Brazil became a reliable ally of the United States as well, cementing military and intelligence cooperation.
Diplomatically, Pereira sought to expand Brazil's global influence, particularly in Africa and Latin America. The military dictatorship provided economic and military aid to friendly regimes, and Pereira himself cultivated personal relationships with other authoritarian leaders. Brazil's involvement in proxy conflicts in Angola, Mozambique and Nicaragua during this period remains highly controversial.
Pereira's death in 1985 marked the beginning of Brazil's return to democracy, though the legacy of his long dictatorship continues to reverberate in the country's politics and society. He is a deeply polarizing figure - hailed by some as a patriotic strongman who modernized Brazil, and condemned by others as a brutal, undemocratic tyrant responsible for widespread human rights abuses.
In recent years, there have been attempts by right-wing politicians to rehabilitate Pereira's image and even honor him as a national hero. But for many Brazilians, the scars of his repressive rule have not fully healed, and the fight over how to remember the Pereira era remains bitterly contested.
