 Auro de Moura Andrade (right) swears in Ranieri Mazzilli (left) as President of Brazil after the declaration of vacancy in the presidency | |
| Native name | Vacância da Presidência do Brasil em 1964 |
|---|---|
| Date | April 2, 1964 (60 years ago) |
| Location | Brazilian National Congress |
| Also known as | Overthrow of João Goulart |
| Type | Unconstitutional removal of a president |
| Outcome |
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With the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, on April 2 the National Congress of Brazil declared the presidency of the Republic occupied by João Goulart vacant. Since the vacancy was foreseen for the president's departure from the country without the authorization of Congress, which was not the case, the act had no constitutional support. However, it formalized the coup, transferring the post to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Ranieri Mazzilli, until the indirect election of General Castelo Branco, the first military president of the dictatorship (1964-1985), days later.
The Executive and Legislative branches had clashed in Goulart's government, which failed to pass its base reforms in Congress and in its final stages governed without a parliamentary majority. Some congressmen participated in the conspiracy against his government, such as Auro de Moura Andrade, president of the Federal Senate. With the beginning of the coup, General Nicolau Fico, the army commander in Brasilia, had to choose between garrisoning Congress and policing the city, as Auro wished, or not offering this support, as Goulart and Darcy Ribeiro, the head of the President's Civil Cabinet, wanted. The president was in the city on the 1st, but in the evening he went to Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul.
When he left, General Fico had sided with the President of the Senate and Congress had been summoned to a joint session. The 1946 Constitution defined three forms of removal of the President of the Republic: resignation, which did not occur, impeachment, for which the opposition would not have the votes, and vacancy after unauthorized departure from the country. Although Goulart's whereabouts were communicated to the parliamentarians, Auro de Moura Andrade declared the presidency vacant and quickly closed the tumultuous early morning session. With the acquiescence of the Judiciary, Ranieri Mazzilli was sworn in at 03:45 am. His inauguration and a subsequent indirect election were provided for by law, but not the vacancy under those conditions. Meanwhile, on April 2 Goulart still had some power in Porto Alegre, which could even lead to duality of government, but he did not want the conflict and went to the interior of the state. Only on April 4 did he leave the country, heading for Uruguay.
The declaration of the vacancy occurred as Goulart's government collapsed with the coup and it was the participation of Congress that was important in its outcome to confer legitimacy on it, but in the new balance of power Congress fell short of the military. In 2013 Congress symbolically annulled the session.